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Subjective assessment of chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) personality: reliability and stability of trait ratings

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Abstract

A 46-item rating scale was used to obtain personality ratings from 75 captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) from 7 zoological parks. Factor analysis revealed five personality dimensions similar to those found in previous research on primate personality: Agreeableness, Dominance, Neuroticism, Extraversion and Intellect. There were significant sex and age differences in ratings on these dimensions, with males rated more highly on Dominance and older chimpanzees rated as more agreeable but less extraverted than younger chimpanzees. Interobserver agreement for most individual trait items was high, but tended to be less reliable for trait terms expressing more subtle social or cognitive abilities. Personality ratings for one zoo were found to be largely stable across a 3-year period, but highlighted the effects of environmental factors on the expression of personality in captive chimpanzees.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank staff and raters at Aalborg Zoo (Denmark); Krefelder Zoo (Germany); Tygerberg Zoopark (South Africa); Twycross Zoo (England); Sedgewick County Zoo (United States); Belfast Zoo (Northern Ireland) and Chester Zoo (England), for contributing ratings, and two anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments on the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Psychology, Liverpool Hope University, Hope Park, Liverpool, L16 9JD, UK

    Diane M. Dutton

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  1. Diane M. Dutton
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Correspondence to Diane M. Dutton.

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Dutton, D.M. Subjective assessment of chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) personality: reliability and stability of trait ratings. Primates 49, 253–259 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-008-0094-1

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