Personality links with lifespan in chimpanzees

Drew M. Altschul; William D Hopkins; Elizabeth S. Herrelko; Miho Inoue-Murayama; Tetsuro Matsuzawa; James E King; Stephen R Ross; Alexander Weiss

doi:10.7554/eLife.33781

Personality links with lifespan in chimpanzees

Drew M. Altschul, William D Hopkins, Elizabeth S. Herrelko, Miho Inoue-Murayama, Tetsuro Matsuzawa, James E King, Stephen R Ross, Alexander Weiss

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Life history strategies for optimizing individual fitness fall on a spectrum between maximizing reproductive efforts and maintaining physical health over time. Strategies across this spectrum are viable and different suites of personality traits evolved to support these strategies. Using data from 538 captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) we tested whether any of the dimensions of chimpanzee personality – agreeableness, conscientiousness, dominance, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness – were associated with longevity, an attribute of slow life history strategies that is especially important in primates given their relatively long lives. We found that higher agreeableness was related to longevity in males, with weaker evidence suggesting that higher openness is related to longer life in females. Our results link the literature on human and nonhuman primate survival and suggest that, for males, evolution has favored the protective effects of low aggression and high quality social bonds.

Original language	English
Article number	e33781
Number of pages	17
Journal	eLIFE
Volume	7
Early online date	9 Oct 2018
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.33781
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 9 Oct 2018

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AltschulEtalEL2018PersonalityLinksWithLifespanInChimpanzeesFinal published version, 665 KBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY)

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1 Finished

RA2661 Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology Phase 2. Main Budget.
Deary, I., Gale, C., Holmes, M., Logie, R., Maclullich, A., Porteous, D., Seckl, J., Starr, J., Wardlaw, J. & Okely, J.
1/09/13 → 31/08/19
Project: Research

ALEXANDER Weiss
- alex.weiss@ed.ac.uk
- School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences - Senior Lecturer
- Edinburgh Neuroscience
Person: Academic: Research Active

Cite this

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abstract = "Life history strategies for optimizing individual fitness fall on a spectrum between maximizing reproductive efforts and maintaining physical health over time. Strategies across this spectrum are viable and different suites of personality traits evolved to support these strategies. Using data from 538 captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) we tested whether any of the dimensions of chimpanzee personality – agreeableness, conscientiousness, dominance, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness – were associated with longevity, an attribute of slow life history strategies that is especially important in primates given their relatively long lives. We found that higher agreeableness was related to longevity in males, with weaker evidence suggesting that higher openness is related to longer life in females. Our results link the literature on human and nonhuman primate survival and suggest that, for males, evolution has favored the protective effects of low aggression and high quality social bonds.",

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AU - Hopkins, William D

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AU - Matsuzawa, Tetsuro

AU - King, James E

AU - Ross, Stephen R

AU - Weiss, Alexander

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Personality links with lifespan in chimpanzees

Abstract

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RA2661 Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology Phase 2. Main Budget.

ALEXANDER Weiss

Cite this