This is why you accidentally call your kids by your dog's name

Why we call our kids by our dog&#039;s name by accident.

(Image credit: JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images)

published 2 June 2016

It is not uncommon to accidentally call someone by the wrong name — according to researchers, our brains categorize people by their social relationships to us. For example, siblings might accidentally get called the name of other siblings, or you might accidentally peep out the name of your ex rather than your current significant other. It's not so much a Freudian slip as it is an incorrect activation in the brain.

But in studying the act of "misnaming," researchers recently discovered something curious — our dogs are often lumped by the brain into the category of "family members."

The study also showed that people often substitute the name of family members for the family dog — though the trend didn't hold for other pets. Though just as many participants in the study owned cats as dogs, people rarely reported calling their family members by the cat's name. The researchers say this may be because dogs are thought of as human-like members of the family or because dogs come when called, so people more often verbally communicate with their dogs than other pets. [The Washington Post]

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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