Could our loyal companions be carefully weighing our generosity, forming hidden judgments as we dole out treats? A new study suggests they may not be keeping tabs after all.
Researchers from the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna invited 40 pet dogs, ranging in age from sprightly yearlings to wise seniors, into a food-giving experiment designed to test a longstanding question: can dogs form reputations of humans based on either direct experience or by observing how those humans interact with other dogs?
The surprising result: regardless of age or experience, dogs showed no preference for helpful over selfish people, hinting that the four-legged friend at your feet may be a bit less judgmental than previously believed
For decades, scientists have wondered whether domestication enabled dogs to develop advanced social intelligence—particularly, the ability to “eavesdrop” on human interactions and use this information to choose better allies. This cognitive skill, called “reputation formation,” is well-documented in some primates and has been the subject of debate in horses and even elephants
Lead author Hoi-Lam Jim and colleagues designed a careful experiment. Dogs were split into age groups (young, adult, senior) and exposed to two scenarios: they either witnessed a human feeding, or withholding food from, another dog (eavesdropping condition), or experienced generosity or selfishness themselves in a direct interaction. A control group observed similar scenes minus the canine demonstrator. Each dog’s first choice of human partner, as well as time spent showing friendly behaviors to each, was measured.
The verdict?
Among the 40 canine participants, no age group displayed a consistent preference for the “generous” partner over the “selfish” one. Even with repeated interactions, only three dogs (one young, two senior) showed individual tendencies—two preferring generosity and one, surprisingly, choosing the selfish partner.
Across all groups and test conditions, decisions hovered right around chance: dogs chose the generous partner about 50% of the time, and spent no more time with her than her stingier counterpart. This was true whether the dog experienced the kindness firsthand or simply watched it happen to another.
The study does acknowledge limitations. Nearly 37% of dogs showed a side bias, favoring a spot in the test enclosure rather than a specific person, possibly due to environmental factors like shade. Motivation levels may have varied—after all, pet dogs are seldom desperate for food, and all the human testers were unfamiliar yet kind. Moreover, the experiment only tested one type of situation (food-giving), and did not account for potential effects of breed or upbringing—a factor other research has shown to matter in other animal cognition tasks. Future studies might explore more ecologically relevant contexts, or see whether free-ranging dogs respond differently when resources are scarce.
So what does it mean for the world’s most popular pet?
By demonstrating a lack of evidence for this type of social evaluation, the findings challenge a cherished notion: perhaps dogs are less interested in monitoring human moral character, and more content to greet any friendly face. For science, the results highlight the subtlety of teasing out animal minds. As the authors of the study note, refining methods and expanding the range of cues and experiences tested may yet reveal hidden depths in canine cognition
References:
Study:
Jim, H.-L. et al. (2025). “Do dogs form reputations of humans? No effect of age after indirect and direct experience in a food-giving situation.” Animal Cognition, 28:51.
Further reading:
Subiaul, F. et al. (2008). “Do chimpanzees learn reputation by observation? Evidence from direct and indirect experience with generous and selfish strangers.” Animal Cognition, 11(4):611–623.
Jim, H.-L., Range, F., Marshall-Pescini, S., Dale, R., & Plotnik, J. M. (2021). “Investigating indirect and direct reputation formation in Asian elephants (Elephas maximus).” Frontiers in Psychology, 11:604372.
Carballo, F. et al. (2017). “Dogs’ recognition of human selfish and generous attitudes requires little but critical experience with people.” PLoS ONE, 12(10): e0185696.
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