title: Personality and facial morphology: Links to assertiveness and neuroticism in capuchins (Sapajus [Cebus] apella).
abstract: Personality has important links to health, social status, and life history outcomes (e.g. longevity and reproductive success). Human facial morphology appears to signal aspects of one's personality to others, raising questions about the evolutionary origins of such associations (e.g. signals of mate quality). Studies in non-human primates may help to achieve this goal: for instance, facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) in the male face has been associated with dominance not only in humans but also in capuchin monkeys. Here we test the association of personality (assertiveness, openness, attentiveness, neuroticism, and sociability) with fWHR, face width/lower-face height, and lower face/face height ratio in 64 capuchins (Sapajus apella). In a structural model of personality and facial metrics, fWHR was associated with assertiveness, while lower face/face height ratio was associated with neuroticism (erratic vs. stable behaviour) and attentiveness (helpfulness vs. distractibility). Facial morphology thus appears to associate with three personality domains, which may act as a signal of status in capuchins.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, UK ; Scottish Primate Research Group, UK.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of York, UK.
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Lefevre
authors.affiliation: Scottish Primate Research Group, UK ; Psychology, School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, UK.
authors.forename: F B
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Morton
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Language Research Centre, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: S F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Brosnan
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Comparative Ethology, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Poolesville, MD, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paukner
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, UK ; Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, University of Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: T C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Bates
keywords: Capuchin; Sapajus; assertiveness; attentiveness; face morphology; neuroticism; personality