Lindsay Murray - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Lindsay Murray

Journal of Affective Disorders, 2019

Human Nature, Nov 6, 2023

Honest signalling theory suggests that humans and chimpanzees can extract socially relevant infor... more Honest signalling theory suggests that humans and chimpanzees can extract socially relevant information relating to personality from the faces of their conspecifics. Humans are also able to extract information from chimpanzees' faces. Here, we examine whether personality characteristics of chimpanzees, including measures of psychopathy, can be discerned based purely on facial morphology in photographs. Twenty-one chimpanzees were given naïve and expert personality ratings on the Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) and the Chimpanzee Triarchic Model of Psychopathy (CHMP-Tri) before and following behavioural observations. Characteristics relating to openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and disinhibition could be distinguished from the faces of chimpanzees. Individuals higher on disinhibition have lower scores on conscientiousness and emotional stability and higher scores on extraversion, while those higher on meanness have lower conscientiousness and agreeableness. Facial expressions are linked to personality traits present in the TIPI and CHMP-Tri models: the Relaxed Face and the Grooming Face were displayed more by chimpanzees higher on agreeableness, whereas the Compressed Lips Face was observed more in those individuals higher on boldness, and the Full Open Grin was displayed more by chimpanzees higher on extraversion but lower on emotional stability and conscientiousness. Facial expressions were also found to be associated with particular behavioural contexts, namely the Grooming Face in affiliative contexts and the Relaxed and Relaxed Open Mouth Faces in neutral contexts. Dominant chimpanzees display higher levels of boldness and more Compressed Lips Faces, Relaxed Open Mouth Faces, and Grooming Faces than subordinate individuals. These findings support and extend evidence for an honest signalling system and a personality structure shared between humans and chimpanzees. Future research could further explore how personality is conveyed through the face, perhaps through more than just singular aspects of character, and maybe reflecting what chimpanzees themselves are able to do.

Journal of Comparative Psychology, 2020

The anomalous position of gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in the capacity for self-recognition... more The anomalous position of gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in the capacity for self-recognition remains puzzling. The standard measure of self-recognition is Gallup's (1970) mark test that assesses an individual's ability to recognize its altered image in a mirror following the application of paint marks to visually inaccessible areas. Here, the results of a small-scale pilot study are presented, utilizing video playback through a TV monitor, to examine behavioral differences indicative of developing self-recognition. The behaviors of 4 Western lowland gorillas at Bristol Zoo, United Kingdom, were observed while watching a TV screen during 5 conditions: blank screen, white noise interference, footage of unfamiliar gorillas, self previously recorded, and self-live. Differences were predicted in the frequency of the gorillas' observed behaviors when viewing each of the conditions: specifically, that there would be more visual inspection, contingent body and facial movements, and self-exploration in the self-recorded and self-live conditions compared with the other conditions. These predictions were partially supported. No agonistic or fear responses were observed, and self-exploration was only seen in the self-live condition. During live playback, contingency-checking movements and self-exploration of the mouth were observed, particularly in the youngest gorilla, providing important video evidence of a close parallel to the mouth exploratory behavior witnessed in self-recognizing chimpanzees. On the basis of these preliminary findings of differentiated spontaneous behaviors, a tentative framework is proposed for categorizing gorillas according to levels of developing self-recognition along a continuum. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Human Nature, 2019

Humans are strongly lateralized for manual gestures at both individual and population levels. In ... more Humans are strongly lateralized for manual gestures at both individual and population levels. In contrast, the laterality bias in primates is less strong, leading some to suggest that lateralization evolved after the Pan and Homo lineages diverged. However, laterality in humans is also context-dependent, suggesting that observed differences in lateralization between primates and humans may be related to external factors such as the complexity of the social environment. Here we address this question in wild chimpanzees and examine the extent to which the laterality of manual gestures is associated with social complexity. Right-handed gestures were more strongly associated with goal-directed communication such as repair through elaboration in response to communication failure than left-handed gestures. Right-handed gestures occurred in evolutionarily urgent contexts such as in interactions with central individuals in the network, including grooming reciprocity and mating, whereas left-handed gestures occurred in less-urgent contexts, such as travel and play. Right-handed gestures occurred in smaller parties and in the absence of social competition relative to lefthanded gestures. Right-handed gestures increased the rate of activities indicating high physiological arousal in the recipient, whereas left-handed gestures reduced it. This shows that right-and left-handed gestures differ in cognitive and social complexity, with right-handed gestures facilitating more complex interactions in simpler social settings, whereas left-handed gestures facilitate more rewarding interactions in complex social settings. Differences in laterality between other primates and humans are likely to be driven by differences in the complexity of both the cognitive skills underpinning social interactions and the social environment.

