So, the question is, “What is the meta-pattern in behavior that constitutes a “a personality”. A personality is just a constant bias in behavior of an individual across all situations. “Jones comes late to every occasion; that’s just his personality.” “My computer crashes no matter what program you run on it: it has its own personality.” “Rover is scared of every damned thing—thunderstorms, motor cycles; even squirrels freak him out; he has a timid personality.” Nick
Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology
Clark University
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/
From: Friam [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Eric Charles
Sent: Friday, August 15, 2014 9:25 AM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] BBC News - Ant colony 'personalities' shaped by environment
Weird that they want to call it "personality" instead of more simply saying that ant colonies seem to adapt to their local environment. Of course, the flashiness of the claim is the only reason it is being covered on the BBC, so I guess it isn't that weird after all.
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Eric P. Charles, Ph.D.
Lab Manager
Center for Teaching, Research, and Learning
American University, Hurst Hall Room 203A
4400 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20016
phone: (202) 885-3867 fax: (202) 885-1190
email: [hidden email]
On Fri, Aug 8, 2014 at 3:57 PM, Gillian Densmore <[hidden email]> wrote: