Most dog owners believe their dogs experience guilt,but animal behaviorists say the “guilty look” of a dog is simply a reaction to you and that dogs lack the ability to feel shame.
Alexandra Horowitz, a psychology professor and principal investigator at the Horowitz Dog Cognition Lab at Columbia University once carried out a study on dog “guilt”.She videotaped 14 dogs in a series of trials and observed how they reacted when their owners left the room after instructing them not to eat a treat. When the owner was gone, Horowitz gave some of the dogs the forbidden treat. Then she would tell the owners whether their dogs had eaten the treat or had behaved. However, Horowitz wasn’t always honest with them.
Horowitz found that the dogs’“guilty looks” had little to do with whether they’d eaten the treat or not. In fact, dogs that hadn’t eaten it but were scolded by misinformed owners tended to exhibit the most elements of the“guiltylook”.
Horowitz says this shows that the dogs’ body language is actually a response to their owner’s behavior---not an experience of shame for a misdeed. Why then ,do dogs look so ashamed when we scold them?
Maybe that look of guilt is the result of a learned association. When you scold your dog for chewing up a pair of slippers, he quickly learns that if he lowers his head and tucks his tail, the undesirable response---raised voice and angry expression---is more likely to disappear.
24.According to Horowitz, the dogs’ “guilty look” is _____.
A. the dogs’ nature. B. a reaction to people’s behavior.
C. a direct result of copying people’s behavior.
D. a response to a shameful behavior.
25.How was Horowitz’ study carried out？
A. By giving examples. B. By telling her experience.
C. By doing an experiment. D. By reasoning.
26.What might be the most suitable title for the passage ？
A. The “Guilty Look”of the Dog B. Dog without the Sense of Guilt
C. Dogs’ Ability to Feel Shame D. The Study on Dogs
27.It can be inferred from the last paragraph that dogs were ______.
A. born with the look of guilt B. born with the ability to feel guilty
C. so smart to copy people’s behavior D. so smart to adjust its behavior