Microblog 1: The Psychology of Cat People vs. Dog People

For eons, man has pondered “cat or dog? And if one, why? But if two, why also?”

People have often theorized about the nature of this dichotomy, highlighting that cats are much less affectionate and extroverted than most dogs, but I think there’s more to this than the introvert/extrovert lines. I’m going to posit an argument, or maybe just a theory about why people end up with the pet preferences they have.

Generally speaking, dogs provide a very static (predictable) attachment and very disorganized energy levels.

Based off of this, I theorize that dog people are looking for a stability in where they stand and how they are treated in relation to their pet. It’s almost as though they cannot tolerate an inconsistency in this relationship. They may crave control, order, obedience, and/or perhaps just a lack of personal drama. A line could be drawn from this point to the point of low value for emotionally complex connections and high value for steady companionship and accommodation of the owner’s lifestyle.

Alternatively, cats provide a very disorganized attachment and very static (predictable) energy levels.

In accordance with the theory I propose, it stands to reason that cat people would have a higher tolerance for instability and would be more inclined to create a sort of support that makes their pet lean more heavily on them while not necessarily being so expressive of their connection. I think this either comes from a recognition of that sort of behavior within the owner, or the recognition of appreciation of that hard-to-get connection. Either you have the capacity to accommodate for the space a cat needs, or you also need that sort of distance and closeness.

Or maybe it’s just nothing?

Maybe there’s no reason, no psychology, no philosophy, no attachment theory, no biological explanation, no rational reasoning, or no ostensible hodgepodge of logic to explain this. Maybe people just like what they like and that’s all there is. Maybe it’s just an arbitrary choice between a little fuzzball that poops in a box or variable size bark machine that believes the world belongs to it…

Maybe this time, it could be whatever you feel that it is when you feel it?… Nah it’s probably not that simple. After all, when has anything we care about ever been that simple?

Thanks for not reading.