Does Personality, Delinquency, or Mating Effort Necessarily Dictate a Preference for an Aggressive Dog?

ABSTRACT

The current study investigated the relationship between dimensions of personality, self-reports of delinquency, mating effort, and the desire to own a dog perceived as aggressive. Seven common breeds of dog were rated by 235 participants living within the UK and North America, using an online survey application. Participants also completed scales measuring personality, earlier delinquency, and mating effort. A clear dimension in perceived aggressiveness was found across dog breeds. Persons lower in Agreeableness, higher in Neuroticism and Conscientiousness, and of younger age actively preferred a dog perceived as aggressive. Neither delinquency nor mating effort actively predicted this preference for an aggressive dog, although these measures were themselves correlated with Agreeableness; a regression analysis found that low Agreeableness, younger age, and higher Conscientiousness predicted higher ratings on the aggression preference dimension. These findings show that a preference for a more aggressive dog is not necessarily driven by self-reported status display and intersexual competition so much as youth, low Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness generally.

Keywords:

• aggression
• crime
• delinquency
• dogs
• intra-sexual competition
• perception
• personality