ANIMAL PERSONALITY
"...a dog's got personality and personality goes a long way" (Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction)
The ultimate goal of this program of research is to: (a) develop animal models to inform research in personality, social, and health psychology, (b) use perceptions of animal personality to understand general processes in personality perception, (c) apply our understanding of personality to promote animal welfare.
Spotted Hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) assessed in Gosling (1998). Photos courtesy of Dr. Christine Drea.
Animal models are useful because they permit experimental studies of personality that would not be possible in humans (e.g., cross-fostering studies). Research on non-human animals is well suited to answering some longstanding questions in the field (e.g., What is the impact of early environment on personality development?). This research can also address issues in animal welfare (e.g., Can pets be effectively matched with suitable owners?).
Our research program consists of three stages. The first stage is to evaluate the viability of assessing personality in non-human animals. The second stage is to develop appropriate assessment methods. The third stage is to implement the findings of Stages 1 and 2 to address questions in personality, social, and health psychology. Our research so far suggests that it is viable to measure personality in animals and impressions of animal personality do not merely reflect anthropomorphic projections.
Photo by Marsha Miller
In a cross-species review that included studies of octopuses, guppies, rats,
pigs, dogs, cats, donkeys, hyenas, monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees, we
identified animal analogs of such traits as sociability and emotional
reactivity. However,
evidence for a separate conscientiousness dimension was found only in humans and chimpanzees.
Dr. Gosling maintains an on-line bibliography of research on animal personality and directs the Animal Personality Institute. If you would like to learn more about the field, these might be good places to start your explorations.
Collaborators: Oliver John, Virginia Kwan, Scott Lilienfeld, Lori Marino, Simine Vazire
Representative Publications:
Gosling, S. D. (1998). Personality dimensions in spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 112, 107-118.
Gosling, S. D. (2001). From mice to men: What can we learn about personality from animal research? Psychological Bulletin, 127, 45-86.
Gosling, S. D. (2008). Personality in non-human animals. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2, 985-1002.
Gosling, S. D., & John, O. P. (1999). Personality dimensions in non-human animals: A cross-species review. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8, 69-75.
Gosling, S. D., & Graybeal, A. (2007). Tree Thinking: A New Paradigm for Integrating Comparative Data in Psychology. Journal of General Psychology, 134, 259-277.
Gosling, S. D., Kwan, V. S. Y., & John, O. P. (2003). A dog’s got personality: A cross-species comparative approach to evaluating personality judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 1161-1169.
Gosling, S. D., & Mollaghan, D. M. (2006). Animal research in social psychology: A bridge to functional genomics and other unique research opportunities. In P. A. M. van Lange (Ed.), Bridging Social Psychology: Benefits of Transdisciplinary Approaches (pp. 123-128). Mahweh NJ: Erlbaum.
Gosling, S. D., & Vazire, S. (2002). Are we barking up the right tree? Evaluating a comparative approach to personality. Journal of Research in Personality, 36, 607-614.
Jones, A. C., & Gosling, S. D. (2005). Temperament and personality in dogs (Canis familiaris): A review and evaluation of past research. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 95, 1-53.
Kwan, V. S. Y., Gosling, S. D., & John, O. P. (2008). Anthropomorphism as a special case of social perception: A cross-species comparative approach and a new empirical paradigm. Social Cognition, 26, 129-142.
Mehta, P. H., & Gosling, S. D. (2008). Bridging human and animal research: A comparative approach to studies of personality and health. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 22, 651-661.Mehta, P. H., & Gosling, S. D. (2006). How can animal studies contribute to research on the biological bases of personality? In T. Canli (Ed.), Biology of Personality and Individual Differences (pp. 427-448). New York: Guilford.
Sinn, D. L., Gosling, S. D., & Moltschaniwskyj, N. A. (2008). Development of shy/bold behaviour in squid: Context-specific phenotypes associated with developmental plasticity. Animal Behaviour, 75, 433-442.
Vazire, S., Gosling, S. D., Dickey, A. S., & Schaprio, S. J. (2007). Measuring personality in nonhuman animals. In R.W. Robins, R. C. Fraley, & R. F. Krueger (Eds.), Handbook of Research Methods in Personality Psychology (pp. 190-206). New York: Guilford.
Weinstein, T. A. R., Capitanio, J. P., & Gosling, S. D. (2008). Personality in Animals. In John, O. P., Robins, R. W., & Pervin, L. A. (Eds.), Handbook of Personality Theory and Research (pp. 328-348). New York: Guilford.