How Many Dimensions are Needed to Describe Temperament in Animals: A Factor Reanalysis of Two Data Sets

Autor: Budaev, Sergey V
Rok vydání: 1998
Předmět:
Zdroj: Budaev, Sergey V. (1998). How Many Dimensions are Needed to Describe Temperament in Animals: A Factor Reanalysis of Two Data Sets. International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 11(1). Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/522677n7
ISSN: 2168-3344
0889-3667
DOI: 10.46867/c4ws3n
Popis: Factor analysis has commonly been used to infer the dimensions of animal temperament. However, the results were often complicated by large number of broad and situation-specific factors caused by low psychometric adequacy of the correlation matrices,undermining the assumptions of factor analysis. In this study I reanalyzed the datasets obtained by Royce, Foley & Yeudall (1973) and Gervai & Csanyi (1985) including,however, only the variables with high correlations (multiple R^ > 0.3) and psychometric adequacies (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkinmeasure > 0.5). This yielded more stable andsimpler factor solutions than in the original studies. Specifically, even though the present reanalysiscannot rule out the existence of other temperament factors, it indicates thattwo general dimensions, Activity-Exploration and Fear-Avoidance, are present in suchdiverse species as mice and the paradise fish.
Databáze: OpenAIRE