Abstract: Studies on animal individual differences and its association with personality psychology have gained increasing research attention and been intensively investigated by many researchers. Despite of many other descriptive terms, a broad working definition of animal individual differences is “animal personality”, which refers to a set of related behavioral patterns with consistency across time and situations. Researchers of animal individual differences should ensure their selected research variables are comprehensive in intra-species and comparable in inter-species. The contribution and value of studies on animal individual differences to personality psychology were discussed mainly in aspects of personality constructs, influence of genetics and environment, association of personality with cognition and health, as well as personality-environment match

Key words: animal, individual difference, personality psychology