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Does nurture or nature matter more when it comes to a cat’s personality? While many people claim that cat breeds differ in personality, there has been little research in the area. Salonen, Vapalahti, Tiira, Maki-Tanila, and Lohi (2019) thus set forth to examine the behaviors of different cat breeds as well as the heritability of their behaviors — that is, the extent to which variation in behaviors are due to genetic variations in the population. Salonen et al. (2019) surveyed Finnish cat owners on their cats’ behaviors, which included “tendency to seek human contact," “aggressiveness towards human family members, strangers,...

Featured Term (selected at random): TEMPERAMENT The distinctive emotional, mental, and affective qualities of each individual. A classic position holds that there are four basic temperaments: phlegmatic, or not easily aroused; choleric, or having a low threshold for anger; sanguine, or optimistic and free from anxiety; and melancholic, or given to introspection and pessimism about the future. No single person, it is agreed, ahs only one temperament, although one or the other trait will predominate. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Sniffle-Busting Personalities: Positive mood guards against getting colds Bruce Bower People with generally positive outlooks show greater resistance to developing colds than do individuals who rarely revel in upbeat feelings, a new investigation finds. Frequently basking in positive emotions defends against colds regardless of how often one experiences negative emotions, say psychologist Sheldon Cohen of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and his colleagues. They suspect that positive emotions stimulate symptom-fighting substances. "We need to take more seriously the possibility that a positive emotional style is a major player in disease risk," Cohen says. In a study published in 2003, his...

The Arnold Schwarzenegger candidacy may become a classic contest for activists to decide whether they are Republicans or conservatives first. Republicans are urging everyone to jump on the bandwagon, to "wake up and smell the Arnie," to take the pragmatic step that will guarantee the ouster of incompetent Gov. Gray Davis. But what do conservatives gain for this leap of faith? This movie star’s campaign still is not presenting any concrete positions, conservative or liberal. He would like to be seen as a fiscal conservative, but Schwarzenegger has signed no anti-tax pledge nor offered any spending cuts or bureaucratic reforms....

Nation: Police say arsonist blames personalities for starting fires The Associated PressHANOVER, Pa. (March 30, 2002 7:11 p.m. EST) - A volunteer firefighter charged in seven arsons in York County told police he has multiple personalities, one of which he blamed for starting fires that he would later help put out, police said. Justin Yongue, 20, faces more than 39 felony charges in connection with arsons in the southern Pennsylvania county from Oct. 4 to Jan. 29. All the fires were in Penn and West Manheim townships, about 30 miles south of Harrisburg. No one was injured in the series...