Social power, conflict policing, and the role of subordination signals in rhesus macaque society

Abstract

Objectives Policing is a conflict-limiting mechanism observed in many primate species. It is thought to require a skewed distribution of social power for some individuals to have sufficiently high social power to stop others’ fights, yet social power has not been examined in most species with policing behavior. We examined networks of subordination signals as a source of social power that permits policing behavior in rhesus macaques. Materials and Methods For each of seven captive groups of rhesus macaques, we (a) examined the structure of subordination signal networks and used GLMs to examine the relationship between (b) pairwise dominance certainty and subordination network pathways and (c) policing frequency and social power (group-level convergence in subordination signaling pathways). Results Networks of subordination signals had perfect linear transitivity, and pairs connected by both direct and indirect pathways of signals had more certain dominance relationships than pairs with no such network connection. Social power calculated using both direct and indirect network pathways showed a heavy-tailed distribution and positively predicted conflict policing. Conclusions Our results empirically substantiate that subordination signaling is associated with greater dominance relationship certainty and further show that pairs who signal rarely (or not at all) may use information from others’ signaling interactions to infer or reaffirm the relative certainty of their own relationships. We argue that the network of formal dominance relationships is central to societal stability because it is important for relationship stability and also supports the additional stabilizing mechanism of policing.

Social management of laboratory rhesus macaques housed in large groups using a network approach: A review

“…To summarize the data used in these sets of studies, data were collected on 20 groups over a 9 year period using a combination of event and scan sampling for 6 h per a day on four days per week for various periods (six weeks to 12 months depending on the study) (McCowan et al, 2008; Beisner et al, 2011a,b; Beisner and Isbell, 2011; McCowan et al, 2011; Beisner et al, 2012; Beisner and McCowan, 2013; Beisner and McCowan, 2014a,b,c; Beisner et al, 2015; Beisner et al, 2016). Groups were comprised of 80–150 animals consisting of both male and female adults, subadults, juveniles and infants.…”

“…silent-bared-teeth signals given in peaceful contexts) illustrates how subordination signals (and pathways of signals) converge on a small number of individuals (i.e. the individuals with greatest social power), thereby generating a skewed distribution of social power (Beisner et al, 2016); and (c) individuals that receive frequent subordination signals from many different subordinates (including transitive network pathways of signals) are better able to police others’ conflicts, because there is greater group consensus that they are powerful (McCowan et al, 2011; Beisner et al, 2016). Adult males, particularly males unrelated to the group, have the highest social power, and are the most frequent and successful policers (Table 1: McCowan, unpublished data).…”

“…To date, there has been almost no predictive power or early warning system in place to detect when social group instability will occur. Here we review a systems science network approach that has allowed us to model these emergent complex systems and (a) unravel the risks factors and processes leading to instability in these social groups and (b) detect and arrest these instabilities (Barrett et al, 2012; Beisner and Isbell, 2011; Beisner et al, 2011a,b, 2012; Beisner and McCowan, 2013; Beisner and McCowan, 2014a,b,c; Beisner et al, 2015; Beisner et al, 2016; Chan et al, 2013; Chen and Fushing, 2012; Flack and de Waal, 2004; Flack et al, 2006; Flack and Krakauer, 2006; Fujii et al, 2014; Fushing et al, 2014; McCowan et al, 2008; McCowan et al, 2011; Wasserman and Faust, 1994). …”

Matrilineal Behavioral and Physiological Changes following the Removal of a Non-Alpha Matriarch in Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta)

“…Furthermore, the increased levels of intense aggression including those resulting in tissue damage may have resulted from changes in submissive signaling. Submissive signals (such as the silent bared teeth display) have been related to lower levels of severe aggression [ 67 ] and are associated with greater dominance relationship certainty [ 68 ]. While submissive displays were recorded, they were originally not a focus of ad libitum sampling and occurred too infrequently during focal observations, and therefore direct comparisons were not available during this study.…”

Predictors of insubordinate aggression among captive female rhesus macaques

“…interventions), were analyzed to generate dominance rank and probability (DP) scores using the method described in Fushing et al (2011). The DP method produces a probability that one animal will “win” a fight against another, and although this analysis excludes non-aggressive status signals, such as bared teeth displays, previous work shows that DP predicts the status signaling network (Beisner, Hannibal, Finn, Fushing, & McCowan, 2016) and this same trend is true in the data presented here. The DP analysis is a social network approach that incorporates direct and indirect network pathways between each pair of individuals to supplement direct observations of aggressive interactions, filling in missing cells of the win/loss matrix with the information from the indirect aggression network pathways (Fushing et al, 2011).…”