# Assessment of the Personality of Animals



## sinistralpal (Apr 30, 2010)

Hi everyone! Sorry, I wasn't really too sure where to put this thread, so I thought it would be best suited under "General Psychology". I recently completed a paper for my course which required me to critically analyse a scientific journal article based on the variation of personalities between horse breeds. Looking into personality typing and psychometrics for this paper is actually what let me here! (Lol, definitely a diversion rather than pure research, but fun and interesting nonetheless! ) 

Anyway, since the deadline for the paper has come and gone, I thought I would post some of my findings on animal typing by sharing with you a portion of my essay. Now, I am not claiming it to be the best piece of research out there on animal personality typing, or even a decent essay for that matter. I just thought that some of you may find a review on some of the contemporary research in animal personality assessment interesting, and a catalyst for your own research! 

Below is the "middle" section of my essay. I left out on purpose the nitty-gritty critiques on the actual paper at hand, and decided to post only the more general background to the paper itself, which I think would pertain more to the people here who might be interested.
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Research has shown that there is considerable overlap between the various personality testing methods, with the NEO-PI-R giving the broadest scope. A version of the MMPI-2 called the Personality Psychopathology Five (PSY-5) was constructed to allow for testing personalities in non-psychopathological populations and has been found to have meaningful correlations to the “Big Five” personality factors found in the NEO Personality Inventory – Revised (Costa et al., 1995). Furthermore, studies have shown that the “Big Four” personality traits found in the MBTI could consistently be correlated to the “Big Five” (Furnham, 1996). It has been a criticism that the MBTI excludes Neuroticism from its results, which is often considered the basis for psychometrics (Furnham, 1996). Furthermore, the NEO-PI-R has a stronger predictive validity to the MBTI (Furnham, 1996). Based on the fact that the Five Factor model yields a perspective of personality “at the broadest level of abstraction” (Gosling, 1999), the fact that it can be both self scored and observer reported, and that it can be successfully correlated to other personality inventories, the NEO-PI-R is often considered to be the “gold standard” in psychometrics.

Personality typing based on observable behaviors in non-human animals was pioneered in the 1970’s by J. Stevenson-Hinde who studied the rhesus monkey, Macaca mullata. Over a four year period, principle component analysis was used to create a basis for traits of confidence, excitability, and sociability (Stevenson-Hinde, 1978). Since then, other trait-based personality analyses in animals were conducted, such as in guppies, Poecilia reticulata (Budaev, 1997), dogs, Canis Lupus Familiaris (Draper, 1995), and piglets, Sus domestica (Forkman, 1995). Such studies typically went beyond the three characteristics explored in the Stevenson-Hinde study, to include such traits as curiosity (Forkman, 1995), or affection (Draper, 1995). 

S. D. Gosling and O.P. John conducted a cross-species review of 19 papers across 12 nonhuman animal species in 1999, to see if observable personality traits in animals resembled the Big Five traits found in the NEO-PI-R, Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Extroversion, Openness, and Conscientiousness. Based on previous research that suggested that certain traits other than the Big Five are more characteristic to either immature humans, or nonhuman species (John, 1994), Gosling and John added Activity and Dominance to their cross-species behavioral analysis. Of the 19 studies in the review, 17 nonhuman animal species showed behavioral traits that related to Extroversion, 16 related to Neuroticism, and 12 to Agreeableness, showing a considerable generalizability for these three Big Five factors across species. Out of the 12 species studied, Openness was found in 7 species. However, there were inconsistencies in identifying this trait comparing different studies relating to the same species, suggesting discrepancies in methods. Of the 12 species reviewed, only the Chimpanzee had clear behavioral traits resembling conscientiousness. Of the two added trait categories, Dominance was found to be identified as a separate trait in 7 of the 12 species, whereas Activity was shown in only 2 out of the 19 papers. This paper showed that there is a clear overlap in the behavioral traits of animals to the Big Five personality factors found in the NEO-PI-R, however, for nonhuman species, Dominance should be considered over Conscientiousness as an observable trait. (Gosling and John, 1999). 

In a review paper by T.J. Bouchard, Jr. and J.C. Leohlin in 2001, it was suggested that personality traits were a part of genetic heritability, and are part of natural selection for how a species might be able to withstand and cope with their environment. Bouchard and Leohlin relate back to the traits studied in Gosling and John, and theorize that the generalizability of Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Extroversion, and the added Dominance, found over a large number of species are early evolved traits. The blending of Dominance into the Extroversion category, as well as the immersion of Openness and Conscientiousness in higher order species, may indicate these were formed later on the evolutionary timeline. Based on this standpoint of the genetic heritability of behavioral traits, Bouchard and Leohlin argue that behavioral analysis cannot be fully complete without acknowledging behavioral genetics. It was recommended that in order to account for the heritability of behavioral traits with a greater viability, multiple viewpoints must be conducted, often by combining self testing with multiple observer reports, lending to consolidating what are clearly heritable characteristics.


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## conscius (Apr 20, 2010)

some references would be nice.

Thanks for the paper.


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## sinistralpal (Apr 30, 2010)

Here's the complete list of references for the paper (was thinking about just putting the references for the posted section above, but a) that would be more work for me to weed out which ones are here, and b) they are interesting sources to look into! ) 

List of References: 

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Budave, S. (1997). "Personality" in the guppy (Poecilia reticulate): A correlational study of exploratory behaviour and social tendency. Journal of Comparative Psychology , 3, 399-411.
Butcher, J., Dahlstrom, W., Graham, J., Tellegen, A., & Kaemmer, B. (1989). The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Investory-2 (MMPI-2): Manual for administration and scoring. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
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## conscius (Apr 20, 2010)

Very fascinating, thank you. Given the complexity of studying human personality, some people think studying animal personality is really over the top. But it does make for some fun theorizing.


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