My fish is frisky and yours is not
Personality is yet another mind-brain concept that is meant to capture something about who we are. The concept has been around forever in all kinds of forms. What does it convey and is it useful and if so how? One more question that I think is worth asking is whether the concept is just as useful in cataloguing all kinds of life (aside from humans)?
Individual differences occur in every animal species and much of these differences are heritable as well as being shaped by the environment (just like us). Some fish are shy others bold (such as in response to threats, some are curios or more vs. less active. Would you refer to these characteristics as personality features? Katie McGhee at the University of Illinois who studies fish behavior can tell you all kinds of stories about variations in the characteristics of three-spined sticklebacks from their swimming styles to their approach to stranger fish in their fish tank. A wide range of animals have been systematically studied respect to variations in their behavior including birds (such as the tit, see the P.J. Drent reference below), hermit crabs, squirrels, sheep, spiders, and lizards, and so on. How have differences in characteristic behaviors within species evolved and what is the adaptive value of these ‘personality’ characteristics.
Some of this research and the ideas behind this work are presented in an article that appeared in the Scientist ‘Odd Man Out’ (Volume 24 | Issue 3 | March 2010 and additional references listed below.
Other References
K. Colman, D.S. Wilson, “Shyness and boldness in pumpkinseed sunfish: individual differences are context-specific,” Animal Behav, 56:927–36, 1998.
P.J. Drent et al., “Realized heritability of personalities in the great tit (Parus major),” Proc Biol Sci, 270:45–51, 2003; N.J. Dingemanse et al., “Natal dispersal and personalities in great tits (Parus major),” Proc Biol Sci, 270:741–47, 2003.
A.M. Bell, A. Sih, “Exposure to predation generates personality in three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus),” Ecol Lett, 10:828–34, 2007; NJ Dingemanse et al., “Individual experience and evolutionary history of predation affect expression of heritable variation in fish personality and morphology,” Proc Biol Sci, 276:1285–93, 2009.
D.L. Sinn et al., “Heritability and fitness-related consequences of squid personality traits,” J Evol Biol, 19:1437–47, 2006; M. Briffa et al., “Comparing the strength of behavioural plasticity and consistency across situations: animal personalities in the hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus,” Proc Biol Sci, 275:1305–11, 2008;
A.K. Boon et al., “The interaction between personality, offspring fitness and food abundance in North American red squirrels,” Ecol Lett, 10:1094–104, 2007; J. Cote and J. Clobert, “Social personalities influence natal dispersal in a lizard,” Proc Royal Soc B, 274:383–90.
M Wolf et al., “Life-history trade-offs favour the evolution of animal personalities,” Nature, 447:581–84, 2007; P.A. Biro and J. Stamps, “Are animal personality traits linked to life history productivity?”Trends Ecol Evol, 23:361–68, 2008.