As a final variable, it is not just rank that is an important predictor of the stress-response, not just the society in which the rank occurs, or how a member of the society experiences both; it’s also personality—the topic of chapter 15. As we saw, some primates see glasses as half empty and life as full of provocations, and they can’t take advantage of outlets or social support—those are the individuals with overactive stress-responses. For them, their rank, their society, their personal experiences might all be wonderfully salutary, but if their personality keeps them from perceiving those
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