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SUMMARY:The personalities of nonhuman primates: All too human? - Dr. Alex 
 Weiss (University of Edinburgh)
DTSTART:20091124T130000Z
DTEND:20091124T140000Z
UID:TALK20511@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr. Nicholas Gibson
DESCRIPTION:The “human model” of research on nonhuman primate behaviou
 r takes as its starting point behaviour displayed in humans and seeks to h
 ighlight the evolutionary history of behaviours in humans and nonhuman pri
 mates. One example of this research is that of studying the personality of
  nonhuman primates via ratings. This research has demonstrated remarkable 
 affinity between the personalities of humans and their distant primate rel
 ations. However\,critics have argued that this approach is seriously compr
 omised by anthropomorphism and rater-based artefacts and advocate a more a
 nimal-centric approach. To address these criticisms I will first review st
 udies of chimpanzees and orangutans by myself and close colleagues. Next\,
  I will describe a set of existing studies showing that chimpanzee factor 
 structure is universal. Following this I will describe our recent study of
  rhesus macaques and personality phylogeny. Finally\, I will describe a st
 udy that will\, hopefully\, put to bed the half-century old worries about 
 anthropomorphism. Combined\, I hope this talk highlights both the utility 
 of the “human model” for research in the study of nonhuman primates an
 d other animals.
LOCATION:Arts School Room B\, New Museums Site
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