Personality in the Chimpanzees of Gombe National Park

Overview

Journal Sci Data

Specialty Science

Date 2017 Oct 25

PMID 29064463

Citations 10

Authors

Alexander Weiss

Michael L Wilson

D Anthony Collins

Deus Mjungu

Shadrack Kamenya

Steffen Foerster

Anne E Pusey

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Researchers increasingly view animal personality traits as products of natural selection. We present data that describe the personalities of 128 eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) currently living in or who lived their lives in the Kasekela and Mitumba communities of Gombe National Park, Tanzania. We obtained ratings on 24 items from an established, reliable, well-validated questionnaire used to study personality in captive chimpanzee populations. Ratings were made by former and present Tanzanian field assistants who followed individual chimpanzees for years and collected detailed behavioral observations. Interrater reliabilities across items ranged from acceptable to good, but the personality dimensions they formed were not as interpretable as those from captive samples. However, the personality dimensions corresponded to ratings of 24 Kasekela chimpanzees on a different questionnaire in 1973 that assessed some similar traits. These correlations established the repeatability and construct validity of the present ratings, indicating that the present data can facilitate historical and prospective studies that will lead to better understanding of the evolution of personality in chimpanzees and other primates.

Citing Articles

Personality trait structures across three species of Macaca, using survey ratings of responses to conspecifics and humans.

Pritchard A, Bliss-Moreau E, Balasubramaniam K, Capitanio J, Marty P, Kaburu S PLoS One. 2024; 19(9):e0309946.

PMID: 39241030 PMC: 11379396. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0309946.

Sex differences in longitudinal personality stability in chimpanzees.

Rawlings B, Flynn E, Freeman H, Reamer L, Schapiro S, Lambeth S Evol Hum Sci. 2023; 2:e46.

PMID: 37588391 PMC: 10427468. DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2020.45.

Personality traits, rank attainment, and siring success throughout the lives of male chimpanzees of Gombe National Park.

Weiss A, Feldblum J, Altschul D, Collins D, Kamenya S, Mjungu D PeerJ. 2023; 11:e15083.

PMID: 37123001 PMC: 10135409. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.15083.

Correlates of individual participation in boundary patrols by male chimpanzees.

Massaro A, Gilby I, Desai N, Weiss A, Feldblum J, Pusey A Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2022; 377(1851):20210151.

PMID: 35369753 PMC: 8977668. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0151.

Potential applications of personality assessments to the management of non-human primates: a review of 10 years of study.

Norman M, Rowden L, Cowlishaw G PeerJ. 2021; 9:e12044.

PMID: 34589296 PMC: 8432321. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.12044.

References

Carter A, Feeney W, Marshall H, Cowlishaw G, Heinsohn R . Animal personality: what are behavioural ecologists measuring?. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2012; 88(2):465-75. DOI: 10.1111/brv.12007. View

Lonsdorf E, Eberly L, Pusey A . Sex differences in learning in chimpanzees. Nature. 2004; 428(6984):715-6. DOI: 10.1038/428715a. View

Eckardt W, Steklis H, Steklis N, Fletcher A, Stoinski T, Weiss A . Personality dimensions and their behavioral correlates in wild Virunga mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei). J Comp Psychol. 2014; 129(1):26-41. DOI: 10.1037/a0038370. View

Goldberg L . An alternative "description of personality": the big-five factor structure. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1990; 59(6):1216-29. DOI: 10.1037//0022-3514.59.6.1216. View

Seyfarth R, Silk J, Cheney D . Variation in personality and fitness in wild female baboons. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012; 109(42):16980-5. PMC: 3479518. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1210780109. View

Arnaud C, Suzumura T, Inoue E, Adams M, Weiss A, Inoue-Murayama M . Genes, social transmission, but not maternal effects influence responses of wild Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) to novel-object and novel-food tests. Primates. 2016; 58(1):103-113. PMC: 5215262. DOI: 10.1007/s10329-016-0572-9. View

Shrout P, Fleiss J . Intraclass correlations: uses in assessing rater reliability. Psychol Bull. 1979; 86(2):420-8. DOI: 10.1037//0033-2909.86.2.420. View

Morton F, Lee P, Buchanan-Smith H, Brosnan S, Thierry B, Paukner A . Personality structure in brown capuchin monkeys (Sapajus apella): comparisons with chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), orangutans (Pongo spp.), and rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). J Comp Psychol. 2013; 127(3):282-98. PMC: 3744614. DOI: 10.1037/a0031723. View

Neumann C, Agil M, Widdig A, Engelhardt A . Personality of wild male crested macaques (Macaca nigra). PLoS One. 2013; 8(8):e69383. PMC: 3734184. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0069383. View

10.

McCrae R, Costa Jr P . Validation of the five-factor model of personality across instruments and observers. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1987; 52(1):81-90. DOI: 10.1037//0022-3514.52.1.81. View

11.

Cohen J . A power primer. Psychol Bull. 2009; 112(1):155-9. DOI: 10.1037//0033-2909.112.1.155. View

12.

King J, Weiss A, Sisco M . Aping humans: age and sex effects in chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and human (Homo sapiens) personality. J Comp Psychol. 2008; 122(4):418-27. DOI: 10.1037/a0013125. View

13.

Gurven M, von Rueden C, Stieglitz J, Kaplan H, Eid Rodriguez D . The evolutionary fitness of personality traits in a small-scale subsistence society. Evol Hum Behav. 2014; 35(1). PMC: 3885165. DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2013.09.002. View

14.

Weiss A, King J, Perkins L . Personality and subjective well-being in orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus and Pongo abelii). J Pers Soc Psychol. 2006; 90(3):501-11. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.90.3.501. View

15.

Gurven M, von Rueden C, Massenkoff M, Kaplan H, Lero Vie M . How universal is the Big Five? Testing the five-factor model of personality variation among forager-farmers in the Bolivian Amazon. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2012; 104(2):354-70. PMC: 4104167. DOI: 10.1037/a0030841. View

16.

Hopkins W, Donaldson Z, Young L . A polymorphic indel containing the RS3 microsatellite in the 5' flanking region of the vasopressin V1a receptor gene is associated with chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) personality. Genes Brain Behav. 2012; 11(5):552-8. PMC: 3389165. DOI: 10.1111/j.1601-183X.2012.00799.x. View

17.

Wroblewski E, Murray C, Keele B, Schumacher-Stankey J, Hahn B, Pusey A . Male dominance rank and reproductive success in chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii. Anim Behav. 2009; 77(4):873-885. PMC: 2689943. DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2008.12.014. View

18.

Wilson V, Weiss A, Humle T, Morimura N, Udono T, Idani G . Chimpanzee Personality and the Arginine Vasopressin Receptor 1A Genotype. Behav Genet. 2016; 47(2):215-226. PMC: 5306277. DOI: 10.1007/s10519-016-9822-2. View

19.

Sapolsky R, Ray J . Styles of dominance and their endocrine correlates among wild olive baboons (Papio anubis). Am J Primatol. 2020; 18(1):1-13. DOI: 10.1002/ajp.1350180102. View

20.

McCrae R, Terracciano A . Universal features of personality traits from the observer's perspective: data from 50 cultures. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2005; 88(3):547-61. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.88.3.547. View