Date of Award
Fall 1-5-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Dr. Liv Baker Van de Graaff
Second Advisor
Dr. Diana Reiss
Academic Program Adviser
Dr. Diana Reiss
Abstract
Neuroticism is a dimension of personality that was first defined for human psychology as a collective measure of excessive tendencies towards stress, anxiety, fear, unwarranted aggression and/or instability. In a two-part study, this project aimed to identify neuroticism as an observable personality dimension in domesticated cats, and to investigate if the expression of neuroticism varies on an individual and population level in correlation with an increase in environmental stressors and scarcity based upon degree of urbanization of the site. One component of the study surveyed cat owners about personality traits and daily lifestyle of their cats to test the viability of searching for a ‘Neuroticism’ dimension in domesticated cats and to see how it correlated with environmental variability. Results showed a latent variable correlating owner ratings of cats as anxious, timid, insecure, fearful of people, and tense, in line with prior neuroticism-dimensionality research. This provides further validation that neuroticism is a personality dimension in cats. To investigate the nature of neuroticism expression in feral cat colonies, trail cameras were deployed in New York state at four sites of varying degrees of urbanization. Behaviors (e.g., vigilance, startling, hiding) associated with stress, fear, anxiety, and aggression were categorized into ‘Red events’, whereas behaviors (e.g., grooming, playing, affiliative contact with a human care-giver) associated with being calm, happy and stable were categorized into ‘Green events’. Results show that the proportion of time cats spent engaging in Red Events increased with an increase in level of urbanity, with the most rural cats displaying them 9% of the time compared to the most urban at 30%. The most rural site displayed Green Events 19% of the time, compared to all other sites at
Recommended Citation
Ambrosino, Sophie, "Evaluating Differences in Expression of Neuroticism in Individual Homed Cats and Feral Cat Colonies Across Varying Degrees of Human Settlement" (2024). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/hc_sas_etds/1114