Journal of Comparative Psychology, 2020

Mirror self-recognition (MSR), usually considered a marker of self-awareness, occurs in several s... more Mirror self-recognition (MSR), usually considered a marker of self-awareness, occurs in several species and may reflect a capacity that has evolved in small incremental steps. In line with research on human development and building on previous research adopting a gradualist framework, we categorized the initial mirror responses of naïve spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) according to four levels. We compared social, exploratory, contingent and selfexploratory responses to a mirror and faux mirror during three short trials. If spider monkeys respond as most monkey species, we predicted they would perform at level 0, mainly showing social behavior toward their mirror-image. However, because spider monkeys show enhancement of certain cognitive skills comparable to those of great ape species, we predicted that they would perform at level 1a (showing exploratory behavior) or 1b (showing contingent behavior). GLMMs revealed that monkeys looked behind and visually inspected the mirror significantly more in the mirror than the faux mirror condition. Although the monkeys engaged in contingent body movements at the mirror, this trend was not significant. Strikingly, they showed no social behaviors toward their mirror-image. We also measured self-scratching as an indicator of anxiety and found no differences in frequencies of self-scratching between conditions. Therefore, in contrast to most findings on other species, spider monkeys did not treat their image as another monkey during their initial exposure to the mirror. In fact, they reached at least level 1a within minutes of mirror exposure. These responses recommend spider monkeys as good candidates for further explorations into monkey self-recognition.

Research in developmental disabilities, Jan 25, 2016

Factors predicting the emotional well-being of adult siblings of those with developmental disabil... more Factors predicting the emotional well-being of adult siblings of those with developmental disability (DD) remain under-researched. In this study adult siblings of individuals with Down's syndrome (DS), autism (ASD), Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) and those with DD but with unknown aetiology (DUA) were compared with each other and a closely-matched control group to ascertain if sibling disability type made a difference to anxiety and/or depression levels. Also considered was the interactive effect of gender, age, parental and sibling educational attainment levels, socio-economic status and birth order on anxiety and depression outcomes. With the exception of siblings of those with DS, adult siblings of those with ASD, PWS and DUA reported significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression than the control group. There were some predictive effects of the demographic variables upon anxiety and depression but none common to all disability types and no moderating effects of demograph...

Animal Cognition

Mirror self-recognition (MSR), widely regarded as an indicator of self-awareness, has not been de... more Mirror self-recognition (MSR), widely regarded as an indicator of self-awareness, has not been demonstrated consistently in gorillas. We aimed to examine this issue by setting out a method to evaluate gorilla self-recognition studies that is objective, quantifiable, and easy to replicate. Using Suarez and Gallup’s (J Hum Evol 10:175–183, 1981) study as a reference point, we drew up a list of 15 methodological criteria and assigned scores to all published studies of gorilla MSR for both methodology and outcomes. Key features of studies finding both mark-directed and spontaneous self-directed responses included visually inaccessible marks, controls for tactile and olfactory cues, subjects who were at least 5 years old, and clearly distinguishing between responses in front of versus away from the mirror. Additional important criteria include videotaping the tests, having more than one subject, subjects with adequate social rearing, reporting post-marking observations with mirror absent...

