Why we mix up the names of family members and dogs

Posted on May 5, 2016

Professor David Rubin, one of the study authors, said, “It’s a cognitive mistake we make, which reveals something about who we consider to be in our group. It’s not just random.”

Researchers surveyed over 1,700 people to reach their conclusions.

They also concluded that people are more likely to mix up their dog's names with family rather than cats. Ms Samantha Deffler, the study’s first author, explains, “our study does seem to add to evidence about the special relationship between people and dogs. Also, dogs will respond to their names much more than cats, so those names are used more often. Perhaps because of that, the dog’s name seems to become more integrated with people’s conceptions of their families.”

Names which sound more similar were also more likely to be mixed up.

Parents were particularly expert at mixing up the names of their children, even when their names, ages, appearances and even genders were different.


Source material from PsyBlog