Re:Why cats won’t punish a stranger who harms you
by zelon88 on Saturday April 10, 2021 @11:00AM
(#26761939)
The answer to the title question was never scientifically answered. They described the experiment, the results, and then lead into a conclusion that didn't match the science. Then they finally reverted to anecdotal evidence to support the original claim which the scientific evidence does not support.
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Re:Why cats won’t punish a stranger who harms you
by JumpCrisscross on Saturday April 10, 2021 @12:58PM
(#26762949)
> title question was never scientifically answered
The title changes changes “who refuse to help their owners” in the article to “who harms you,” which is a big difference. The study [1] never uses the word “harm” with respect to cats; it does to reference a different study using infants. That specificity with the word should communicate what they tested for.
Anecdotally, I have had a cat and a dog. Both of them reacted, immediately and quite viciously, to people who raised their voice to me. (Growl and barking and hissing.)
[1] http://animalbehaviorandcognition.org/uploads/journals/30/AB...
Re:Why cats won’t punish a stranger who harms you
by fcatus on Saturday April 10, 2021 @01:13PM
(#26763105)
This bbc article is not reporting what the study actually found. They changed the question of the original article so that they can get a click-baity title. That's so annoying...
Re:Why cats won’t punish a stranger who harms you
by xbar on Saturday April 10, 2021 @12:19PM
(#26762594)
You are right to critique the article, but I think you go too far.
They suggest an unsupported conclusion as a possible reason for the observed behavior, but they clearly don't make any actual conclusion and suggest more study is needed.