5. Animal Personalities Flashcards
what are behavioral variation among animals linked to adaptive solutions
Observations of animals reveal that individuals differ in their behavior; Consistent behavioral differences among animals functions as personality; Individual differences impact fitness
how are Personality differences defined
consistent long-term phenotypic behavioral differences among individuals
what does it mean to be consistent across time and situations
Repeatability refers to individuals that are highly consistent, but there is a lot of difference among different individuals, then that suggests that there may be a genetic basis to the differences in behavior among individuals
what are the three major questions of animal personality
Why are individuals consistent in their behavior?; Why do individual within a species differ in behavior/personality?; Why do behaviors in different contexts correlate among each other
what is the difference between personality and behavioral syndrome
personality is an individual level characteristic; behavioral syndrome is a population level characteristic
Behavioral syndrome involves consistency ____ and _____ individuals
within and between
what does it mean to have consistency within individuals
Within consistency, the animal behaves the same way in similar situations
what does it mean to have consistency between individuals
Between consistency, the rank-order differences among individuals are maintained in different situations
what are the 5 behavioral types
Aggressive levels; Activity levels; Shyness/boldness; Proactive/reactive; Fearfulness (anxiousness)
Behavior ecologist study personality assuming it is an adaptation which resulted from…
long-term selection pressure
Adaptive perspective argues what
that personality make sense if it allows an organism to adjust their behavior to current conditions (including internal states)
what does Carry-over effects suggest
that personality transcends contexts and behavior acts holistically
How does personality have a significant consequence ecologically and evolutionary
Personality may help account for variation under selective pressure; Personality possibly co-evolves with other morphological characteristics; Animals do not exhibit optimal behavior in all situation
what are the benefits of consistency in personality
Specialist may outcompete generalists; Specialization may reduce conflict among individuals; Consistency may produce reliable communication signals of the quality of individuals
what are the two ways that game theory may be interpreted when dealing with behavioral strategies
Individuals alter behavioral strategy to reach ESS equilibrium; Population are divided between individuals that have fixed behavioral strategies
Behavioral strategy is _____ to personality variables
analogous
example of aggressive personality
Aggressive individuals are prone to attack prey and conspecifics and reduced anti-predator responses; live in an environment with limited resources
example of shy/bold personality
Bolder sunfish (Wilson, 1993) are quick to acclimate, feed on different prey and carry different parasites
example of proactive/reactive personality
Proactive show great coping ability compared with reactive individual (passive response to environment)
which is the most stable personality variable
shy/boldness
what are the trade offs between current and future reproductive success
Individuals with low expected reproductive success may take greater risks and act more boldly; Individuals with high expected reproductive success may be shy and non aggressive
who studied boldness/shyness in pumpkinseed sunfish
Wilson
what are traits
Traits are dispositions that characterize individual differences (descriptive approach)
what does the trait theory focus on
focused on identifying and measuring these individual personality characteristics
