动物个体差异的研究与人格心理学的关系已经引起了很多学者的关注。虽然对动物个体差异有许多相关描述,但文章采用一个广泛的工作定义,即动物在不同的情景下一致表现出来的一套相关行为。对动物个体差异的测量需要考虑物种间的可比较性和物种内的充分性。文章从人格结构的探讨,遗传和环境的作用,理解人格与认知、健康的关系,以及个体与环境的匹配等方面讨论和分析了动物个体差异的研究对人格心理学的可能贡献。
Studies on animal individual differences and its association with personality psychology have gamed increasing research attention and been intensively investigated by many researchers. Despite of many other descriptive terms, a broad working definition of animal individual differences is "animal personality", which refers to a set of related behavioral patterns with consistency across time and situations. Researchers of animal individual differences should ensure their selected research variables are comprehensive in intra-species and comparable in inter-species. The contribution and value of studies on animal individual differences to personality psychology were discussed mainly in aspects of personality constructs, influence of genetics and environment, association of personality with cognition and health, as well as personality-environment match.