The Animal Personality Institute (API), founded in 2004, is an interdisciplinary group of researcher dedicated to advancing the scientific understanding of personality and temperament in non-human animals.
Objectives:
- Promote dialogue between theoretical and applied work on animal personality
- Provide a forum for communication among researchers, practitioners, and members
of the public who are interested in the study of animal personality, - Foster research on animal personality,
- Provide resources for researchers, practitioners, and members of the public,
- Disseminate scientific research findings on animal personality.
Overview
Our lab is engaged in various projects related to animal-personality research. In brief, our goals are to: (a) develop animal models to inform research in personality, social, and health psychology, (b) develop methods for assessing personality in animals, (c) apply our understanding of personality to promote animal welfare (d) use animal personality in "real-world" applied contexts.
Old projects
Dog Personality Questionnaire
We are developing a comprehensive dog personality questionnaire which will be appropriate for use in assessing any type of dogs, from pet dogs to working explosive detection dogs. We are striving to create a reliable, valid measure with which we can readily assess large numbers of dogs.
For this project, we have collected a pool of dog "owners" who have been kind enough to volunteer to answer questions about their dog's personalities. For more information about this study, please e-mail Amanda Jones (amanda@animalpersonality.org).
Publications
Gosling, S. D. (1998). Personality dimensions in spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 112, 107-118.
Freeman, H. D., & Gosling, S. D. (2010). Personality in nonhuman primates: A review and evaluation of past research. American Journal of Primatology, 71, 1-19.
Freeman, H. D., Gosling. S. D., & Schapiro, S. J. (in press). Methods for assessing personality in non-human primates. In A. Weiss, J. King, & L. Murray (Eds.), Personality and Behavioral Syndromes in Nonhuman Primates. New York: Springer.
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., & Graybeal, A. (2007). Tree Thinking: A New Paradigm for Integrating Comparative Data in Psychology. Journal of General Psychology, 134, 259-277.
Gosling, S. D. & Harley, B. A. (2009). Animal models of personality and cross-species comparisons. In P. Corr, & G. Matthews (Eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Personality Psychology (pp. 275-286). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
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., 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., & Mehta, P. H. (in press). Personalities in comparative perspective: What do human psychologists glean from animal personality studies? In C. Carere & D. Maestripieri (Eds.), Animal personalities: Behavior, physiology, and evolution. Chicago, IL: University Chicago Press.
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., Sandy, C. J., & Potter, J. (2010). Personalities of self-identified “dog people” and “cat people.” Anthrozoös, 23, 213-222.
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.
Graham, L. T., & Gosling, S. D. (2009). Temperament and personality in working dogs. In W. S. Helton (Ed.), Canine ergonomics: The science of working dogs (pp. 63-81). Boca Raton: CRC Press.
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.
Jones, A. C., & Gosling, S. D. (2008). Individual differences in approach and avoidance motivation in animals. In A. J. Elliot (Ed.), Handbook of Approach and Avoidance Motivation (pp. 165-185). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
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. (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.
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.
Sinn, D. L., Gosling, S. D., & Hilliard, S. J. (2010). Personality and performance in military working dogs: reliability and predictive validity of behavioral tests. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 127, 51-65.
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. (2003). The role of animal research in bridging psychology and biology. American Psychologist, 58, 407-408.
Vazire, S., & Gosling, S. D. (2004). Personality and temperament: A comparative perspective. In M. Bekoff (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior (818-822). Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group.
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.
Interested in studying Animal Personality at the Ph.D level?
For students interested in doing a Ph.D. or post-doc in a field related to animal personality, we list a number of researchers doing work in this area. These researchers may or may not be taking graduate students. Before you get in touch with them, it is crucial that you read up on their work to make sure your interests and theirs really do match.
Note to researchers: If you would like to be listed [or removed!] from this section please let us know (email: hani.freeman@gmail.com).
Researchers:
John Capitanio, Department of Psychology, UC Davis
website: http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/Capitanio/
Sasha Dall, Centre for Ecology & Conservation, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus
website: www.uec.ac.uk/biology/research/staff-research-interests/sasha-dall.shtml
Kees van Oers , Netherlands Institute for Ecology
website: http://www.nioo.knaw.nl/PEOPLE/index.htm
Sam Gosling, Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin
website: www.samgosling.com
Dasha Grajfoner, Edinburgh University
Lynette Hart, Department of Population Health and Reproduction, UC Davis
website: http://faculty.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/faculty/lahart/
James King, Department of Psychology, University of Arizona
website: http://psychology.arizona.edu/people/each_detail.php?option=1&detail=20&mtitle=Core%20Faculty
Katja Ojala, Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland
Andy Sih, Department of Behavioral Ecology, UC Davis
website: http://www.des.ucdavis.edu/research/sihlab/
David Sinn, University of Tasmania
website: http://fcms.its.utas.edu.au/scieng/zoo/pagedetails.asp?lpersoId=3704
Alex Weiss, Department of Psychology, Edinburgh University
website: http://www.psy.ed.ac.uk/people/awei/index_html
Dan Blumstein, Department of Psychology and Evolutionary Biology, UCLA
For other researchers doing work of potential interest, please see the brief listing of researchers linked directly below.
