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Cat People vs. Dog People

research.facebook.com

1–10 of 93 posts

Re: Cat People vs. Dog People

#2
I loved OkCupid's analysis based on data from their site, and I liked this blog post too :) .

Facebook must be absolutely fascinating for researchers, I wonder if they make anonymized datasets available for universities? - Edit: they do

https://snap.stanford.edu/data/egonets-Facebook.html

http://www.michaelzimmer.org/2011/02/15/facebook-data-of-1-2...

Re: Cat People vs. Dog People

#3
The book and movie comparisons throw me off. It looks like the majority of dog owners in this research are women, while the majority of cat owners are men. I'd have expected those to be reversed.

Re: Cat People vs. Dog People

#4
post #3

The book and movie comparisons throw me off. It looks like the majority of dog owners in this research are women, while the majority of cat owners are men. I'd have expected those to be reversed.

Idk women like the protection a dog offers, plus cats are easier to take care of so guys may be more willing to have one.

Regardless, I can't really give anything but my counter intuition; I wish I had the data Facebook has.

Re: Cat People vs. Dog People

#5
post #3

The book and movie comparisons throw me off. It looks like the majority of dog owners in this research are women, while the majority of cat owners are men. I'd have expected those to be reversed.

Idk women like the protection a dog offers, plus cats are easier to take care of so guys may be more willing to have one.

Regardless, I can't really give anything but my counter intuition; I wish I had the data Facebook has.

Re: Cat People vs. Dog People

#6
post #3

The book and movie comparisons throw me off. It looks like the majority of dog owners in this research are women, while the majority of cat owners are men. I'd have expected those to be reversed.

>I'd have expected those to be reversed.

Despite the 'crazy cat lady' stereotype. Cats are preferred pet for men in the past couple of years.

Re: Cat People vs. Dog People

#7
post #2

I loved OkCupid's analysis based on data from their site, and I liked this blog post too :) . Facebook must be absolutely fascinating for researchers, I wonder if they make anonymized datasets available for universities? - Edit: they do https://snap.stanford.edu/data/egonets-Facebook.html http://www.michaelzimmer.org/2011/02/15/facebook-data-of-1-2...

I'm hoping for an analysis based on 23andme data :)

Re: Cat People vs. Dog People

#8
post #3

The book and movie comparisons throw me off. It looks like the majority of dog owners in this research are women, while the majority of cat owners are men. I'd have expected those to be reversed.

The TV tendencies are even more confusing, where "dog people" watch both super-masculine (entourage, duck dynasty) and feminine (The Voice) shows (and cat people are apparently the stereotypical geek).

Re: Cat People vs. Dog People

#9
post #3

The book and movie comparisons throw me off. It looks like the majority of dog owners in this research are women, while the majority of cat owners are men. I'd have expected those to be reversed.

The majority partners of women are men, and the majority of partners of men are women. I think for one-to-one companionship people look for compatibility rather than similarity.

Re: Cat People vs. Dog People

#10
I used to love dogs when I was a kid, now I'm definitely a cat person.

I find dogs superficial and too simple-minded. If you feed them often enough, they will like you (guaranteed) - I find this kind of relationship unsatisfying - You are the master and so the dog has no choice but to like you. Kind of like how people are inclined to laugh when their boss makes a not-so-funny joke - That's the kind of dynamic you get.

Cats are more mysterious and complex. Most of the time, when a cat shows affection, their real motives are usually pretty straight forward; like how they start rubbing themselves against you only when you're physically holding their food (they don't try to hide anything). Often you get the feeling that cats don't care about you at all. In fact, they probably don't really need you (they can usually fend for themselves catching mice, lizards, birds, get food from neighbours, etc...)

But sometimes, there are rare moments when a cat will show you affection without any obvious reason; and when they do, it feels a lot more genuine than the kind of affection you would get from a dog.

I like cats because I like to foster relationships between equals. My cat is my friend, not my subordinate - I don't really NEED the cat and the cat doesn't really NEED me - There are no ulterior evolutionary/survival motives between us.

I just don't like relationships where there is a power imbalance (even when I get to be the master). Though I suppose some could argue that it's not so different from a parent-child relationship - But then again, some parents are more strict than others...

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