There' s an old fixed understanding about the difference between cats and dogs. Dogs are loving and loyal, while cats are aloof （冷漠离群的）and indifferent. Most cat people, however, probably disagree. Overall, cat research suggests cats do form emotional bonds with their owners. Cats seem to experience separation anxiety, respond to their owners' voices more than to strangers' and look for comfort when scared.
But a new study reveals a more complicated picture of our relationship with cats. Adapting a method previously used to study dogs, the scientists found cats—unlike dogs一don' t avoid strangers who refuse to help their owners. This doesn' t mean that the cats in this study were selfish, but they simply didn' t understand how human beings respond to each other. They weren' t aware that some of the strangers were being unhelpful.
In an experiment, a cat watched as her owner tried to open a box to get at something inside. Two strangers sat on either side of the owner and the owner turned to one of them and asked for help. In ''helper" trials, the stranger helped the owner to open the box. In " non-helper" trials, the stranger refused. The other stranger sat passively, doing nothing. Then, both strangers offered the cat a treat, and the scientists watched to see which stranger the cat approached first. Did she prefer to take food from a helpful stranger over a passive one? Or did she avoid taking food from the non-helper?
When this method was used to test dogs, they showed a clear preference. The dogs preferred not to take food from a stranger who refused to help their owner. In contrast, the cats in the study were completely indifferent. They showed no preference for the helpful person and no avoidance （避开）of the unhelpful person. Apparently, as far as cats are concerned, food is food.
What should we take from this? An attractive conclusion would be that cats are selfish and don' t care about how their owners are treated at all. This is an example of human-centered thinking of animals. To really understand cats, we have to get out of this view and think of them as cats.