Dissertation Research: Personality Traits of Captive Lion Tailed Macaques

本研究对圈养的狮子尾猕猴的人格特征进行了研究。因为每个社会群体都是一个独特的个体群，所以了解个性的差异对于更好地理解灵长类动物的社会行为、群体和物种是很重要的。在实验室测试中，了解性格如何影响动物在相同条件下的不同反应，将使研究人员能够更清楚地解释结果。人类人格研究也将从中受益，因为人类特征的原型可以通过非人类灵长类动物模型来研究，而人类测试是困难的或不道德的，比如研究人格的生物学基础。非人类灵长类动物的社会和环境条件也可以被操纵来探索它们对个性的影响。在这项研究中，将通过观察8组52只圈养猕猴的行为来评估个性特征，这些猕猴被饲养在不同的社会群体和/或不同类型的住房中。主成分分析是一种用于人类人格研究的统计技术，它将共同发生的行为分组，以确定人格的主要因素。将为每只动物开发两种性格特征：一种基于行为频率，另一种使用主成分分析中的性格因素。个体概况将根据行为频率和个性因素平均形成雌性和雄性物种概况。此外，性别、优势等级、群体中男女比例和住房空间密度（平方英尺/动物）对个性的影响将被探讨。这项研究中使用的方法可以整合许多不同研究者的结果，因为它被分为特定的特征，每一个特征都由通常研究的灵长类动物行为来定义。因为它有助于比较灵长类动物群体和物种的研究，它应该有助于理清遗传、社会和环境对人类和非人类灵长类动物性格的复杂影响。

Personality traits of captive lion-tailed macaques will be investigated in this study. Because each social group is a unique constellation of individuals, understanding differences in personality is important for a better understanding of primate social behavior, groups, and species. In laboratory tests, knowing how personality contributes to the different responses of animals under the same conditions will enable researchers to interpret results more clearly. Human personality research will also benefit, because prototypes of human traits can be studied through nonhuman primate models when human testing would be difficult or unethical, such as when studying the biologic basis of personality. Social and environmental conditions of nonhuman primates can also be manipulated to explore their influence on personality as well. In this study, personality traits will be assessed by observing the behavior of 52 captive macaques in 8 groups, kept in different social groupings and/or types of housing. A principal components analysis, a statistical technique used in human personality research, will group behaviors that occur together to determine major factors of personality. Two personality profiles will be developed for each animal: one based on the frequency of behaviors and a second using personality factors from the principal components analysis. Individual profiles will be averaged to form a female and a male species profile for both behavioral frequency and for personality factors. In addition, the effect of sex, dominance rank, ratio of males to females in the group, and spatial density of housing (square feet/animal) on personality will be explored. The method used in this research can integrate the results of many different investigators, because it is divided into specific traits, each defined by commonly studied primate behaviors. Because it facilitates research comparing primate groups and species, it should help untangle the complex mix of genetic, social, and environmental influences on both human and nonhuman primate personality.