What is an animal personality?

Abstract

Individuals of many animal species are said to have a personality. It has been shown that some individuals are bolder than other individuals of the same species, or more sociable or more aggressive. In this paper, we analyse what it means to say that an animal has a personality. We clarify what an animal personality is, that is, its ontology, and how different personality concepts relate to each other, and we examine how personality traits are identified in biological practice. Our analysis shows that biologists often study specific personality traits, such as boldness, sociability or aggressiveness, rather than personalities in general. We claim that personality traits are best understood as dispositions and that they are operationally defined in terms of certain sets of behaviours, which are studied in specific experimental set-ups. Furthermore, we develop an integrative philosophical account that specifies and formalises three criteria for identifying personality traits, which are used in biological practice. For an individual animal to have a personality trait it must, first, behave differently than others (Individual Differences). Second, these behavioural differences must be stable over a certain time (Temporal Stability), and third, they must be consistent in different contexts (Contextual Consistency).

Hutchinsons ecological niche for individuals

“…The first reviews on the ecological niche emerged quite early (Hutchinson 1978). Since the introduction of the term, the definition of the ecological niche was a topic for debate.…”

Mate Choice, Sex Roles and Sexual Cognition in Vertebrates: Mate Choice Turns Cognition or Cognition Turns Mate Choice?

“…Therefore, I will address this exciting topic only briefly by describing a few fish examples. Shortly, the concept of 'personality' covers at least three domains, comprising (1) "contextual generality" at a particular age or moment of time, (2) "temporal consistency" in and between the assessed personality traits, and (3) the impact of "genes and experience" on personality development throughout an individual's lifehistory (Stamps and Groothuis, 2010;Kaiser and Müller, 2021). Concisely, 'personality' is generally considered a "consistent between-individual variation in clusters of behavioral traits independent of factors such as age or sex" (Mather and Carere, 2019).…”

Personality, recognition cues, and nest sanitation in obligate avian brood parasitism: what do we know and what comes next?

“…In the late 1930s, the concepts of personality were expanded to animals, and studies of the concept became more frequent alongside recent trends in ecology and behavioral and evolutionary biology ( Gosling 2001 ). Animal personality is now defined as inter-individual differences in behavior that are consistent across different contexts within a certain time ( Kaiser and Müller 2021 ). Personality is quite widespread in the animal kingdom, not only in vertebrates ( Gosling 2001 ) but also in invertebrates ( Kralj-Fišer and Schuett 2014 ).…”