How A Cat's Purr Can Manipulate Us
I think most feline owners would agree that cats are good at getting their own way. After all we often put their comfort before our own. We’ll allow them to sleep in the most ridiculous places around the home, even though they get in our way, we avoid making the bed until they have finished sleeping on it, we get up and give them breakfast before we’ve even had a cup of tea and we’ll allow them to sit comfortably on our lap when we’ve really much better things to do.
According to a new study carried out by Dr Karen McComb, who is a specialist in mammal vocal communication at the University of Sussex, cats are even better at manipulating humans than we first thought by using something called solicitous purring.
Dr McComb carried out her research after noticing this type of purring in her own cat, and questioning why it was so hard to ignore. She talked to other cat owners whose cats exhibited similar behaviour. After carrying out tests on humans who listened to various purring types, the solicitous purr was found to be more exasperating and less pleasing, even people who had had no experience of cats voiced the same opinion.
What this means is that certain cats mask their pleas for attention with a pleasant purr instead of a loud miaow. This attention seeking purr has a high-frequency element that activates a sense of necessity in the human brain. This high frequency element makes the human feel driven to respond to the cat’s needs. When a cat miaows loudly we find it irritating, sometimes enough to want to throw the cat out of the room. This purr on the other hand, although a trifle annoying is not annoying enough to make us want to drive the cat away and instead we feel the urge to respond.
Not all cats have this purr. Research carried out on 10 cats found it only in those living in single person households. If the cat has a one to one relationship with its owner it learns to radically accentuate the peak.
I think most feline owners would agree that cats are good at getting their own way. After all we often put their comfort before our own. We’ll allow them to sleep in the most ridiculous places around the home, even though they get in our way, we avoid making the bed until they have finished sleeping on it, we get up and give them breakfast before we’ve even had a cup of tea and we’ll allow them to sit comfortably on our lap when we’ve really much better things to do.
According to a new study carried out by Dr Karen McComb, who is a specialist in mammal vocal communication at the University of Sussex, cats are even better at manipulating humans than we first thought by using something called solicitous purring.
Dr McComb carried out her research after noticing this type of purring in her own cat, and questioning why it was so hard to ignore. She talked to other cat owners whose cats exhibited similar behaviour. After carrying out tests on humans who listened to various purring types, the solicitous purr was found to be more exasperating and less pleasing, even people who had had no experience of cats voiced the same opinion.
What this means is that certain cats mask their pleas for attention with a pleasant purr instead of a loud miaow. This attention seeking purr has a high-frequency element that activates a sense of necessity in the human brain. This high frequency element makes the human feel driven to respond to the cat’s needs. When a cat miaows loudly we find it irritating, sometimes enough to want to throw the cat out of the room. This purr on the other hand, although a trifle annoying is not annoying enough to make us want to drive the cat away and instead we feel the urge to respond.
Not all cats have this purr. Research carried out on 10 cats found it only in those living in single person households. If the cat has a one to one relationship with its owner it learns to radically accentuate the peak.
