PhD Psychology

S1055261 @ sms.ed.ac.uk

Individual differences, social behaviour and emotional perception in primates.

I am a member of the Scottish Primate Reseacrh Group, and am involved in a number of collaboarations with colleagues at Edinburgh, Stirling and St Andrews. However my main research focus is on the associations of social behaviour, personality, well-being and emotional perception. This involves collection and analysis of both behavioural data and keeper-rated questionnaires. This work builds on that of my supervisor Dr Alex Weiss and his colleagues.

My current research projects and collaborations include:

• Personality, facial width-to-height-ratio and development in capuchins Sapajus apella.
• Personality and social behaviour in squirrel monkeys Saimiri sciureus. 
• People-pet personality and attitudes towards pets.
• Emotional Intelligence in chimpanzees.
• Chimpanzee personality traits and neurodevelopmental disorders.

 

Contributions

Le Roux, A., Beehner, J. C. & Bergman, T. J. (2011). Female Philopatry and Dominance Patterns in Wild Geladas. American Journal of Primatology 73, 422–430

Le Roux, A. & Bergman, T. J. (2012). Indirect rival assessment in a social primate, Theropithecus gelada. Animal Behaviour 82, 249-255.

Banes, G. L. (2012). The Kingfisher Encyclopedia of Life. London: Kingfisher.

 

Publications

Wilson, V. A. D. & Weiss, A. (under review). Social relationships in nonhuman primates: potential models of pervasive disorders. In (P. Roubertoux, Ed.) Organism models of autism and pervasive neuro-developmental disorders.

Lefevre, C.E. , Wilson,  V.A.D. , Morton, F.B. , Brosnan,  S., Paukner, A. & Bates, T. C. (in prep.). Facial width-to-height ratio predicts dominance in the primate face.

Wilson, V. A. D., Gartner, M. C., Weiss, A. & Lenton, A. (in prep.). People, Pets and Personality: an exploratory analysis of pet ownership.

 

Presentations

Scottish Conference of Animal Behaviour, March 2012: People, Pets and Personality.

Behaviour and Evolution Research Group, November 2013: Status Signals in the Primate Face.

Scottish Primate Research Group Annual Meeting, January 2013: Personality in Squirrel Monkeys.