Evolutionary emergence of responsive and unresponsive personalities.

ABSTRACT: In many animal species, individuals differ consistently in suites of correlated behaviors, comparable with human personalities. Increasing evidence suggests that one of the fundamental factors structuring personality differences is the responsiveness of individuals to environmental stimuli. Whereas some individuals tend to be highly responsive to such stimuli, others are unresponsive and show routine-like behaviors. Much research has focused on the proximate causes of these differences but little is known about their evolutionary origin. Here, we provide an evolutionary explanation. We develop a simple but general evolutionary model that is based on two key ingredients. First, the benefits of responsiveness are frequency-dependent; that is, being responsive is advantageous when rare but di

SUBMITTER: Wolf M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2572984 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature