Subjective well-being is heritable and genetically correlated with dominance in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

A Weiss, J E King, R M Enns

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

The hypothesis that subjective well-being (SWB) is heritable and genetically correlated with Dominance was tested using 128 zoo chimpanzees. Dominance was a chimpanzee-specific personality factor including items reflecting Extroversion and low Neuroticism. SWB was measured with a 4-item scale. The best behavior genetic model included additive genetic and nonshared environmental effects for SWB and Dominance, marginal maternal effects for SWB, a high genetic correlation, and a loco nonshared environmental correlation. Results indicated that the shared variance between SWB and Dominance was a consequence of common genes and that the unique variance between SWB and Dominance was a consequence of the nonshared environment. These findings indicate that common genes may underlie the correlation between human personality factors and SWB.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1141-1149
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Personality and Social Psychology
Volume83
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2002

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • RESTRICTED MAXIMUM-LIKELIHOOD
  • VARIANCE-COMPONENTS
  • MAJOR DEPRESSION
  • NEGATIVE AFFECT
  • ANIMAL-MODELS
  • SELF-ESTEEM
  • PERSONALITY
  • HAPPINESS
  • EXTROVERSION
  • ENVIRONMENTS

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Subjective well-being is heritable and genetically correlated with dominance in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this