Rating vs. Coding in Animal Personality Research

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-1-2010

Department

Psychology

Abstract

Animal personality research has become increasingly popular over the past few decades The two main methods used to examine individual differences in animals are rating and coding The rating method involves human scoring of an animal's behavioral tendencies alone various behavioral dimensions, such ratings are typically based on the human rater's experience with the animal The coding method also requires humans to score an animal's behavior, but differs in that the scoring is based on the animal's immediate behavior in a specific context This brief report describes the use of both the rating and coding methods to examine personality within a group of 10 Garnett's bushbabies (Otolemur garnettii) The results indicated that individual personalities do exist in bushbabies, but also suggested that the rating method is heavily influenced by the rater's experience with an animal Consequently, it is important that the nature of the rater's interactions with the target animals be considered when using the rating method to assess animal personality. Zoo Biol 29 509-516, 2010 (C) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc

Publication Title

Zoo Biology

Volume

29

Issue

4

First Page

509

Last Page

516

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