Paw-spective shift: how our mood alters the way we read dog emotions.

ABSTRACT: This study explored the influence of people's mood on their perception of dog emotions in order to expand our understanding of how mood biases may shape emotional interpretation. Across two experiments, participants were primed into positive, neutral, or negative moods using validated visual stimuli before they evaluated video clips of dogs displaying positive, neutral, or negative emotional states. Participants were asked to rate valence and arousal of the dogs in the videos. Experiment 1 utilized visual primes unrelated to animals, while Experiment 2 employed dog-specific primes. Although mood priming significantly influenced participants' self-reported emotions in Experiment 1, it did not affect their interpretation of the dogs' emotional states. Dog-specific primes influenced participa

SUBMITTER: Molinaro HG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12684405 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature