TEMPERAMENT IN NONHUMAN-PRIMATES

Formerly applied to studies of responsivity in children, in more recen t years the concept of temperament has been applied to nonhuman primat es at the individual, species, and now population levels. While the co ncepts of temperament and personality have been less distinguished in nonhuman primate studies than in the human literature, temperamental a nd personality differences have now been identified among individual p rimates and among primate species in a number of studies. At the indiv idual level, certain temperamental characteristics have been associate d with age, sex, and most frequently rank. At the species level, tempe ramental profiles have been linked to intraspecific differences in soc ial systems, sociodemographics, and features of life history and ecolo gy. In this report we discuss the application of the temperament conce pt to nonhuman primates and review findings from studies of primate te mperament at the individual, population, and species level. We also ci te evidence for genetic and experiential influences on temperament in primates, outline concepts related to possible evolutionary influences on temperament, and discuss the possible relation of temperamental ch aracteristics to social behavior and ecology in selected species. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.