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

International Journal of Primatology

Management of primates in captivity often presents the challenge of introducing new individuals i... more Management of primates in captivity often presents the challenge of introducing new individuals into a group, and research investigating the stability of the social network in the medium term after the introduction can help inform management decisions. We investigated the behavior of a group of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) housed at Chester Zoo, UK over 12 months (divided into three periods of 4 months) following the introduction of a new adult female. We recorded grooming, proximity, other affiliative behaviors, and agonistic behaviors and used social network analysis to investigate the stability, reciprocity, and structure of the group, to examine the effect of rearing history on grooming network position and the role of sex in agonistic behavior. Both the grooming and agonistic networks correlated across all three periods, while affiliative networks correlated only between periods 2 and 3. Males had significantly higher out-degree centrality in agonistic behaviors than females, ...

Journal of autism and developmental disorders, Sep 1, 2016

Adult siblings of individuals with developmental disabilities often experience higher levels of a... more Adult siblings of individuals with developmental disabilities often experience higher levels of anxiety than individuals in the general population. The present study tested whether perceived parenting could mediate the relationship between attachment styles and anxiety in the sibling group compared to a control group. Little association was found between perceived parenting and attachment styles or anxiety for the siblings but there were robust and expected findings for the control. Adult attachment-related-anxiety was a significant unique predictor of anxiety in the sibling group but there was no mediational role for perceived parenting. Conversely, the majority of parenting styles significantly mediated the relationship between attachment and anxiety in the control. Implications for the atypical findings in the sibling group are discussed.

Personality and Temperament in Nonhuman Primates, 2011

An important reason for measuring personality in any species is the determination of the predicti... more An important reason for measuring personality in any species is the determination of the predictive power between personality ratings and manifest behavior. In this chapter, I review what is known to date about the relationships between personality traits and overt behaviors in primates. The majority of studies that have found such links have done so at the factor level, so

British Journal of Educational Psychology, 2008

Background. Studies have shown that peer victimization is associated with psychological maladjust... more Background. Studies have shown that peer victimization is associated with psychological maladjustment, and have implicated such maladjustment in disrupted ability to concentrate. Aims. To investigate the levels of, and associations between, physical, verbal, and social exclusion victimization, fear of future victimization, and disrupted classroom concentration. Sample. Participants consisted of 485 pupils aged 10-11 drawn from 11 junior schools in the UK. Method. Peer-and self-nominations of physical, verbal, and social exclusion victimization were collected in individual interviews. Self-reports of other variables were collected either individually or in small groups. Results. A substantial minority of pupils reported high levels of fear of future victimization and disrupted concentration on class work, and girls reported higher levels of fear of future victimization than boys. All three types of self-reported victimization, all three types of peer-reported victimization, and fear of all three types of future victimization predicted disrupted concentration on class work. Fear of future social exclusion moderated the association between peer-reported social exclusion and disrupted concentration on class work. Conclusions. In addition to tackling victimization per se, allaying pupils' fears of it happening to them in the future is called for in order to address a hitherto largely overlooked correlate, and possible source, of disrupted classroom concentration.

British Journal of …, 2009

Background. Prior studies outside of the UK have shown that peer victimization is negatively asso... more Background. Prior studies outside of the UK have shown that peer victimization is negatively associated with school adjustment. Aims. To examine concurrent and short-term longitudinal associations between peer victimization (physical, malicious teasing, deliberate social exclusion, and malicious gossiping) and two measures of school adjustment (school liking and recess liking), and test if these associations were moderated by year and sex. Sample. A UK sample of 429 pupils in Years 4, 5, and 6 (Grades 3, 4, and 5, respectively, in USA) participated in the Autumn/Winter (Time 1) and 189 of these provided follow-up data during the Spring/Summer (Time 2) of the same school year. Method. Peer nominations of victimization, and self-reports of school adjustment were collected in individual and small group interviews. Results. At time 2 (but not Time 1), victimization predicted concurrent school liking among year 6 pupils but not among year 4/5 pupils, and victimization predicted recess liking among all pupils. Victimization also predicted changes in School liking among boys (not girls) and among Year 6 (not Year 4/5) pupils, and victimization predicted changes in recess liking among all pupils. Conclusions. The associations between victimization and poor school adjustment found elsewhere were replicated with this British sample. The implications of these results for children's social adjustment at school were discussed.

