Animal personality: what are behavioural ecologists measuring?
Australian National University · Zoological Society of London · +2 more institutions
Abstract
The discovery that an individual may be constrained, and even behave sub-optimally, because of its personality type has fundamental implications for understanding individual- to group-level processes. Despite recent interest in the study of animal personalities within behavioural ecology, the field is fraught with conceptual and methodological difficulties inherent in any young discipline. We review the current agreement of definitions and methods used in personality studies across taxa and systems, and find that current methods risk misclassifying traits. Fortunately, these problems have been faced before by other similar fields during their infancy, affording important opportunities to learn from past…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 45.86
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 105
Authors
5- AJAlecia J. CarterCorresponding
Australian National University, Zoological Society of London, University of Cambridge
- WEWilliam E. Feeney
Australian National University
- HHHarry H. Marshall
Zoological Society of London, Imperial College London
- GCGuy Cowlishaw
Zoological Society of London
- RHRobert Heinsohn
Australian National University
Topics & keywords
- Personality psychology
- Personality
- Psychology
- Big Five personality traits
- Field (mathematics)
- Cognitive psychology
- Data science
- Social psychology
- Life in Land