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Behavioral Inhibition in Nonhuman Primates: The Elephant in the Room

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Behavioral Inhibition

Abstract

Behavioral inhibition (BI) refers to a pattern of timidity and avoidance in the face of novel people, objects, or situations. It was a concept originally identified in humans, but there is no a priori reason to assume that it is specific to our species. Here, we examine some of the conceptual and methodological issues associated with studying behavioral inhibition in nonhuman primates and review two sets of studies, those in which behavioral inhibition (or something looking like behavioral inhibition) was induced by some manipulation and those in which behavioral inhibition was naturally occurring in populations. The review indicates that there is no consensus on how to define this temperament pattern behaviorally in nonhuman primates, and some have used this term inappropriately: “behavioral inhibition” is not the same thing as “inhibition of behavior.” We conclude that more attention needs to be paid to the dynamic aspects of behavior (specifically the fact that behavior can show multifinality and equifinality) and to methodological issues, such as those involving reliability and validity. Animal models in general, and primate models in particular, can be extremely valuable in understanding the underlying mechanisms and later health consequences of possessing a behaviorally inhibited phenotype, but their value can be diminished by lack of agreement—the elephant in the room—on how to measure behavioral inhibition in nonhumans.

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Acknowledgments

Preparation of this chapter was supported by grants OD010962 (JPC) and OD011107 (California National Primate Research Center). I thank A. Fox and the editors for helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology and California National Primate Research Center, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA

    John P. Capitanio

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  1. John P. Capitanio
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Correspondence to John P. Capitanio .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Koraly Pérez-Edgar

  2. Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Nathan A. Fox

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Capitanio, J.P. (2018). Behavioral Inhibition in Nonhuman Primates: The Elephant in the Room. In: Pérez-Edgar, K., Fox, N. (eds) Behavioral Inhibition. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98077-5_2

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