International Journal of Comparative Psychology

Personality research seeks to identify and understand underlying process associated with individual differences in dispositional traits. In humans, individual variation across personality traits have been found to associate with  mental health outcomes often times via common neurobiological processes.  This shared neurobiological basis demonstrates the value of personality research in elucidating processes associated with mental disorders. More recently, a burgeoning animal personality literature has made efforts to elucidate neurobiological and environmental mechanisms associated with variation in personality—within this literature, chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ) represent the most promising model species with respect to optimal translational value to humans. The purpose of the current paper was thus to review the chimpanzee personality literature, with particular emphasis on the organizational, genetic, environmental, and neuroscientific basis of individual variation in personality. We further present a primate-translational operationalization of personality pathology underscoring the notion that personality pathology is rooted within basic dispositions, with evidence of genetic and environmental contributions to such tendencies. Finally, benefits with regard to animal welfare and the National Institute of Mental Health’s Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) Initiative, as well as roadblocks associated with curtailment of research involving captive chimpanzees are reviewed. In sum, the current review highlights the importance of translational personality research with chimpanzees as an unparalleled animal model for investigations into the pathophysiology of human mental health.