Humans and apes share personality traits. Which can explain a lot.




It's common knowledge that the shared ancestor of humans and the chimpanzee lived about six million years ago.  Recent research shows that not only do chimps and humans have almost identical personality traits, each trait is structured identically.  Talk about close cousins.

This, from researchers at Georgia State University.  The research also shows some of those traits have a neurobiological basis, and that those traits vary according to the biological sex of the individual chimpanzee.  Does this mean that our personalities are genetically transmitted?  Likely so.

"Our work also demonstrates the promise of using chimpanzee models to investigate the neurobiology of personality processes," said Assistant Professor Robert Latzman of Psychology, who led the research team. "We know that these processes are associated with a variety of emotional health outcomes. We're excited to continue investigating these links."

The team, which also included Professor William Hopkins of Neuroscience, started with a common tool for analyzing chimp personalities called the Chimpanzee Personality Questionnaire.

The questionnaire is filled out by the chimpanzees' caregivers, who rate individual chimps in 43 categories based on their observation of the animals' daily behavior. Is the chimp excitable? Impulsive? Playful? Timid? Dominant? The questionnaire records it all.

The researchers analyzed complete questionnaires for 174 chimpanzees housed at the Yerkes National Primate Center at Emory University. They ran extensive individual analyses to find out which traits tend to go together, and which combine to make more basic, fundamental "meta-traits."

The analysis showed that the most fundamental personality trait for chimpanzees is dominance -- that is, whether an animal is a generally dominant and undercontrolled "Alpha," or a more playful and sociable "Beta."

But those two big categories can be broken down statistically into smaller personality traits in ways that echo the personality structures researchers have repeatedly found in child and adult human subjects.

Alpha personalities, for example, statistically break down into tendencies toward dominance and disinhibition. Beta personalities, on the other hand, show low dominance and positive emotionality.

Further analysis shows these lower order traits also can be statistically broken down into their constituent parts. The research team identified five personality factors that combine differently in each individual chimpanzee: conscientiousness, dominance, extraversion, agreeableness and intellect. This echoes a well-known five-factor model of the human personality, although the specific factors are slightly different.

Now, for the neurobiology: many of those chimpanzee traits statistically correlate with the function of a neuropeptide called vasopressin. Chimps who were born with a common variant in the genes that control vasopressin behaved differently than their peers, the males showing more dominance and more disinhibition, but the females less of both.

This research shows not only a neurobiological basis for personality, but an evolutionary basis as well. The neurobiological bases of personality can vary according to the biological sex of the subject, at least in chimpanzees. Chimpanzee personality appears to have almost the same ingredients as human personalities, and that similarity seems to arise from the species' similar neurobiology.

"These results are particularly significant in light of the striking parallels between the major dimensions of personality found between chimpanzees and humans," said Sam Gosling, professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and an internationally known researcher in cross-species personality research.
*  *  *  *  *

Story Source:  Materials provided by Georgia State University. Robert D. Latzman, William D. Hopkins, Alaine C. Keebaugh, Larry J. Young. Personality in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): Exploring the Hierarchical Structure and Associations with the Vasopressin V1A Receptor Gene. PLoS ONE, 2014

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Children's drawings during abuse investigations

Image
Source:  rutherfordcountytn.gov I llustrations by children can be a critical tool in forensic investigations of child abuse. A recent study compared the results when child abuse victims were offered the opportunity to draw during questioning with results when victims were not offered this opportunity. "The act of drawing was not only an empowering experience for these children," said Dr. Katz. "We also found it to be forensically more effective in eliciting richer testimonies in child abuse cases. We had no idea the gap would be so great between those who drew and those who weren't given this option." A chance to express themselves Some 125 alleged child victims of sexual abuse were randomly selected for the field study. The children, aged 5-14, were questioned by nine well-trained forensic interviewers about a single occurrence of alleged sexual abuse. The children were divided into two sets -- a control group, questioned and allowed to rest during t...
Read more

How laughter leads to love.

Image
James Cagney rubs a grapefruit half in the face of Mae Clarke  in the classic flick, Public Enemy (1931), written by Kubec Glasmon and John Bright, adaptation for the screen by Harvey Thew.  Funny? Yes.  A rom-com?  Not really.  Great scene, though. Between romance novels and rom-com movies and television, there is a never ending, ever growing market for romance.  So what leads to romance?  Of everything, it is laughter.  Not at, but with.  So here's how it works:  Boy meets girl.  Boy gets the girl to laugh.  (Add a few tasty comedic or dramatic interludes), and viola, girl catches boy (after boy makes a complete horse's ass of himself,) and the happy couple goes giggling into the sunset.   Formulaic?  Very much so.   Greatly entertaining?  Very much so. Until kids, mortgage and divorce. . . but that's a story for later. Here's a report on laughter in romance, with a link ...
Read more

Workout supplements: An emerging eating disorder in men?

Image
therewontbeanydoves.wordpress.com When developing a fictional character, you may not think about the character using large amounts of over-the-counter dietary supplements.  Especially a man who uses large amounts of workout supplements. While there has been widespread publicity on the dangers of the non-prescribed use of anabolic steroids, not much is said about legal, over-the-counter supplements.  Are there risks?  And if so, what are they?  There are several things the writer should consider. Supplement use is becoming an eating disorder with many men who use them to prepare for and recover from a workout. There is growing evidence of a link between muscle-building supplements and testicular cancer. There is evidence that over-the counter medications and supplements are the most common causes of drug-induced liver failure (a rare event, but still a risk.)  There is even evidence that, “certain popular herbal and dietary supplements can also ...
Read more

We're running out of water - and global warming IS NOT the major cause.

Image
livetoday.online How to sound the alarm about a possible future crisis without being a Jeremiah?  Stand up and rant and rave and most people tune you out. Future problems are something that the writers of fiction and non-fiction can address without being totally off-putting.  We all know that, so the trick for a working writer is to stay current on possible issues and weave these possibilities into your stories.  Besides, some of these potential crises offer some pretty cool possibilities. What's interesting in this study is that global warming isn't blamed, though it certainly is playing a part.  For example, rather than having snow in the mountains of California, they're getting rain.  Snow provides water through the dry season; rain runs off into the ocean creating a water shortage despite the total precipitation level remaining constant. A link to the full study is found in the story source. *  *  *  *  * Affordable wate...
Read more

Character Development: Simpler, Four-part Personality Model Introduced

Image
Credit: Northwestern University   The four newly determined personality types are based on five widely-recognized character traits. While the authors suggest that this study will be of most interest to hiring managers and mental health professionals, I feel it will be a major help to authors and screenwriters.  A four personality type model makes it easier to develop consistent characters, sort of a checklist of how people's personalities fall into groups. Here's the report: *  *  *  *  * Scientists determine four personality types based on new data Comprehensive data analysis dispels established paradigms in psychology Researchers have sifted through data from more than 1.5 million questionnaire respondents and found at least four distinct clusters of personality types exist: average, reserved, self-centered and role model. They are based on the five widely accepted basic personality traits: neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agre...
Read more