What Breed has Personality?

[Pilotman800]

RE: personality.

I just took a random course called Theories of personality at the local college (yes I'm weird and take random courses about random stuff from time to time) and it was very enlightening. The definition used by a lot of psychologists is as follows(and this is coming straight from my textbook "Perspectives on Personality" by Charles S Carver and Michael F Scheir):

"Personality is a dynamic organization of psychophysical systems that create the person's characteristic patterns of behavior, thoughts and feelings."

This definition makes several points:
- Personality isn't just a bunch of bits and pieces; it has organization
- Personality doesn't just lie there; it has a process of some sort
- personality is a force that helps determine how the person relates to the world
- Personality is not displayed in just one way, but in many ways; thoughts, behaviors and feelings.

If we take this definition as true, then we must conclude that chameleons have some sort of personality. A chameleon does not automatically eat food - they usually recognize hunger and will attempt to satiate it. They also identify friend and foe, as seen, especially, in mating. A female will not accept every male that she is placed with, nor will every male accept a female. There is indication of a thought process, no matter how minor, indicating a preference of partner. Is it such a stretch, then, to assume that there is even a preference for a mate based on visual clues? After all, chameleons are very visual creatures, especially during mating, with the colors going crazy and all. Who's to say a female veiled doesn't prefer the more blue veiled over the yellow veiled or vice versa? Chameleons also show personality in the way they interact with humans. Some chameleons will actually process some sort of emotion towards their owners, which can generally be placed into four categories: fear of the owner, indifference towards the owner, seeing the owner as a food source and seeing the owner as a trustworthy person. Now, many owners will report their cham reacting to them in many different ways throughout the chams life, depending on situations, but the baseline will generally fall under one of the four (or more) emotional reactions. This pretty much shows that the chams not only have some sort of emotional reaction to stimulus, but also that they are capable of reacting towards certain objects and people with a certain stimulus that the cham has decided upon, showing now only some sort of minor intelligence, but, according to our definition...PERSONALITY.

ANYWAAAYYY, I am rambling and I can't believe I just psychoanalyized a chameleon's personality. Hope this helps end some sort of debate.

That, sir, is a masterpiece. I saved it just incase my mom or anyone else ever gives me crap about owning a chameleon. Ill just print that out for her.

 

[sophiechameleon]

RE: personality.

I just took a random course called Theories of personality at the local college (yes I'm weird and take random courses about random stuff from time to time) and it was very enlightening. The definition used by a lot of psychologists is as follows(and this is coming straight from my textbook "Perspectives on Personality" by Charles S Carver and Michael F Scheir):

"Personality is a dynamic organization of psychophysical systems that create the person's characteristic patterns of behavior, thoughts and feelings."

This definition makes several points:
- Personality isn't just a bunch of bits and pieces; it has organization
- Personality doesn't just lie there; it has a process of some sort
- personality is a force that helps determine how the person relates to the world
- Personality is not displayed in just one way, but in many ways; thoughts, behaviors and feelings.

If we take this definition as true, then we must conclude that chameleons have some sort of personality. A chameleon does not automatically eat food - they usually recognize hunger and will attempt to satiate it. They also identify friend and foe, as seen, especially, in mating. A female will not accept every male that she is placed with, nor will every male accept a female. There is indication of a thought process, no matter how minor, indicating a preference of partner. Is it such a stretch, then, to assume that there is even a preference for a mate based on visual clues? After all, chameleons are very visual creatures, especially during mating, with the colors going crazy and all. Who's to say a female veiled doesn't prefer the more blue veiled over the yellow veiled or vice versa? Chameleons also show personality in the way they interact with humans. Some chameleons will actually process some sort of emotion towards their owners, which can generally be placed into four categories: fear of the owner, indifference towards the owner, seeing the owner as a food source and seeing the owner as a trustworthy person. Now, many owners will report their cham reacting to them in many different ways throughout the chams life, depending on situations, but the baseline will generally fall under one of the four (or more) emotional reactions. This pretty much shows that the chams not only have some sort of emotional reaction to stimulus, but also that they are capable of reacting towards certain objects and people with a certain stimulus that the cham has decided upon, showing now only some sort of minor intelligence, but, according to our definition...PERSONALITY.

