New research shows that, in addition to being man’s best friend, dogs improve productivity in the office. Christopher Honts and coauthors gave 12 groups of four people a task to complete; some groups had a dog hanging around while they worked, while others didn’t: “After the task, all the volunteers had to answer a questionnaire on how they felt about working with the other-human-members of the team. Mr. Honts found that those who had had a dog to slobber and pounce on them ranked their team-mates more highly on measures of trust, team cohesion and intimacy than those who had not.” Honts also asked 13 groups of people to play a version of the prisoner’s dilemma game and found that “[h]aving a dog around made volunteers 30% less likely to snitch than those who played without one.” Perhaps Congress should invest in some canine companions? [%comments]
Dogs for Everyone?
TAGS: animals, psychology
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What about dogs in the home office?
Does a stuff animal dog have the same effect?
Dogs also make people happier in general
I thought Congress was already full of dogs.
“After the task, all the volunteer dogs had to answer a questionnaire on how they felt about working with the human members of the team. Mr. Hound found that those humans who had had a dog slobber and pounce on them ranked more highly on measures of trust, team cohesion and intimacy than those who had not.”
Woof……
I wonder if this extends to other animals as well. We need studies with cats, birds, fish, turtles…etc.
I bring my dog to work. Interestingly he has grown to hate Mondays and retreats to a cave under a chair. But he lives for Fridays and can’t wait until quitting time. I think his work ethic suffers from clockwatching, needs to be more proactive, and he needs to take more project initatives.
This would have to be a cultural thing. Some cultures (Arab / Muslim) don’t regard dogs as highly and wouldn’t be likely to share this sentiment.
Please no!
I’ve worked at places with dogs, Amazon being one of them, and I can tell you that not everyone wants to be licked by your wet, smelly dog on a rainy day or hear barking in the halls, or as you approach a cube
There was also a lot of goofing off and the dogs are a distraction. Some say a good distraction, but I say no.
NOT EVERYONE LOVES YOUR DOG! And that’s okay.
No babies in the office either. No hippos, llamas or roosters either!
Get back to work people.