Bizarre as it seems, personality testing has now crossed the species line. Increasingly, animal shelters are attempting to match potential pet owners with their ideal companions on the basis of canine or feline personality tests. This article, which appeared in TIME Magazine in 2007, sites numerous benefits of the procedure, including fewer dogs and cats being euthanized (a 40% reduction)! For the full article from TIME Magazine, click here.Psych students, your assignment is to post a comment here after reading this article. And not simply, "Yup, I read it." Some questions to fuel your thinking: If you were in the market for a new canine companion or feline friend, would you want to get information from a pet personality test to help you make your decision? Given how successful these tests seem to be in pets (and, some claim, internet dating sites like eHarmony and Chemistry.com) would you consider using the results from a (human) personality test to help select friends or a date? Are there any drawbacks to our continuing obsession with personality testing (in animals or in humans)?
