Cross Breeds

Can animals sense whether a person is good or bad?

I have always heard that animals can tell if a person is good or bad, by the way the act around them. For example, a dog might growl for no apparent reason around a certain someone. Is this really true? Are there any documents, studies, fact, etc about this? P.S. Our cat loves everyone EXCEPT our neighbor for some reason.

Public Comments

1. i don't think so, animals only use intuition
2. yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssssssssssss no dip Shurlock
3. Yes animals cans sense alot of things. You said your cat doesn't like your neighbor for some reason. If you neighborhood has done something wrong to another animal, your cat might know about it. If your cat goes outside and the neighbor caught your cat in the their yard she/he might have done something bad to him/her and the animal remembers. Or your cat can just have bad vibes about that person in general because he/she knows about how that person really is.
4. Good and Bad are human concepts. Animals have no way to understand them. Animals might be able to sense fear, anger, or aggression by smell and/or body language.
5. Not to complicate the whole thing, but whose definition of a "bad" or "good" person are we using? The cat's? Immanuel Kant's? Your God's? Your neighbor's God's or Goddess's? Utilitarianism? Does cheating on his tax returns make him a "bad" person? Littering? Rolling through a stop sign? Yelling at his wife? How would the cat know?
6. I don't think so. I think some animals may be able to sense if someone means them harm. And some people think their pets can sense when they are sad. I think some intelligent animals can pick up behavioral clues to discern what a person is like, but not whether they are good or bad.