Journal of Affective Disorders, 2019

Human Nature, Nov 6, 2023

Honest signalling theory suggests that humans and chimpanzees can extract socially relevant infor... more Honest signalling theory suggests that humans and chimpanzees can extract socially relevant information relating to personality from the faces of their conspecifics. Humans are also able to extract information from chimpanzees' faces. Here, we examine whether personality characteristics of chimpanzees, including measures of psychopathy, can be discerned based purely on facial morphology in photographs. Twenty-one chimpanzees were given naïve and expert personality ratings on the Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) and the Chimpanzee Triarchic Model of Psychopathy (CHMP-Tri) before and following behavioural observations. Characteristics relating to openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and disinhibition could be distinguished from the faces of chimpanzees. Individuals higher on disinhibition have lower scores on conscientiousness and emotional stability and higher scores on extraversion, while those higher on meanness have lower conscientiousness and agreeableness. Facial expressions are linked to personality traits present in the TIPI and CHMP-Tri models: the Relaxed Face and the Grooming Face were displayed more by chimpanzees higher on agreeableness, whereas the Compressed Lips Face was observed more in those individuals higher on boldness, and the Full Open Grin was displayed more by chimpanzees higher on extraversion but lower on emotional stability and conscientiousness. Facial expressions were also found to be associated with particular behavioural contexts, namely the Grooming Face in affiliative contexts and the Relaxed and Relaxed Open Mouth Faces in neutral contexts. Dominant chimpanzees display higher levels of boldness and more Compressed Lips Faces, Relaxed Open Mouth Faces, and Grooming Faces than subordinate individuals. These findings support and extend evidence for an honest signalling system and a personality structure shared between humans and chimpanzees. Future research could further explore how personality is conveyed through the face, perhaps through more than just singular aspects of character, and maybe reflecting what chimpanzees themselves are able to do.

Journal of Comparative Psychology, 2020

The anomalous position of gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in the capacity for self-recognition... more The anomalous position of gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in the capacity for self-recognition remains puzzling. The standard measure of self-recognition is Gallup's (1970) mark test that assesses an individual's ability to recognize its altered image in a mirror following the application of paint marks to visually inaccessible areas. Here, the results of a small-scale pilot study are presented, utilizing video playback through a TV monitor, to examine behavioral differences indicative of developing self-recognition. The behaviors of 4 Western lowland gorillas at Bristol Zoo, United Kingdom, were observed while watching a TV screen during 5 conditions: blank screen, white noise interference, footage of unfamiliar gorillas, self previously recorded, and self-live. Differences were predicted in the frequency of the gorillas' observed behaviors when viewing each of the conditions: specifically, that there would be more visual inspection, contingent body and facial movements, and self-exploration in the self-recorded and self-live conditions compared with the other conditions. These predictions were partially supported. No agonistic or fear responses were observed, and self-exploration was only seen in the self-live condition. During live playback, contingency-checking movements and self-exploration of the mouth were observed, particularly in the youngest gorilla, providing important video evidence of a close parallel to the mouth exploratory behavior witnessed in self-recognizing chimpanzees. On the basis of these preliminary findings of differentiated spontaneous behaviors, a tentative framework is proposed for categorizing gorillas according to levels of developing self-recognition along a continuum. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Human Nature, 2019

Humans are strongly lateralized for manual gestures at both individual and population levels. In ... more Humans are strongly lateralized for manual gestures at both individual and population levels. In contrast, the laterality bias in primates is less strong, leading some to suggest that lateralization evolved after the Pan and Homo lineages diverged. However, laterality in humans is also context-dependent, suggesting that observed differences in lateralization between primates and humans may be related to external factors such as the complexity of the social environment. Here we address this question in wild chimpanzees and examine the extent to which the laterality of manual gestures is associated with social complexity. Right-handed gestures were more strongly associated with goal-directed communication such as repair through elaboration in response to communication failure than left-handed gestures. Right-handed gestures occurred in evolutionarily urgent contexts such as in interactions with central individuals in the network, including grooming reciprocity and mating, whereas left-handed gestures occurred in less-urgent contexts, such as travel and play. Right-handed gestures occurred in smaller parties and in the absence of social competition relative to lefthanded gestures. Right-handed gestures increased the rate of activities indicating high physiological arousal in the recipient, whereas left-handed gestures reduced it. This shows that right-and left-handed gestures differ in cognitive and social complexity, with right-handed gestures facilitating more complex interactions in simpler social settings, whereas left-handed gestures facilitate more rewarding interactions in complex social settings. Differences in laterality between other primates and humans are likely to be driven by differences in the complexity of both the cognitive skills underpinning social interactions and the social environment.

