The Results

I collected 46 words to describe the man in each scenario and sorted them into categories.

Without Dog

Responses in the Lonely Category: Loner, Lonely, Alone, Isolated, Introvert, Guarded, Quiet

Responses in the Suspicious Category: Mysterious, Potentially up to no good, Doesn't want to be seen, Scary, Spooky, Suspicious, Shady, Terrorist, Crazy

Responses in the Sad Category: Sad, Depressed, Dealing with some stuff, Serious

Responses in the Focused Category: Meditating, Focused, Deep, Contemplating life, Reflexive, Comfortable, Relaxed

Responses in the Other Category: Cold, Normal

The three most common responses were:

1) Lonely

2) Suspicious

3) Sad

With Dog

Responses in the Dog-Friendly Category: Loves his dog, Dog-Friendly, Chillin' with his dog, Enjoying his dog, He has a dog that's cool, "Doggie!", He's got a companion

Responses in the Content Category: Calm, Peaceful, Content, Happy, Joyful, Enjoying the day

Responses in the Kind Category: Protective, Affectionate, Lovable, Caring, Compassionate, Loving, Sweet, Warm, Kind

Responses in the Lonely Category: Lonely, Lonesome

Responses in the Sad Category: Sad, Depressed, Down

Responses in the Other Category: Homeless, Blind, Observing, Sitting

The three most common responses were:

1) Dog-Friendly

2) Content

3) Kind

The Question: Can dogs make people seem friendlier?

YES!

Without the dog, people thought the man was lonely, suspicious, and sad.

With the dog, people thought the man was dog-friendly, content, and kind.

What did this experiment discover?

Dogs make people seem less lonely or sad.

Without a dog, 52.2% of responses said the man was lonely or sad. With the dog, only 17.4% of responses said the man was lonely or sad.

Dogs make people seem kinder and happier.

Without a dog, 0% of responses said the man was kind or happy. With the dog, 41.3% of responses said the man was kind or happy (73.9% if the "Dog-Friendly" responses are counted).

Dogs make people seem less-suspicious.

Without a dog, 23.9% of responses said the man was suspicious. With the dog, 0% of responses said the man was suspicious.

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