Do you know the saying treat others how you want to be treated? If not, you better learn it because not only does it apply to your coworkers and annoying sibling, but also to your furry companion. The study conducted by Heberlein, Manser, and Turner set out to see if the deceptive behavior performed by many primates and birds was also present in our beloved pets and what behavior/ conditions triggered the deceptive-like response. The types of deception that are directly contrasting are, ‘strategic deception’ and ‘tactical deception which is based on, Byrne and Whiten (1988)’. Strategic deception involves no understanding on the part of the animal deceiver as to how their dishonest behavior affects other individuals. Whereas, animals that perform ‘tactical deception’ have some understanding of how its deceptive actions affect the behavior of other individuals”. The purpose of dogs, Canis familiaris, being selected was based on evidence that the evolution of ‘deceptive-like’ behaviors may be directly linked to the social structure of a species and dogs are animals that also have a unique social structure that includes humans since their domestication.
The investigation demonstrated that dogs can distinguish between a cooperative and competitive partner, “which also indicated the flexibility of dogs to adjust their behavior and use tactical deception.”(512) The scientists investigated using a three-way choice task (sausage, biscuits, or nothing) where dogs are able to lead a human to any of the three options that may or may not contain food. Twenty-seven (M/F: 11/16) domestic dogs of different breeds participated and all dogs were between 1.5 and 14 years of age and lived with their owners. The experiment took place in a location familiar to the dogs, ensuring a relaxed test surrounding that was also large enough for a person to disappear out of sight. The experiment lasted at least four days. The dogs were introduced to two unfamiliar women of similar age. One of them was ‘cooperative’ and rewarded the dog with the food, and the other was ‘competitive’ and kept the food to herself. In contrast, the competitive partner demonstratively put the sausage or dog biscuit into her pocket, went to the dog and presented her empty hands to the dog. Each partner conducted three trials followed by a break of 3 min and an additional three trials. In total, each partner took a sausage three times and a dog biscuit three times out of the bowl.(514) The first of the partners went to the bowl, called the dog’s name, took one piece of sausage or dog biscuit and, in the case of the cooperative partner, went to the dog and rewarded it. From there on the dog was allowed to make the decision of which bowl it would lead any of the two partners too. The results stated that on both test days, the dogs were more likely to lead the cooperative partner than the competitive one to the box containing the preferred food, and this effect was more probable on the second than on the first test day.
In this experiment, the dogs led the competitive partner to either the food of lower ‘quality’ or to the empty box, which is seen as a deceptive-like quality. In this study, deception would be defined as the energy being lost from going to the box with lower quality food or nothing rather than losing energy to obtain the food. However, all of the tested subjects did not use this tactic; some were guiding the human competitor to the lower-quality food instead of the empty box. The human competitor’s costs involve the energy lost to go to one of the boxes and not receive any food. After comparing the dogs’ behavior in the presence of the cooperative and the competitive partner, we found an interaction between the day the test was conducted and the partner’s role in leading them to the food box containing the preferred food. The dog itself profits since it is allowed to choose a second time in the presence of the owner, increasing its chances of obtaining the preferred food item. The dogs appeared to have chosen a pattern that would give them the highest chance of obtaining their preferred food later or more often. However, some of the dogs showed an increase in guiding the competitive partner to the empty box during the second test day which, indicated that the dogs did not want the competitive partner to get any food items. In conclusion, this gave additional information that vertebrates are capable of deceptive-like behavior that when presented with a partner that is not trying to have a cooperative relationship which is also a quality that is also exhibited in humans.
Citation
Heberlein, M., Manser, M., & Turner, D. (2017). Deceptive-like behaviour in dogs (Canis familiaris). Animal Cognition, 20(3), 511-520.