Journal of Comparative Psychology, 2020

Mirror self-recognition (MSR), usually considered a marker of self-awareness, occurs in several s... more Mirror self-recognition (MSR), usually considered a marker of self-awareness, occurs in several species and may reflect a capacity that has evolved in small incremental steps. In line with research on human development and building on previous research adopting a gradualist framework, we categorized the initial mirror responses of naïve spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) according to four levels. We compared social, exploratory, contingent and selfexploratory responses to a mirror and faux mirror during three short trials. If spider monkeys respond as most monkey species, we predicted they would perform at level 0, mainly showing social behavior toward their mirror-image. However, because spider monkeys show enhancement of certain cognitive skills comparable to those of great ape species, we predicted that they would perform at level 1a (showing exploratory behavior) or 1b (showing contingent behavior). GLMMs revealed that monkeys looked behind and visually inspected the mirror significantly more in the mirror than the faux mirror condition. Although the monkeys engaged in contingent body movements at the mirror, this trend was not significant. Strikingly, they showed no social behaviors toward their mirror-image. We also measured self-scratching as an indicator of anxiety and found no differences in frequencies of self-scratching between conditions. Therefore, in contrast to most findings on other species, spider monkeys did not treat their image as another monkey during their initial exposure to the mirror. In fact, they reached at least level 1a within minutes of mirror exposure. These responses recommend spider monkeys as good candidates for further explorations into monkey self-recognition.

Research in developmental disabilities, Jan 25, 2016

Factors predicting the emotional well-being of adult siblings of those with developmental disabil... more Factors predicting the emotional well-being of adult siblings of those with developmental disability (DD) remain under-researched. In this study adult siblings of individuals with Down's syndrome (DS), autism (ASD), Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) and those with DD but with unknown aetiology (DUA) were compared with each other and a closely-matched control group to ascertain if sibling disability type made a difference to anxiety and/or depression levels. Also considered was the interactive effect of gender, age, parental and sibling educational attainment levels, socio-economic status and birth order on anxiety and depression outcomes. With the exception of siblings of those with DS, adult siblings of those with ASD, PWS and DUA reported significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression than the control group. There were some predictive effects of the demographic variables upon anxiety and depression but none common to all disability types and no moderating effects of demograph...

Animal Cognition

Mirror self-recognition (MSR), widely regarded as an indicator of self-awareness, has not been de... more Mirror self-recognition (MSR), widely regarded as an indicator of self-awareness, has not been demonstrated consistently in gorillas. We aimed to examine this issue by setting out a method to evaluate gorilla self-recognition studies that is objective, quantifiable, and easy to replicate. Using Suarez and Gallup’s (J Hum Evol 10:175–183, 1981) study as a reference point, we drew up a list of 15 methodological criteria and assigned scores to all published studies of gorilla MSR for both methodology and outcomes. Key features of studies finding both mark-directed and spontaneous self-directed responses included visually inaccessible marks, controls for tactile and olfactory cues, subjects who were at least 5 years old, and clearly distinguishing between responses in front of versus away from the mirror. Additional important criteria include videotaping the tests, having more than one subject, subjects with adequate social rearing, reporting post-marking observations with mirror absent...

