Personalities and risk taking behaviour

Loonstra, A.H.J. (2012) Personalities and risk taking behaviour. Bachelor's Thesis, Biology.

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Abstract

Since behavioural biologists found evidence that behaviour of individuals is much less flexible than previously thought (R’eale et al. 2007) evolutionary and theoretical biologists developed theories how personalities evolve and how different personality traits coexist in one population (Dingemanse et al. 2010). In this thesis I collect empirical evidence for the model that Wolf et al. 2007 introduced. His model suggests that personality traits are related to differences in risk-taking behaviour. Variation in individual prospects should co vary with risk taking behaviour causing some individuals to show risk prone and other risk aversive behaviour types. I found evidence for this theory in the Namibian rock Agama (Carter et al. 2010), Bluegill-sunfish (Wilson et al. 2009), sticklebacks(Bell. 2006) and wild fiddler crabs (Reaney et al. 2007), but not in great tits (Van Oers et al. 2004), European house crickets (Wilson et al. 2010) and sticklebacks (Bell 2006). In other words there are studies that show a correlation in the occurrence of risky-personality traits within a species, but other studies don’t. This thesis concludes that the relation between different risk-taking behavioural traits is not yet clear. The ecological context influences the correlation between risky-behavioural traits and future research has to provide answers on a more quantitative basis.

Item Type:	Thesis (Bachelor's Thesis)
Degree programme:	Biology
Thesis type:	Bachelor's Thesis
Language:	English
Date Deposited:	15 Feb 2018 07:47
Last Modified:	15 Feb 2018 07:47
URI:	https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/9876

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