イヌの「性格」に関する研究の展開

抄録

The domestic dog (Canis familiaris) is the oldest domesticated species and a fascinating model to understand the evolution and development of “personality” concepts. This review summarizes the recent progress in personality research in dogs. The first part of the review introduces the process of evolution and domestication in dogs and discusses a few pioneering studies on this topic. This discussion is followed by details on personality measurements, the structure of personality traits, and the issue of temporal consistency of personality in dogs. In the subsequent sections, I discuss the genetic factors and selection pressures that influence personality in dogs, focusing on differences within an individual breed and across breeds. In this review, I suggest that the personality traits of dogs are measurable in terms of reliability and validity and that they have been shaped by a unique and complicated pathway in the context of dog–human interactions. Further scientific understanding of the concepts of personality is necessary and should be studied by incorporating psychological and biological perspectives.