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ABSTRACT
The present study explored personality differences between dog persons and cat persons. Participants (n=126) identified themselves as either a dog person, cat person, both or neither, and rated their own masculinity, femininity, independence, dominance and athleticism. Participants also read a description of a person who was labelled either dog person or cat person, and rated this person on these same personality characteristics. Results showed that females were more likely to label themselves cat persons than were males. Quality of past experience with dogs and cats was related to current ownership of dogs and cats. There were no personality differences between dog/cat owners versus non owners. However, there were personality differences between self-labelled dog versus cat persons. In addition, others attributed different personality characteristics to dog versus cat persons, often as a function of gender. The real versus perceived differences in personality were not the same.