Personality: bridging the literatures from human psychology and behavioural ecology

Nettle, Daniel; Penke, Lars

doi:10.1098/rstb.2010.0061

Cited by 92 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…As in humans, baboons' personalities showed some plasticity (15,27,28), and females did not always retain the same personality styles across time. Nonetheless, females were significantly more likely to retain, rather than change, their personality style from one year to the next.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in personality and fitness in wild female baboons

Seyfarth¹,

Silk

Cheney

2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

107

104

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Studies of personality in nonhuman primates have usually relied on assessments by humans and seldom considered the function of the resulting "trait" classifications. In contrast, we applied exploratory principal component analysis to seven behaviors among 45 wild female baboons over 7 y to determine whether the personality dimensions that emerged were associated with measures of reproductive success. We identified three relatively stable personality dimensions, each characterized by a distinct suite of behaviors that were not redundant with dominance rank or the availability of kin. Females scoring high on the "Nice" dimension were friendly to all females and often grunted to lower-ranking females to signal benign intent. "Aloof" females were aggressive, less friendly, and grunted primarily to higher-ranking females. "Loner" females were often alone, relatively unfriendly, and also grunted most often to higher-ranking females. Aloof and Loner females were rarely approached by others. Personality dimensions were correlated in different ways with three measures previously shown to be associated with fitness: stress levels and two behavioral indices reflecting the closeness of dyadic bonds formed by individuals. Females who scored high on Nice had high composite sociality indices (CSI) and stable partner preferences, whereas females who scored high on Aloof had lower CSI scores but significantly more stable partner preferences. Loner females had significantly lower CSI scores, less stable partner preferences, and significantly higher glucocorticoid levels. It remains to be determined which of the Nice or Aloof personality dimensions is more adaptive, or whether variation is maintained by contrasting effects on fitness.I t is now clear that individuals in many animal species vary in their degree of sociality, and that this variation is associated with fitness (e.g., refs. 1-5). Among baboons, females who establish close, enduring grooming relationships with others have greater longevity and offspring survival (6-8). Females also experience lower stress levels when their grooming networks are focused rather than diffuse (9). Interestingly, however, variation in the strength of social bonds is not well explained by obvious demographic attributes, like dominance rank or the availability of kin. Although females establish their closest bonds with kin, kin vary in the strength of their bonds, and some females without kin establish close bonds with others. It therefore seems likely that some individuals are more motivated or skilled than others at establishing and maintaining social bonds. In other words, variation in patterns of affiliation that are correlated with fitness may result in large part from variation in personality styles.There is mounting evidence that personality traits in animals are biologically meaningful. Personality traits influence behaviors as diverse as dispersal, mate choice, nest defense, and helping behavior in insects, fish, birds, and mammals (e.g., refs. 10-16). However, little attention has b...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in personality and fitness in wild female baboons

Seyfarth¹,

Silk

Cheney

2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

107

104

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“…While this possibility cannot be ruled out, consistency over several years is likely to reflect more than situational effects on social behaviour. Furthermore, personality can be seen as behavioural reaction norms, so that behavioural phenotypes result from a combination of internal dispositions and extrinsic effects (Dingemanse et al 2010b;Nettle and Penke 2010). Internal dispositions depend on genetic or other proximate-level mechanisms, while extrinsic effects can shape individual behaviour in time and across contexts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Behavioural variation among chimpanzees, both wild and captive, reflects the combined effects of internal dispositions and social and ecological environmental effects. The challenge is to understand how internal and external effects shape behaviour in different environments (Dingemanse et al 2010b;Nettle and Penke 2010;Penke et al 2007). …”

Section: Sex and Population Differences In Personality Scoresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social personality traits in chimpanzees: temporal stability and structure of behaviourally assessed personality traits in three captive populations

Koski

2011

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

100

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Animals of many species show consistency in behaviour across time and contexts that differs from other individuals' behaviour in the same population. Such 'personality' affects fitness and has therefore become an increasingly relevant research topic in biology. However, consistent variation in social behaviour is understudied. In socially living species, behaviour occurs in a social environment and social interactions have a significant influence on individual fitness. This study addressed personality in social behaviour of 75 captive chimpanzees in three zoos by coding observed behaviour. Fifteen behavioural variables were significantly repeatable (range 0.21-0.93) in at least two of the three zoos. The behaviours showed considerable long-term stability across 3 years, which did not differ from the shortterm repeatability. The repeatable behaviours were then analysed with factor analyses. They formed five independent factors, three of which consisted of social traits and were labelled 'sociability', 'positive affect' and 'equitability'. The two non-social behaviour factors were labelled 'anxiety' and 'activity'. The factor scores were analysed for sex and population differences. Males had higher factor scores in all traits except 'sociability'. The factor scores differed also between the zoos, implying considerable external effects in trait expression. The results show that chimpanzees show personality in a broad range of social and non-social behaviours. The study highlights the importance of assessing personality in the social behaviour, especially in cohesive social species, as only then can we understand the consequences of personality in socially living species.

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“…The study of personality traces its roots to the early twentieth century, and has experienced a notable research effort and development in psychology over the last century (Gosling 2001(Gosling , 2008Penke et al 2007;Nettle & Penke 2010). In contrast, despite pioneering work on the subject in the 1970-1980s (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary and ecological approaches to the study of personality

Réale

Dingemanse

Kazem

et al. 2010

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

467

347

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This introduction to the themed issue on Evolutionary and ecological approaches to the study of personality provides an overview of conceptual, theoretical and methodological progress in research on animal personalities over the last decade, and places the contributions to this volume in context. The issue has three main goals. First, we aimed to bring together theoreticians to contribute to the development of models providing adaptive explanations for animal personality that could guide empiricists, and stimulate exchange of ideas between the two groups of researchers. Second, we aimed to stimulate cross-fertilization between different scientific fields that study personality, namely behavioural ecology, psychology, genomics, quantitative genetics, neuroendocrinology and developmental biology. Third, we aimed to foster the application of an evolutionary framework to the study of personality.

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Personality: bridging the literatures from human psychology and behavioural ecology

Cited by 92 publications

References 80 publications

Variation in personality and fitness in wild female baboons

Variation in personality and fitness in wild female baboons

Social personality traits in chimpanzees: temporal stability and structure of behaviourally assessed personality traits in three captive populations

Evolutionary and ecological approaches to the study of personality

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