What is it about?
Animal researchers increasingly study in individual differences in behavior. Their interpretation as meaningful differences in behavioral strategies stable over time and across contexts, adaptive, heritable, and acted upon by natural selection has triggered new theoretical developments. However, the methodological approaches used to explore behavioural data still address population-level phenomena, and statistical methods suitable to analyze individual-level behaviour are still rarely applied. This article explains the concepts and analytical approaches that are necessary for studying individuals across different behaviours, situations and times.
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Why is it important?
The study of individual differences requires special concepts and methodical approaches. These have already been established but are still hardly applied in animal research. This precludes justified interpretations of the findings and hinders advancements in the field.
Perspectives
Personality denotes the person - the individual. It urgently requires a change in thinking and practice to use concepts and methods that are suited for the study of individuals also in animal research.
Dr Jana Uher
University of Greenwich
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Individual behavioral phenotypes: An integrative meta-theoretical framework. Why “behavioral syndromes” are not analogs of “personality”, Developmental Psychobiology, March 2011, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1002/dev.20544.
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Jana Uher has developed a novel transdisciplinary and philosophy-of-science paradigm focused on individuals, their personality, behaviours and social relationships.
Primate Personality Net
Primate Personality Net is a research network dedicated to the scientific investigation of 'personality differences' and social relationships in primates.
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