School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences

Chimpanzee personality 'highly similar' to ours

Published on Tue, May 29th 2012, 15:23

Researchers at Edinburgh University factor out anthropomorphism...

Researchers at Edinburgh University factor out anthropomorphism perception to measure personality traits in chimpanzees and orangutangs. Dr Alexander Weiss, senior lecturer at the University of Edinburgh said the research 'vindicates both the view that chimpanzees have personalities and perhaps the more controversial statement that their personalities are quite similar to those of humans.'

Mark Adams (a member of the research team studying for his PhD at the University of Edinburgh): "[Chimpanzees] have the same social problems that we do, they want to make friends and find mates and sort of gain position within their society".

Further Information

BBC: Chimps' personalities are like people's, study says

ScienceDirect: All too human? Chimpanzee and orang-utan personalities are not anthropomorphic projections

MailOnline: Chimpanzees have personalities 'just like people' - and are nearly as complex as human beings

Dr Alex Weiss

Mark James Adams