Can Your Pet Predict Your Personality???

The Truth About Cat People and Dog People

Are you a cat person or a dog person? The answer may say a lot about your personality. A survey developed at the University of Texas at Austin found that some stereotypes about cat and dog lovers may be true, and you may be a lot more like your furry friend than you ever realized. Browse our gallery to see where you stand - and how other Americans divide into cat people vs. dog people.

Personality Trait

Conscientious

The online questionnaire asked participants to identify themselves as "cat people" or "dog people" and included more than 40 questions designed to reveal an individual's true personality.  Scoring showed dog people to be 11% more conscientious than cat people. What it means:

• Self-disciplined
• Strong sense of duty
• Tend to be planners

Extroverted

Are you an extrovert? If you're a dog person, it's likely that you are. People who identified themselves as dog people were, as a group, 15% more extroverted than cat people. What it means:

• Outgoing
• Enthusiastic
• Positive
• Energetic

Open

Are you open to trying new things? Cat people were 11% more likely to be open, according to the survey. Open people tend to be:

• Curious
• Creative
• Artistic
• Nontraditional thinkers

Agreeable

According to the survey, if you're a dog person, you're 13% more likely to be agreeable than a cat person. Agreeable people tend to be:

• Trusting
• Altruistic
• Kind
• Affectionate
• Sociable

Neurotic

If you get stressed out easily, you may be a cat person. Cat people were, as a group, 12% more neurotic than dog people. Neurotic people are:

• Easily stressed
• Anxious
• Worriers

The Typical Dog Person

If dogs tend to be energetic, faithful, and easy to get along with, well, so do the people who love them. But survey author and psychologist Sam Gosling, PhD admits that the differences between cat and dog people aren't huge. "There are certainly many, many cat people who are extroverts and many, many dog people who aren't," Gosling says.

The Typical Cat Person

Do you prefer to spend time on your own? Always game to try new things? Then you're probably a cat person. The survey found that self-proclaimed cat people were more likely to be curious, unconventional in thinking and behavior, and more prone to worrying than dog people.

Dog People Outnumber Cat People

 Of the 4,500 people surveyed by Gosling and his colleague, Carson J. Sandy, 46% identified themselves as dog people. Just 12% said they were cat people. Of the rest, 28% said they were both, and 15% said they were neither dog nor cat people.