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

International Journal of Primatology

Management of primates in captivity often presents the challenge of introducing new individuals i... more Management of primates in captivity often presents the challenge of introducing new individuals into a group, and research investigating the stability of the social network in the medium term after the introduction can help inform management decisions. We investigated the behavior of a group of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) housed at Chester Zoo, UK over 12 months (divided into three periods of 4 months) following the introduction of a new adult female. We recorded grooming, proximity, other affiliative behaviors, and agonistic behaviors and used social network analysis to investigate the stability, reciprocity, and structure of the group, to examine the effect of rearing history on grooming network position and the role of sex in agonistic behavior. Both the grooming and agonistic networks correlated across all three periods, while affiliative networks correlated only between periods 2 and 3. Males had significantly higher out-degree centrality in agonistic behaviors than females, ...

Journal of autism and developmental disorders, Sep 1, 2016

Adult siblings of individuals with developmental disabilities often experience higher levels of a... more Adult siblings of individuals with developmental disabilities often experience higher levels of anxiety than individuals in the general population. The present study tested whether perceived parenting could mediate the relationship between attachment styles and anxiety in the sibling group compared to a control group. Little association was found between perceived parenting and attachment styles or anxiety for the siblings but there were robust and expected findings for the control. Adult attachment-related-anxiety was a significant unique predictor of anxiety in the sibling group but there was no mediational role for perceived parenting. Conversely, the majority of parenting styles significantly mediated the relationship between attachment and anxiety in the control. Implications for the atypical findings in the sibling group are discussed.

Personality and Temperament in Nonhuman Primates, 2011

An important reason for measuring personality in any species is the determination of the predicti... more An important reason for measuring personality in any species is the determination of the predictive power between personality ratings and manifest behavior. In this chapter, I review what is known to date about the relationships between personality traits and overt behaviors in primates. The majority of studies that have found such links have done so at the factor level, so

British Journal of Educational Psychology, 2008

Background. Studies have shown that peer victimization is associated with psychological maladjust... more Background. Studies have shown that peer victimization is associated with psychological maladjustment, and have implicated such maladjustment in disrupted ability to concentrate. Aims. To investigate the levels of, and associations between, physical, verbal, and social exclusion victimization, fear of future victimization, and disrupted classroom concentration. Sample. Participants consisted of 485 pupils aged 10-11 drawn from 11 junior schools in the UK. Method. Peer-and self-nominations of physical, verbal, and social exclusion victimization were collected in individual interviews. Self-reports of other variables were collected either individually or in small groups. Results. A substantial minority of pupils reported high levels of fear of future victimization and disrupted concentration on class work, and girls reported higher levels of fear of future victimization than boys. All three types of self-reported victimization, all three types of peer-reported victimization, and fear of all three types of future victimization predicted disrupted concentration on class work. Fear of future social exclusion moderated the association between peer-reported social exclusion and disrupted concentration on class work. Conclusions. In addition to tackling victimization per se, allaying pupils' fears of it happening to them in the future is called for in order to address a hitherto largely overlooked correlate, and possible source, of disrupted classroom concentration.

British Journal of …, 2009

Background. Prior studies outside of the UK have shown that peer victimization is negatively asso... more Background. Prior studies outside of the UK have shown that peer victimization is negatively associated with school adjustment. Aims. To examine concurrent and short-term longitudinal associations between peer victimization (physical, malicious teasing, deliberate social exclusion, and malicious gossiping) and two measures of school adjustment (school liking and recess liking), and test if these associations were moderated by year and sex. Sample. A UK sample of 429 pupils in Years 4, 5, and 6 (Grades 3, 4, and 5, respectively, in USA) participated in the Autumn/Winter (Time 1) and 189 of these provided follow-up data during the Spring/Summer (Time 2) of the same school year. Method. Peer nominations of victimization, and self-reports of school adjustment were collected in individual and small group interviews. Results. At time 2 (but not Time 1), victimization predicted concurrent school liking among year 6 pupils but not among year 4/5 pupils, and victimization predicted recess liking among all pupils. Victimization also predicted changes in School liking among boys (not girls) and among Year 6 (not Year 4/5) pupils, and victimization predicted changes in recess liking among all pupils. Conclusions. The associations between victimization and poor school adjustment found elsewhere were replicated with this British sample. The implications of these results for children's social adjustment at school were discussed.