The results of our chimp personality study!

During 2007, our volunteers collected data on the personalities of the Lion Country Safari chimps.
The following explanation of the results is paraphrased from a letter to us by Dr. Jim King of the University of Arizona:

“Below are graphs showing the personality profiles of all the chimpanzees. The first six traits are factors/dimensions reflecting multiple items that are correlated to each other. All of them except for Dominance are similar to the five
factors that are generally assumed to characterize us humans.
The 6 traits are:

Dominance – This level shows how dominant, non-fearful, persistent, and decisive a chimp is. It shows general
social prowess.

Extraversion – This bar shows a chimp’s tendency to be social and active.

Conscientiousness – This component was combined with Dependability and is based on a chimp’s ability to be predictable and non-aggressive.

Agreeableness – The chimp’s tendency to be sympathetic, helpful, etc. towards other chimps

Neuroticism – This bar shows the chimp’s tendency to be excitable, not stable, not cool, etc.

Openness – How inquisitive and inventive the chimp is.

In addition to the above 6 factors, the graphs also show the 4 components of Conscientiousness and Extraversion.
Those 4 components are:

Sociability - How social the chimp is with others

Activity level

Predictability

Tameness – How non-aggressiveness and non-irritable the chimp is

Individual differences among the chimps show up pretty clearly. The different personality styles among some of the males are particularly interesting. Elgin scored very low on dominance and high on the tameness factor; thus he would be very non-dominant and very non-aggressive. Higgy and Gin are both highly dominant despite being in the same group,
but interestingly both also scored highly on agreeableness, and thus would be very sympathetic, helpful, and senstive.
Ian's chart is the real attention-getter. His scores show an extreme male chimpanzee syndrome, rather like mad dog syndrome (capacity for unpredictable and dangerous behavior). His scores show high dominance, low agreeableness,
high emotionality, high unpredictability, low tameness, and high aggressiveness.

The graphs also reflect the general trend of how personality changes with age. Older chimpanzees (and humans) show decreased Extraversion, including decreased social and active components. Older chimpanzees (and humans) also show increased Conscientiousness/Dependability, including increased predictability and tameness. But even within a group of old chimps, some interesting differences are apparent. For example, Cooper seems to be particularly agreeable, sympathetic, and protective. In comparison to Cooper, both Melody and Doll appear quiet, but Doll ranks as more emotionally stable while Melody scores as more nervous."

- Dr. James E. King, April 2008

Site Navigation

Home