Final Chapter

Question 1

How do people study pet personality?

Answer 1

Lexical approach, asking pet owners and people that interact with pets.

Question 2

What are the big5 for cats?

Answer 2

Neuroticism
Agreeableness
Extraversion
Impulsivity
Dominance

Question 3

What are the big5 for dogs?

Answer 3

Fearfulness
Aggression towards people
Activity/Excitability
Responsiveness to training
Aggression towards animals

Question 4

Are there any age differences in dog traits?

Answer 4

No differences in fearfulness, excitability went down as they aged, curve in responsiveness to training (best age is 7.5 years).

Question 5

What traits makes us feel closer to dogs?

Answer 5

Older, excitable, responsive dogs.

Question 6

What traits do owners bring out in dogs?

Answer 6

Agreeable and conscientious owners bring less aggressive, more responsive and less fearful dogs
Extraverted owners bring more excited and less fearful dogs
Neurotic owners have dogs that are more fearful and less responsive to training.

Question 7

Why is there an owner-dog transaction?

Answer 7

Selection
Socialization & learning
Measurement bias (owners just think dogs are like them, however there is some consensus about dog personality)

Question 8

What are some factors that affect cat personality?

Answer 8

Declawing and presence of other cats/ living indoors.

Question 9

What are the key themes of the course?

Answer 9

Statistical Knowledge & research methods
Personality is consistent, but also changes (cross-situational consistency and aggregation and personality growth and change)
Personality has a biological basis, but is also impacted by environment, relationships and culture
Both conscious and unconscious processes influence behavioural patterns/personality

Question 10

What do statistical knowledge and research methods comprise of?

Answer 10

formulating a hypothesis, interpreting a correlation, significance and effect size, pre-registration