Do Black Cats Look Less Adoptable? Human Judgments of Emotions and Adoptability in Online Shelter Photographs in the United States

Each year, millions of cats enter U.S. animal shelters, where black cats experience lower adoption rates. This study examined whether three factors contribute to this disparity: (1) superstitious beliefs, (2) projected skin-color bias, and (3) difficulty interpreting black cats' emotions in online photographs sourced from <i>Petfinder</i>, an online searchable, adoption database. A total of 1004 U.S.-based participants completed a 10 min online survey in which they viewed 40 cat adoption advertisement photos: 10 each of black, white, orange tabby, and brown tabby cats. For each image, participants selected one of six basic emotions, rated their confidence, and judged the likelihood that the cat would be adopted within two weeks. Additional items measured superstition and skin-color bias. Black cats were rated as significantly less adoptable than other cats. Participants also attributed negative emotions, such as fear and anger, to black cats more frequently and reported lower confidence when interpreting their emotional expressions. Superstition and skin-color bias, however, did not significantly affect adoptability rating or emotional perception. These findings suggest that difficulty interpreting black cats' emotional cues in photographs may increase perceptual uncertainty, which in turn influences judgments of adoptability.