Schoenfeld-Tacher Regina, Kogan Lori R, Carney Patrick C
Department of Molecular and Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States.
Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States.
Front Vet Sci. 2019 Mar 27;6:87. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2019.00087. eCollection 2019.
While animal shelters have made significant progress in reducing the number of euthanized dogs and cats, millions of unclaimed pets are still euthanized every year. Cats, in particular, face bleak prospects, with ~70% of those that enter animal shelters euthanized. Many factors influence potential cat adopters' decisions, including a cat's physical appearance and perceived personality. To explore elements related to the perception of cat personality, this study examined whether videos and pictures highlight different characteristics felt to potentially affect perceived cat adoptability. An online survey was used to assess perceptions regarding videos and pictures of cats. The survey consisted of three adult cats viewed in a short video and as a still picture. Participants were asked to view the media and rate how well these images depicted 12 separate characteristics (from extremely well to not well at all). Respondents were then asked how likely they would be to adopt this cat if they "were in the market to adopt a cat." A total of 555 surveys were analyzed to answer two questions. The first question was whether cats were perceived as more adoptable when viewed in a still photo or in an action video. A statistically significant difference was found between median photo and video adoption scores for all three cats, with video scores consistently higher than photo scores. The next question was how video footage might alter perception of cats when compared to still photos. For all three cats, the traits "Playful," "Aggressive," "Active," and "Curious" received higher scores when the cats were viewed in videos vs. photos. All of these traits can be associated with active behaviors, best demonstrated via motion. The cats, however, were seen as more "Loving," "Shy," "Quiet," and "Likes to be held" in photos compared to videos. The results suggest that there is an advantage of videos over pictures in perceived adoptability, as determined by response to the question "how likely would you be to adopt this cat," but this difference is small and likely does not justify additional resources. Exceptions might be for active, outgoing cats in order to highlight these attributes.
虽然动物收容所在减少被安乐死的猫狗数量方面取得了显著进展，但每年仍有数以百万计无人认领的宠物被安乐死。特别是猫，面临着黯淡的前景，进入动物收容所的猫中约有70%被安乐死。许多因素影响潜在养猫者的决定，包括猫的外貌和感知到的性格。为了探索与猫性格认知相关的因素，本研究调查了视频和图片是否突出了不同的特征，这些特征可能会影响猫的可收养性。通过一项在线调查来评估对猫的视频和图片的看法。该调查包括三只成年猫，以短视频和静态图片的形式呈现。参与者被要求观看这些媒体内容，并对这些图像描绘12个不同特征的程度进行评分（从非常好到完全不好）。然后，受访者被问及如果他们“打算收养一只猫”，他们收养这只猫的可能性有多大。总共分析了555份调查问卷以回答两个问题。第一个问题是，当以静态照片或动态视频观看猫时，猫是否被认为更具可收养性。发现所有三只猫的照片和视频收养得分中位数之间存在统计学上的显著差异，视频得分始终高于照片得分。下一个问题是，与静态照片相比，视频片段如何改变对猫的认知。对于所有三只猫，当在视频中观看猫时，“活泼”“有攻击性”“活跃”和“好奇”这些特征的得分高于在照片中观看时。所有这些特征都与活跃行为相关，通过动作能最好地体现出来。然而，与视频相比，在照片中猫被认为更“可爱”“害羞”“安静”和“喜欢被抱着”。结果表明，从对“你收养这只猫的可能性有多大”这个问题的回答来看，在可收养性方面视频比图片有优势，但这种差异很小，可能不值得投入额外资源。对于活跃、外向的猫可能是例外，以便突出这些特质。
