Dogs Help Office Productivity
Building on previous research that suggests that dogs can act like social catalysts, helping relationships form and people collaborate successfully with one another, this recent study looked at the effects of dogs in a professional setting.
Reserachers from Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant used two different experiments to come to their conclusion. Firstly, teams of four were asked to work together to come up with ideas for a 15 second advertisement for a product and then choose a final idea. Following this, the volunteers answered questions relating to the rest of the team members. Those teams who had a dog present during the exercise ranked the other members of their team more highly on elements such as trust and team cohesion than those that did not have a dog present.
The other experiment used a game known as ‘prisoner’s dilemma’. In this the four members of the team were each ‘charged’ with a crime and they had to choose individually whether they would stand by their team-mates or ‘snitch’ on them. The ‘sentences’ given to the individuals depended on what all four of the members had chosen – the lightest sentence would be given to an individual who ‘snitched’ while the other three did not, the second-lightest sentence would be given to all four who did not ‘snitch’ and the heaviest sentence would be given to an individual who did not ‘snitch’ when the other three had. According to the study, those teams who had a dog present during the decision process were 30% less likely to ‘snitch’ than those who had no dog present.
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