Animal Personality & Behavior Researcher List
Here you can find a brief listing of researchers whose work contributes to our understanding of non-human animal personality. Note that not all of these researchers would describe their research as "animal personalty".
Bibliographies of Animal Personality Articles
Here you can find an on-line bibliography of research on animal personality. If you are interested in learning more about the field or research that has been done on a specific species or trait, this might be a good place to begin looking.
For research specific to dogs, we maintain a separate dog personality and temperament bibliography, which contains a subset of the articles in the more comprehensive animal personality bibliography.
Links
These are links to organizations, groups, publications, and so on that have interests related animal personality. The list is always growing, and we may have missed something important. If you notice something is missing or would like your group added to this list, please e-mail us.
Other Academic Organizations
General and/or human personality
European Association of Personality Psychology (EAPP)
International Society for the Study of Individual Differences (ISSID)
Society of Personality and Social Psychology
Association of Research in Personality
Social and Personality Section of the Canadian Psychological Association
Spanish Society for the Research of Individual Differences
Personality & Biology
Behavior Genetics Association
Human-Animal Relationships
International Society for Anthrozoology
Animal Behavior
Animal Behavior Society
The Association for the Study of Animal Behavior
Listserves in Animal Personality
PERS-EE - network for research in animal personality. Email Denis Reale at reale.denis@uqam.ca for more information or to join.
Legislation, Animal Welfare, & Human-Animal Relationships
We have tried to include a variety or organizations, but this list is by no means exhaustive.
Whether a group is included here or not does not reflect API's opinions of that group and their goals relative to animal welfare.
U.S. Government & Legislation
Animal Welfare Information Center (U.S. Department of Agriculture)
National Animal Protection Groups
The Human Society of the United States (HSUS)
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA)
Human-Animal Relationships & Animal-Assisted Therapy
Delta Society - The Human - Animal Health Connection
Animal-Assisted Therapy & Activities
Animal Personality in the News
BBC News: Test for canine personalities (February 22, 2005)
Smithsonian: Teasing Apart Panda Temperament (October, 2004)
USA Today (Magazine): Animals have emotions and personalities (December, 2001)
Austin Area Links
DogPlaces.com(making it easier for people to find dog-friendly places in the Austin area)
Canine Headquarters (custom training for you and your dog in central Texas!)
People |
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Sam D. Gosling, Ph.D.Professor
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I am a psychologist with interests in personality in human and non-human animals. In my cross-species work, I examine how research on animals can inform theories of personality and social psychology. For example, I have studied individual differences in personality and social behaviors in several species as well as how personality traits are perceived and described in humans and other animals, such as hyenas, dogs, and cats. I use these findings as a comparative framework in which to contextualize findings from research on human personality. |
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David SinnPost-doc
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A basic observation is that most, if not all animals, show idiosyncratic behaviours. Furthermore, most, if not all, phenotypic behaviours are sensitive to environmental influences. These two observations form the core of my research interests: to understand the processes involved in the development of animal personality traits, and to translate this understanding into relevant applied outcomes. Understanding the developmental ecology of animal personality traits represents an exciting opportunities to progress fundamental evolutionary thinking and enact powerful and realistic applied outcomes.
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Jamie FratkinGraduate Student
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My research interests broadly involve personality in non-human animals, specificially dogs. I am interested in several aspects of personality in dogs, including how early experiences and stimuli affect later behavior, how effective behavioral measures are, and how predictability behavior is in dogs. I am also interested in learning more about the human-animal bond and how animals, particularly working dogs, influence people and how people influence dogs. |
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Miles Kuiling BenskyGraduate Student
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My major research interests include non-human animal personality and cognition, with a particular interest in canine behavior. Specifically, I would like to learn how these two areas of animal behavior may interact, and to what extent ontogeny and phylogeny play a role in shaping an individual’s personality and cognitive abilities. One of my aims is to search for ways to apply this knowledge towards improving animal welfare and training. For example, could enrichment opportunities or behavior modification techniques be optimized based on an individual dog’s measured traits or cognitive level? Could human-canine pairing success be improved by utilizing personality measures? In the case of working dogs, can real-world success be predicted based on early measurements? |
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Steve DebonoGraduate Student
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With a background in dog training and animal rescue, I am interested in studying and developing personality assessment tools for dogs that can be modified for use amongst a variety of different applications, including shelter, home and working environments. I am also interested in exploring the relationship between human personality and dog personality and what effect they might have on one another. For example, how much of a dog's personality might be affected by personality traits of its owner? Playfulness in dog-dog/human-dog interactions is also a strong area of interest. |
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Paul LeeLab Manager |
I am currently working under Dr. Sam Gosling and Dr. James W. Pennebaker as lab manager of their labs. For the animal lab I am currently overseeing, managing and, organizing the data entry for the DHS projects. |
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News and Events
Up Coming Events
Archive of Past Events
How Should Personality Be Measured in Animals?
