The nature of prosociality in chimpanzees

Tennie, Claudio; Jensen, Keith; Call, Josep

doi:10.1038/ncomms13915

Cited by 63 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…Numerous studies suggest that when there is no material cost (i.e., solely a small energetic cost), chimpanzees will help both humans and other chimpanzees attain their goals, for example, by fetching out-of-reach objects and tools (27,28) or by flipping a latch to enable a conspecific to obtain food (29); however, they appear to do this only if they themselves have no chance whatsoever to obtain any food in the situation, and it has been argued that helping rarely occurs in the absence of active solicitation or harassment by the partner (26,30). A recent study has also argued that experimental design features (e.g., subjects' motivation to engage with novel tasks) should be considered as potential alternative explanations (31).…”

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confidence: 99%

Chimpanzees return favors at a personal cost

Schmelz

Grueneisen

Kabalak

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Humans regularly provide others with resources at a personal cost to themselves. Chimpanzees engage in some cooperative behaviors in the wild as well, but their motivational underpinnings are unclear. In three experiments, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) always chose between an option delivering food both to themselves and a partner and one delivering food only to themselves. In one condition, a conspecific partner had just previously taken a personal risk to make this choice available. In another condition, no assistance from the partner preceded the subject’s decision. Chimpanzees made significantly more prosocial choices after receiving their partner’s assistance than when no assistance was given (experiment 1) and, crucially, this was the case even when choosing the prosocial option was materially costly for the subject (experiment 2). Moreover, subjects appeared sensitive to the risk of their partner’s assistance and chose prosocially more often when their partner risked losing food by helping (experiment 3). These findings demonstrate experimentally that chimpanzees are willing to incur a material cost to deliver rewards to a conspecific, but only if that conspecific previously assisted them, and particularly when this assistance was risky. Some key motivations involved in human cooperation thus may have deeper phylogenetic roots than previously suspected

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Chimpanzees return favors at a personal cost

Schmelz

Grueneisen

Kabalak

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Furthermore, studying individuals in highly artificial test settings that do not properly reflect the actual biology of a species could lead to ecologically or evolutionarily meaningless results. This caveat is corroborated by recent studies that found an effect of laboratory rearing on gene expression, physiology, behaviour and social dynamics in paper wasps Polistes fuscatus (Jandt, Thomson, Geffre, & Toth, 2015) and an effect of the laboratory environment on prosocial behaviour of chimpanzees (Tennie, Jensen, & Call, 2016). 6.4 | Which methods should be employed?…”

Section: What Type Of Approach Should Be Followed?mentioning

confidence: 88%

Genetics and developmental biology of cooperation

et al. 2017

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Despite essential progress towards understanding the evolution of cooperative behaviour, we still lack detailed knowledge about its underlying molecular mechanisms, genetic basis, evolutionary dynamics and ontogeny. An international workshop "Genetics and Development of Cooperation," organized by the University of Bern (Switzerland), aimed at discussing the current progress in this research field and suggesting avenues for future research. This review uses the major themes of the meeting as a springboard to synthesize the concepts of genetic and nongenetic inheritance of cooperation, and to review a quantitative genetic framework that allows for the inclusion of indirect genetic effects. Furthermore, we argue that including nongenetic inheritance, such as transgenerational epigenetic effects, parental effects, ecological and cultural inheritance, provides a more nuanced view of the evolution of cooperation. We summarize those genes and molecular pathways in a range of species that seem promising candidates for mechanisms underlying cooperative behaviours. Concerning the neurobiological substrate of cooperation, we suggest three cognitive skills necessary for the ability to cooperate: (i) event memory, (ii) synchrony with others and (iii) responsiveness to others. Taking a closer look at the developmental trajectories that lead to the expression of cooperative behaviours, we discuss the dichotomy between early morphological specialization in social insects and more flexible behavioural specialization in cooperatively breeding vertebrates.Finally, we provide recommendations for which biological systems and species may be particularly suitable, which specific traits and parameters should be measured, what type of approaches should be followed, and which methods should be employed in studies of cooperation to better understand how cooperation evolves and manifests in nature.

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“…More recent examples include investigation of the use and function of gestures by chimpanzees Pan troglodytes (Hobaiter & Byrne 2014), bonobos Pan paniscus (Graham et al 2017) and other apes (e.g. olive baboons Papio anubis: Bourjade et al 2014), which has led to the consideration that such gesturing may have been a precursor to human language (Arbib 2017), the nature of prosocial behavior (Tennie et al 2016) and the development of the field of primate linguistics (Schlenker et al 2016).…”

Section: The Evolution Of Cognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The face of animal cognition

Healy

2019

Integrative Zoology

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As an increasing number of researchers investigate the cognitive abilities of an ever-wider range of animals, animal cognition is currently among the most exciting fields within animal behavior. Tinbergen would be proud: all four of his approaches are being pursued and we are learning much about how animals collect information and how they use that information to make decisions for their current and future states as well as what animals do not perceive or choose to ignore. Here I provide an overview of this productivity, alighting only briefly on any single example, to showcase the diversity of species, of approaches and the sheer mass of research effort currently under way. We are getting closer to understanding the minds of other animals and the evolution of cognition at an increasingly rapid rate.

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The nature of prosociality in chimpanzees

Abstract: Chimpanzees appear helpful in some studies yet they do not usually share food, suggesting that they are prosocial when costs are low and goals are clear

Cited by 63 publications

References 79 publications

Chimpanzees return favors at a personal cost

Chimpanzees return favors at a personal cost

Genetics and developmental biology of cooperation

The face of animal cognition

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