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Toward a Basis for the Phenotypic Gambit: Advances in the Evolutionary Genetics of Animal Personality

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From Genes to Animal Behavior

Part of the book series: Primatology Monographs ((PrimMono))

Abstract

Individuals of many species, including humans, differ consistently in the way they behave. These consistent behavioral differences among individuals are collectively known as animal personality (Gosling 2001), behavioral syndromes (Sih et al. 2004a), behavioral strategies (Benus et al. 1990), or behavioral profiles (Rodgers et al. 1997). Each of these terms, to some extent, describe an emergent phenomenon of the total biases in behavioral reactions an individual expresses compared to other individuals within the same population or species. In other words, animal personality, in addition to referring to consistent differences between individuals, also refers to correlated behaviors. These correlations (usually defined at the level of populations of individuals) can occur through time (an individual that is bold at one time is also bold at another), across different functional contexts (an individual that is bold toward a predator is also aggressive toward conspecifics), or some combination of time and context (juvenile exploratory behavior is related to adult sociability). Although there is some debate on terminology (e.g., Réale et al. 2007; Gosling 2008), we use the term “animal personality” throughout this chapter.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Alexander Weiss and Judy Stamps for helpful discussions on the chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Boterhoeksestraat 48, 6666, GA, Heteren, The Netherlands

    Kees van Oers

  2. School of Zoology, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 5, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia

    David L. Sinn

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  1. Kees van Oers
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Correspondence to Kees van Oers .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, 2-24 Tanakasekiden-cho, Sakyo-ku Kyoto, Kyoto, 606-8203, Japan

    Miho Inoue-Murayama Ph.D. (Professor) (Professor)

  2. Department of Integrated Biosciences Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Seimeitou 502, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8562, Japan

    Shoji Kawamura Ph.D. (Professor) (Professor)

  3. Psychology School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ, UK

    Alexander Weiss Ph.D. (Senior Lecturer) (Senior Lecturer)

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van Oers, K., Sinn, D.L. (2011). Toward a Basis for the Phenotypic Gambit: Advances in the Evolutionary Genetics of Animal Personality. In: Inoue-Murayama, M., Kawamura, S., Weiss, A. (eds) From Genes to Animal Behavior. Primatology Monographs. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-53892-9_7

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