ANYWAAAYYY, I am rambling and I can't believe I just psychoanalyized a chameleon's personality. Hope this helps end some sort of debate.

Wow that was extremely well put! That should be published or something haha I can honestly say that I agree with everything that you said haha I just wanna shake your hand after reading that haha well done!

 

[burnedrose]

Thanks you guys. After typing it, I kinda smiled to myself and thought "wow, maybe I should've done psych instead of marketing!"

 

[Carlton]

Thanks you guys. After typing it, I kinda smiled to myself and thought "wow, maybe I should've done psych instead of marketing!"

Well, you DID "market" your summary of what you learned to us pretty successfully!

 

[jojo2011]

I was just gonna ask this question

dudeking,
Thank you for this thread!! We just lost our Jackson Cham and as a family we were wondering if other types of Chams would fit our family. This was informative to read.

 

[flyty808]

ahter spending near an hour reading this forum and all of your great opinions i have to throw in my 2 cents.

as far as personality goes chams have none they have chameleonality for they are chameleons not people lol. and yes they all behave differnt thus being there individual creatures all creatures grow act eat sleep court/mate differnt, that is the joy and magic of life. if all chams of there own sub species did everything the same wouldent they all look the same, visual apperance is very similar to behavior very few look the same and same goes for how they act. i feel every living creature has its own (Ality) i think we over think it and lable it as personality. personality was defined for people more then animals thats why person is the first part of the word. even plants will grow and live differnt then its seedling brothers of sisters. and we lable that as characteristics. smart or dumb brain or no brain all creatures live there own lifes and act accordingly to there enviroment.
This is why i have come up with a new word called chameleonality. because in my honest opinion all chams have there own.

i hope i didnt offend any one with my off the wall opinion of chameleons and other creatures. and thanks for such a great discussion.

Tyler

 

[allencg101]

all my chams have their own personality pandora my love she is the sweetest thing and one of the smartest pets/child i have ever had. she is so friendly and a sweety pie i love her to death and don't know what i would do if i ever lose her. El grumpo is a trip he will hand feed but when you try to take him out of his cage he gets all wiggidy whack wild on ya!!!

 

[sdheli420]

Chameleons are even for reptiles relative unintelligent. They dont have any "personality".

sorry completey dis agree...actually im quite confused on this...they ALL have personality..maybe you just cant see it..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb8-JpvzGiM

as for what sub species have the best, i cant say..but i have had some very friendly jacksons..(even had a friendly "joust" with one of my males once..i guess he was bothered i was cleaning his cage so he slowly walked over to me and pushed my hand off his branch, so i pushed back a lil, and he got all bright and was jousting me!! lol..so i let him joust for a sec and push my hand off, and let him win..he got all bright and happy that day, like he was the "big man" haha)

 

[Pilotman800]

sorry completey dis agree...actually im quite confused on this...they ALL have personality..maybe you just cant see it..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb8-JpvzGiM

as for what sub species have the best, i cant say..but i have had some very friendly jacksons..(even had a friendly "joust" with one of my males once..i guess he was bothered i was cleaning his cage so he slowly walked over to me and pushed my hand off his branch, so i pushed back a lil, and he got all bright and was jousting me!! lol..so i let him joust for a sec and push my hand off, and let him win..he got all bright and happy that day, like he was the "big man" haha)

Is that your video? If so, your chams are awesome! I hope my little baby grows up to be just like them.

 

[sdheli420]

Is that your video? If so, your chams are awesome! I hope my little baby grows up to be just like them.

yes thats marcella and gixxer, they are marcella female (11 months old) and gixxer my male (7 months old)...and they definatley have personalities, and they are very smart..out of my friends they recognize the people they like, and stay in the back of the tree when its people that are scared of them or dont like them..they are also the only lizard, or reptile for that fact that will actually look you in the eye..they have intelligents (some i think more than people even..lol)

 

[Olimpia]

What a neat video! They definitely like you, that's for sure.