Uher, Jana ORCID: 0000-0003-2450-4943 (2011) Individual behavioral phenotypes: An integrative meta-theoretical framework. Why “behavioral syndromes” are not analogs of “personality”. Developmental Psychobiology, 53 (6). pp. 521-548. ISSN 0012-1630 (Print), 1098-2302 (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.20544)

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Abstract

Animal researchers are increasingly interested in individual differences in behavior. Their interpretation as meaningful differences in behavioral strategies stable over time and across contexts, adaptive, heritable, and acted upon by natural selection has triggered new theoretical developments. However, the analytical approaches used to explore behavioral data still address population-level phenomena, and statistical methods suitable to analyze individual behavior are rarely applied. I discuss fundamental investigative principles and analytical approaches to explore whether, in what ways, and under which conditions individual behavioral differences are actually meaningful. I elaborate the meta-theoretical ideas underlying common theoretical concepts and integrate them into an overarching meta-theoretical and methodological framework. This unravels commonalities and differences, and shows that assumptions of analogy to concepts of human personality are not always warranted and that some theoretical developments may be based on methodological artifacts. Yet, my results also highlight possible directions for new theoretical developments in animal behavior research.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	animal personalities, behavioral profiles, behavioral style, behavioral syndromes, behavioral types, characters, correlated traits, individual differences, individuality, personality, personality traits, temperament
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > School of Human Sciences (HUM)
Related URLs:	Author
Last Modified:	01 Dec 2017 15:20
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/18185

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