Department of Experimental Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of São Paulo (IP-USP). Av. Prof. Mello Moraes 1721, São Paulo, SP, CEP 05508-030, Brazil.
Integr Psychol Behav Sci. 2024 Mar;58(1):271-302. doi: 10.1007/s12124-023-09759-y. Epub 2023 Apr 15.
Every individual has an idiosyncratic way of feeling, thinking and behaving, which is relatively stable across time and situations. Usually known as Personality, today this phenomenon is recognized in many species, including arthropods, fish, avian or mammals. From an evolutionary perspective, research has shown that personality differences are manifest in distinctive forms of dealing with selective pressures, with consequences for fitness. Despite these facts, the study of personality in animals other than humans is relatively new. Only two decades ago, consistent behavioral individual differences were considered 'noise' around an optimal strategy for behavioral ecologists. Also, psychologists were not interested in animal personality as a consequence of the fear of anthropomorphization and the erroneous belief that humans are unique in nature. Fortunately, this misconception seems already overcome but there are still conceptual issues preventing a unified concept of personality. Throughout this review, we first explore the etymological origins of personality and other terminological issues. We further revise the historical course of the study of personality in humans and other animals, from the perspectives of Psychology and Behavioral Ecology, on the basis of the most used approach, the trait theory. We present the study of nonhuman primates as a paradigmatic example in between both frameworks. Finally, we discuss about the necessity of a unified science of personality.
每个人都有独特的感觉、思考和行为方式，这种方式在时间和情境上相对稳定。通常被称为人格，如今这种现象在许多物种中都得到了认可，包括节肢动物、鱼类、鸟类或哺乳动物。从进化的角度来看，研究表明，个性差异表现为处理选择压力的独特形式，对适应度有影响。尽管有这些事实，但对人类以外的动物的个性研究相对较新。就在二十年前，一致的行为个体差异被行为生态学家认为是一种针对最佳策略的“噪音”。此外，心理学家对动物个性不感兴趣，因为担心拟人化以及错误地认为人类在自然界中是独一无二的。幸运的是，这种误解似乎已经被克服了，但仍然存在概念问题，阻止了人格的统一概念。在这篇综述中，我们首先探讨了人格和其他术语问题的词源学起源。我们进一步从心理学和行为生态学的角度回顾了人类和其他动物的个性研究的历史进程，基于最常用的特质理论方法。我们以非人类灵长类动物为例，讨论了这两个框架之间的联系。最后，我们讨论了人格统一科学的必要性。
