Chimps' personalities are like people's, study says

[xchrom]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/18146336



Chimpanzees and orangutans really do have personalities "like people", researchers say.

For years experts have debated whether great apes truly display human-like personalities - or if such behaviour is simply the anthropomorphic projections of human observers.

The research team used a statistical technique to "remove" any biases apparent in human observers of the apes' behaviour, and they say their findings suggest man and ape really do share "personality dimensions".


"[Chimpanzees] have the same social problems that we do, they want to make friends and find mates and sort of gain position within their society," says team member Mark Adams, a researcher who conducted the research while studying for his PhD at the University of Edinburgh, UK.

Dr Alexander Weiss, senior lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, who also worked on the study, agrees that chimpanzee personality is "highly similar" to that of humans.

[bulloney]

1. Your title is misleading. I thought this was going to be an excerpt from some biography on Bush.

[YankeyMCC]

2. Human personalities are like Chimp's

[Bohunk68]

6. My thought, too.

[Javaman]

3. explains moron* nt

[hunter]

4. The common ape, Pan vulgaris, makes another astonishing discovery!

Most animals with larger brains have personalities.

Dogs, cats, rats, parrots... I've had them as pets and it's not "anthropomorphism" to attribute personalities to them.

I've also been privileged to know a few wild animals, and they have personalities too.

The only thing unique about humans is the way our storytelling and language interacts with our personalities, often with disastrous consequences. Think of all the wars we fight over stupid things that only exist in stories...

Overall it's our human language and prejudices that are the nebulous thing here, not the personality of animals. "Anthropomorphism" is just a fuzzy made up word, maybe best left to describe what people do when they name their automobiles or see faces on the moon.

"Personality" is a directly observable property of animal intelligence.

[sulphurdunn]

5. I've always thought

that orangutans are actually Celtic chimps, which may explain my affinity for them.

[valerief]

7. Can psychopathic (aka CEOish) chimps decimate large populations the way humans do?

Hunger, homelessness.