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Article: Animals have emotions and personalities. (Zoology).(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- USA TODAY
- Article date:
- December 1, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Society for the Advancement of Education. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Cats, dogs, hyenas, and other animals have personality traits in much the same way humans do, according to Samuel D. Gosling, a University of Texas at Austin psychologist who is working toward developing a new field in animal personality. He believes the biological mechanisms underlying these behavioral traits are similar across species. "The idea that nonhuman animals have unique personalities stems from the evolutionary continuity that exists between humans and other species. Unfortunately, there is no unified body of research on animal personality. Some of the early pioneers of psychology studied personality in animals, and then the subject disappeared. I suspect that ...