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Sexual selection and animal personality
Author(s) -
Schuett Wiebke,
Tregenza Tom,
Dall Sasha R. X.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
biological reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.993
H-Index - 165
eISSN - 1469-185X
pISSN - 1464-7931
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-185x.2009.00101.x
Subject(s) - personality , personality psychology , sexual selection , selection (genetic algorithm) , psychology , big five personality traits , mate choice , competition (biology) , consistency (knowledge bases) , social psychology , developmental psychology , biology , evolutionary biology , ecology , computer science , artificial intelligence , mating
Consistent individual behavioural tendencies, termed “personalities”, have been identified in a wide range of animals. Functional explanations for personality have been proposed, but as yet, very little consideration has been given to a possible role for sexual selection in maintaining differences in personality and its stability within individuals. We provide an overview of the available literature on the role of personality traits in intrasexual competition and mate choice in both human and non‐human animals and integrate this into a framework for considering how sexual selection can generate and maintain personality. For this, we consider the evolution and maintenance of both main aspects of animal personality: inter‐individual variation and intra‐individual consistency.