Assessing Chimpanzee Personality and Subjective Well-Being in Japan

Alexander Weiss, Miho Inoue-Murayama, Kyung-Won Hong, Eiji Inoue, Toshifumi Udono,Tomomi Ochiai, Tetsuro Matsuzawa, Satoshi Hirata, AND James E. King

日本に暮らすチンパンジー１４６個体について、その個性（性格）と幸福度について評定をおこなった。当該のチンパンジーをよく知る複数の人間が、質問紙で答えるという方法である。質問紙は、「ホミノイド性格評価質問紙（ＨＰＱ）」と名づけられたもので、全部で４３の形容詞について、当該個体がどれくらいあてはまるか否かを評定する。その評定尺度をもとに多変量解析して６つの主要領域を特定した。その結果を、アメリカならびにオーストラリアで得たチンパンジー１００個体での評定結果と比較した。評定する人間の文化の違いや質問紙の言語の違いとは関係なく、きわめて安定した評定結果が得られた。つまり、チンパンジーの性格や幸福度を、ＨＰＱ質問紙によって適切に評価できることが示された。 アメリカ霊長類学会誌、２００９年、７１巻：２８３－２９２

American Journal of Primatology 71:283–292 (2009)

We tested whether the cultural background of raters influenced ratings of chimpanzee personality. Our study involved comparing personality and subjective well-being ratings of 146 chimpanzees in Japan that were housed in zoos, research institutes, and a retirement sanctuary to ratings of chimpanzees in US and Australian zoos. Personality ratings were made on a translated and expanded version of a questionnaire used to rate chimpanzees in the US and Australia. Subjective well-being ratings were made on a translated version of a questionnaire used to rate chimpanzees in the US and Australia. The mean interrater reliabilities of the 43 original adjectives did not markedly differ between the present sample and the original sample of 100 zoo chimpanzees in the US. Interrater reliabilities of these samples were highly correlated, suggesting that their rank order was preserved. Comparison of the factor structures for the Japanese sample and for the original sample of chimpanzees in US zoos indicated that the overall structure was replicated and that the Dominance, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness domains clearly generalized. Consistent with earlier studies, older chimpanzees had higher Dominance and lower Extraversion and Openness scores. Correlations between the six domain scores and subjective well-being were comparable to those for chimpanzees housed in the US and Australia. These findings suggest that chimpanzee personality ratings are not affected by the culture of the raters. Am. J. Primatol. 71:283–292, 2009.

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