Nonhuman Primates

Synonyms

Anthropoids; Apes; Monkeys; Primate Order; Primates; Prosimians

Definition

Primates comprise an order within Mammalia and consist of prosimians, monkeys, and ape species.

Introduction

Despite the popularity of the topic of human personality within Psychology, research into the personality of animals was discouraged until fairly recently in Psychology’s history. Even in modern times, the term “personality” has been eschewed in favor of terms such as “behavioral syndrome,” “behavioral type,” “temperament,” or “disposition.” Alternatively, researchers have simply referred to “individual differences.” This aversion to the idea of animal personalities likely owes a debt to the Cartesian notion that only humans had souls or were capable of emotion. Animals were likened to machines, and intraspecies variability was considered uninteresting relative to interspecies differences. In contrast, today, researchers are actively exploring the extent to which nonhumans exhibit stable and...