People who are high on openness tend to be more abstract thinkers, and more creative and imaginative and philosophical.” Not for nothing is the philosopher with a cat on their lap a beloved internet meme. “Openness,” says Gosling, “is about ideas and intellect. Rather, they contemplate nature’s ineffable mysteries not on a muddy trudge through the park, but from the comfort of their own homes. But if you are more introverted and like to sit in a chair and spend time at home, cats demand less social interaction.”īut this is not to say that cat owners aren’t interested in the world around them. If you like to go walking and get out and about, a dog is a more obvious choice. “If you think about the role that dogs and cats play, they afford different types of interaction. “I wasn’t surprised by the findings,” he says. He found that cat lovers score higher on neuroticism and openness to experiences, whereas dog people are more extroverted, agreeable and conscientious. The social psychologist Samuel D Gosling of the University of Texas has studied the personality traits of self-identified “dog people” and “cat people”.