Is lack of diversity in research a problem?
no, if there is cross-cultural UNIVERSALITY
yes, if there is cross-cultural SPECIFICITY/UNIQUENESS
Women in Psycological Science
historical gender gaps closing
BUT still…
- less likely apply grants, less likely apply tenure-track positions (equal chance as men to get them)
- underrepresented: full professors, first/senior authors
- lower citation indices, cite own work less frequently
- equally likely as men to win junior-career award but LESS likely to win senior-career award
Politics in Psychological Science
self-report: 10% social-personaliy psychologist identify as politically CONSERVATIVE
b/c self-selection, hostile climate, discrimination
Increase Sample Diversity by…
- replicate findings in non-WEIRD populations
- move beyond WEIRD dichotomy & consider intersectionality
- develop theory/findings in underrepresented contexts & replicate in West
- big data/ big team science = diversifying psychological data
Africa Long Life Study (ALLS)
tracking ~1000 young adults (in Nambia, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana) twice a year
aim to center majority world voices & offer African perspectives to personality science
which 2 strong major figures started the scientific study of animal personality?
- Darwin
- Pavlov
What are some species that have been researched?
Geese, lizards, squid, dogs, field crickets, orangutans, octopuses, rats, pigs, donkeys, cats, guppies, hyenas, chimpanzees, gorillas
Human Personality
relatively stable patterns of emotions, cognitions, behaviours that are typical for an individual
Animal Personality
focus on behavioural traits
3 requirements for animal to have personality trait
- individual differences (behave different than other animals)
- temporal stability (differences relatively stable over time)
- contextual consistency (differences must be relatively stable across situations)
Theoretical reason to study animal personality
philosophical questions regarding consciousness, free will, across species
Practical reason to study animal personality
- infer structure of human character by comparing it to personality structure of apes
- suitability tests for work & service animals
- match animals & potential caretakers (ie. selection in animal shelters)
2 ways to study animal personality
- behavioural coding
- subjective ratings
Behaviour Coding
overt behaviours observed, recorded, interpreted according to pre-established guidelines
Subjective Ratings
broad traits are assessed through surveys administered to knowledgeable observers (ie. human caretakers)
Which method of study did 3/4 of studies rely on?
behaviour coding
*BUT personality trait ratings may perform better (more reliable) & not as subjective as assumed
What did Gosling & John (1999) do?
reviewed animal personality literature to see if the Human Big Five traits would emerge across species
What did Gosling & John (1999) find?
highest cross-species generality observed for traits similar to Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism
BUT manifests differently across species
BUT associations w/ demographics vary across species (ie. neuroticism higher among male hyenas BUT female humans)
What did Gosling & John (1999) find about OPENNESS?
evidence for cross-species generality of the curiosity-exploration
NO support for aesthetic sensitivity, creative imagination, interest in art & music
What did Gosling & John (1999) find about CONSCIENTIOUSNESS?
only found in chimpanzees (humans closest relative)
hint at evolution of hominids - requires ability for complex cognitive functions (ie. impulse control, emotion regulation, goal pursuit)
only great apes w/ well-developed frontal cortices
What are the 3 parts that created the development of dog-centric personality questionnaire?
- creation of pool w/ 1200 dog personality descriptors from previous dog-personality/shelter/expert assessments
- data collection across 6000 dogs & human caretakers
- application of factor analytic approaches to extract personality dimensions
5 dimensions of DPQ
- fearfullness
- aggression toward people
- activity/excitability
- responsiveness to training
- aggression toward animals
Personality Development Among Dogs (chopik & weaver, 2019)
- fearfullness - no change
- aggression toward people - inc until 7yo & pleateau
- activity/excitability - significant negative linear effect
- responsiveness to training - inc until 7.5yo & plateaus (similar to human maturation)
- aggression toward animals (doesn’t change until 8yo & dec after)
If caretaker is OPEN = dog personality…
- fearfullness (-)
- aggression toward people (-)
- activity/excitability (+)
- responsiveness to training (+)
