AN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH TO PERSONALITY-RESEARCH IN ANTHROZOOLOGY - RATINGS OF 6 SPECIES OF PETS AND THEIR OWNERS

In this paper rue identify two obstacles that have hindered the integr ation of personality research in anthrozoology. The first of these int errelated obstacles is the difficulty of obtaining large samples in an throzoological research. Without large samples investigators must rely on replication studies to establish the generalizability of their fin dings. However; the second obstacle-the lack of a standard taxonomy of personality descriptors-makes it difficult to see whether findings re plicate across studies. To address these issues and to stimulate a mor e integrative approach to personality studies, we: (a) provide normati ve data for personality ratings of dogs, cats, ferrets, horses, rabbit s, and hedgehogs on 50 traits; (b) provide personality profiles of the owners of these six species; (c) provide the instrument on which the pet and human data were collected; and (d) demonstrate the viability o f the internet, as a tool for collecting large samples of personality data on pets. We show hour the normative data can be used to convert f indings from other studies into a standard-score metric that facilitat es cross-study comparisons. Finally, we consider some limitations of t his study and make a number of recommendations aimed to promote a more programmatic science of anthrozoology.