Experience has a limited effect on humans’ ability to predict the outcome of social interactions in children, dogs and macaques

Abstract

The ability to predict others’ behaviour represents a crucial mechanism which allows individuals to react faster and more appropriately. To date, several studies have investigated humans’ ability to predict conspecifics’ behaviour, but little is known on our ability to predict behaviour in other species. Here, we aimed to test humans’ ability to predict social behaviour in dogs, macaques and humans, and assess the role played by experience and evolution on the emergence of this ability. For this purpose, we presented participants with short videoclips of real-life social interactions in dog, child and macaque dyads, and then asked them to predict the outcome of the observed interactions (i.e. aggressive, neutral or playful). Participants were selected according to their previous species-specific experience with dogs, children and non-human primates. Our results showed a limited effect of experience on the ability to predict the outcome of social interactions, which was mainly restricted to macaques. Moreover, we found no support to the co-domestication hypothesis, in that participants were not especially skilled at predicting dog behaviour. Finally, aggressive outcomes in dogs were predicted significantly worse than playful or neutral ones. Based on our findings, we suggest possible lines for future research, like the inclusion of other primate species and the assessment of cultural factors on the ability to predict behaviour across species.

Context and prediction matter for the interpretation of social interactions across species

“…This is most likely the reason for the relative frequency of reported biting incidents [ 42 , 43 ], as humans fail to notice dogs`displacement and appeasement behaviors before an attack [ 44 ]. A possible method of preventing severe biting incidents could entail that prospective dog owners are better educated about dog behaviour before adopting, as it has also been found that owning a dog does not improve the ability to assess dog behaviour [ 13 , 45 ].…”

“…It is possible, that dogs`playful faces might be easier for humans to understand than the playful faces of other primates [ 46 ]. Also, other studies have found that humans more easily recognize positive dog emotions [ 13 , 25 , 28 , 30 , 31 ]. This could potentially be a consequence of co-domestication, meaning that through the process of domestication, humans became better at assessing when a dog is playing, and is therefore non-threatening.…”

“…In particular, for judging great apes it would be helpful, if human observers would rather rely on vocalisations, as apes express aggressive intent mainly through vocalisations [ 49 ]. Future studies should use questionnaires to find out which features participants use to assess such a social interaction, and more importantly, to find ways to improve the performance of participants [ 13 , 45 , 46 , 48 ].…”

“…To summarize, we show that humans perform above chance level at assessing natural social interactions in humans, in dogs and in monkeys–even without prior special experiences with the non-human species [ 13 ]. How well humans predict outcomes and categorize situations depends on the species and on the context.…”

“…analysing the action) when observing a task [ 12 ], showing how important predictions of actions are in everyday life. However, so far most studies have focused on how humans predict the outcome of complex social interactions among members of their own species (but see [ 13 ]). But it would also be highly adaptive to predict the behaviour of other species, in particular when there is a risk of injury (see also dog example above).…”