Samuel D. Gosling, Simine Vazire, Amanda C. Jones, Diane M.
Mollaghan, Hani Freeman, Steven J. Schapiro, Audrey S. Dickey
Talk to be given at the European Conference on Personality, Athens, July, 2006.
May 7, 2006; Guelph, Ontario
Measuring Personality in Dogs, Humans, and Other Animals
By S. Gosling (University of Texas, Austin) A talk presented at The Dog and Its Mind: Revoluationary Insights, Professional AnimalBehavior Associates (PABA) in Guelph, Ontario.
March 3, 2006; Binghampton University, NY
Comparative Personality Research
By S. Gosling (University of Texas, Austin)
A talk to be presented at the Evolutionary Studies Program Seminar at Binghampton University.
February 14, 2006; Ventura, CA
Comparative Personality Research: Hyenas, Humans, Dogs, Chimps, and other species
by S. Gosling (University of Texas, Austin)
a talk to be presented at the 2006 Gordon Research Conference on Genes & Behavior,
January 22 & 23, 2006
API founder Sam Gosling made the cover of the January 22, 2006 issue of the New York Times Magazine, as a part of a feature article entitled "The Animal Self". Dr. Gosling was also on National Public Radio's "On Point" (Animal Personality) on January 23.
January 27, 2006; Palm Springs, CA
Animal Social Psychology Revisited: Harnessing the Broad and Unique Benefits of Animal Research in Social and Personality Psychology
Symposium chaired by Sam Gosling (University of Texas at Austin), to be presented at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Meeting; Discussant: Robert Zajonc (Stanford University). Speakers: R. Chris Fraley University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), John P. Capitanio (California National Primate Research Center, University of California at Davis), Amanda C. Jones (University of Texas at Austin).
January 25, 2006; Palm Springs, CA
A two-species replication: The relationship between cortisol and neuroticism
by Amanda C. Jones & Robert Josephs (Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin)
-- a poster presented at the annual Association for Research in Personality (ARP) conference
October 21, 2005; University of Arizona
Comparative Personality Research: Hyenas, Humans, Dogs, Chimps, and other species
by S. Gosling
a talk to be presented at the University of Arizona's Department of Psychology
August 19, 2005; Portland, OR
How Should Personality Be Measured in Primates?
by S. Gosling, S. Vazire, A. S. Dickey, & S. J. Schapiro
a talk to be presented at the American Society of Primatologists meetings
July 16, 2005; Minneapolis, MN
Are We Dog’s Best Friend? Predicting Canine Cortisol Response from Human Affiliative and Punitive Behaviors
by Amanda C. Jones & Robert Josephs (Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin)
-- a short communication presented at the joint conference held by the International Veterinary Behavior Meeting (IVBM), American College of Veterinary Behaviorists (ACVB), and the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB)
April 8, 2005; Atlanta, GA
Where’s My Blankie? Stress and Behavior Enrichment
by Diane Mollaghan (Animal Personality Institute & Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin)
-- a workshop presented at the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) Animal Care Expo
March 4, 2005; Phoenix, AZ
Dog Temperament
by Dr. Kim Barry, Val Masters, Melanie McLeroy, Diane Mollaghan, Nancy Williams
-- a panel discussion present at the 9th annual meeting of the Interdisciplinary Forum for Applied Animal Behavior (IFAAB)
February, 2005; Washington, D.C.
A comparative approach to personality: Assessing hyenas, dogs, humans, and other animals.
by Samuel D. Gosling
-- a paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
January 20-22, 2005; New Orleans, LA
Personality in Dogs (Canis familiaris): A Review and Synthesis of Research
by Amanda C. Jones & Samuel D. Gosling
(Animal Personality Institute & Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin)
-- a poster presented at the 6th annual Society for Personality & Social Psychology (SPSP) conference
January 13-15, 2005; Phoenix, AZ
Dog Temperament Testing
by Dr. Rebecca Ledger & Jane Orihel (Animal Welfare Program, University of British Columbia) & Amanda C. Jones (Animal Personality Institute & Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin)
-- a workshop presented at the 17th annual Assistance Dogs International (ADI) conference
November 2, 2004; Austin, TX
Assessing the welfare of kennelled dogs: Biological functioning, natural living and affective states
by Dr. Rebecca Ledger (Animal Welfare Program, University of British Columbia)
-- a talk presented at the University of Texas at Austin, sponsored by the Animal Personality Institute
-- Click here for further information on the contents of this talk! --
mailing address:
Animal Personality Institute
The University of Texas at Austin
Department of Psychology
1 University Station A8000
Austin, TX 78712-0187
USA
email address: