Personality Structure and Social Style in Macaques

• Published in: Journal of personality and social psychology 2015-08, Vol.109 (2), p.338-353
• Main Authors: Adams, Mark James, Majolo, Bonaventura, Ostner, Julia, Schülke, Oliver, De Marco, Arianna, Thierry, Bernard, Engelhardt, Antje, Widdig, Anja, Gerald, Melissa S., Weiss, Alexander
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aggression; Animal; Animal behavior; Animal cognition; Animal Dominance; Animal Personality; Animal Social Behavior; Animals; Behavior, Animal; Comparative Psychology; Determinants; Environmental Factors; Environmental Sciences; Female; Friendship; Fuzzy sets; Macaca - psychology; Macaca mulatta - psychology; Male; Monkeys; Monkeys & apes; Personality; Personality Traits; Phylogenetics; Primates (Nonhuman); Psychology; Social Behavior; Social Competence; Social Dominance; Social psychology; Social relations; Social structure; Species Specificity
• ISSN: 0022-3514; 1939-1315
• DOI: 10.1037/pspp0000041

Why regularities in personality can be described with particular dimensions is a basic question in differential psychology. Nonhuman primates can also be characterized in terms of personality structure. Comparative approaches can help reveal phylogenetic constraints and social and ecological patterns associated with the presence or absence of specific personality dimensions. We sought to determine how different personality structures are related to interspecific variation in social style. Specifically, we examined this question in 6 different species of macaques, because macaque social style is well characterized and can be categorized on a spectrum of despotic (Grade 1) versus tolerant (Grade 4) social styles. We derived personality structures from adjectival ratings of Japanese (Macaca fuscata; Grade 1), Assamese (M. assamensis; Grade 2), Barbary (M. sylvanus; Grade 3), Tonkean (M. tonkeana; Grade 4), and crested (M. nigra; Grade 4) macaques and compared these species with rhesus macaques (M. mulatta; Grade 1) whose personality was previously characterized. Using a nonparametric method, fuzzy set analysis, to identify commonalities in personality dimensions across species, we found that all but 1 species exhibited consistently defined Friendliness and Openness dimensions, but that similarities in personality dimensions capturing aggression and social competence reflect similarities in social styles. These findings suggest that social and phylogenetic relationships contribute to the origin, maintenance, and diversification of personality.