BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:&quot\;The personalities of nonhuman primates: All too human?&quot
 \; - Dr. Alex Weiss (University of Edinburgh)
DTSTART:20091208T130000Z
DTEND:20091208T140000Z
UID:TALK20295@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:15306
DESCRIPTION:The "human model" of research on nonhuman primate behaviour ta
 kes as its starting point behaviour displayed in humans and seeks to highl
 ight the\nevolutionary history of behaviours in humans and nonhuman primat
 es. One example of this research is that of studying the personality of no
 nhuman\nprimates via ratings. This research has demonstrated remarkable af
 finity between the personalities of humans and their distant primate relat
 ions. However\,critics have argued that this approach is seriously comprom
 ised by anthropomorphism and rater-based artefacts and advocate a more ani
 mal-centric approach. To address these criticisms I will first review stud
 ies of chimpanzees and orangutans by myself and close colleagues. Next\, I
  will describe a set of existing studies showing that chimpanzee factor st
 ructure is universal. Following this I will describe our recent study of r
 hesus macaques and personality phylogeny. Finally\, I will describe a stud
 y that will\, hopefully\,\nput to bed the half-century old worries about a
 nthropomorphism. Combined\, I hope this talk highlights both the utility o
 f the "human model" for research in\nthe study of nonhuman primates and ot
 her animals.
LOCATION:Arts School Seminar Room B\, New Museums Site
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR