152 research outputs found
When do you scratch that itch? The relative impact of different factors on scratching depends on the selection of time scale and timing
The Season for Peace: Reconciliation in a Despotic Species (Lemur catta)
However despotic a social group may be, managing conflicts of interest is crucial to preserve
group living benefits, mainly based on cooperation. In despotic groups, post-conflict
management via reconciliation (the first post-conflict reunion between former opponents)
can occur, even if conciliatory rates are considerably different. Lemur catta is defined as a
despotic species because groups are characterized by a strict linear hierarchy maintained
by the adult females (the dominant sex) mainly via aggression. Reconciliation was reported
in one out of four captive groups of L. catta. Here we investigate which variables influence
the occurrence of reconciliation in these despotic groups. We analyzed 2339 Post Conflict
(PC)-Matched Control (MC) observation pairs, collected on eight groups (five in the Berenty
forest, Madagascar; three hosted at the Pistoia Zoo, Italy). Since L. catta is characterized
by steep female dominance but shows female-female coalitionary support, we expected to
confirm the presence of reconciliation in the study species. Consistently, we found reconciliation
in one captive group and two wild groups, thus providing the first evidence of the presence
of this phenomenon in wild L. catta. Moreover, because this species is a seasonal
breeder (with mating occurring once a year), we expected seasonal fluctuations in reconciliation
levels. Via a GLMM analysis using data from all wild groups and on a captive group followed
for more than one year, we found that season (but not rank; individuals’ identity, sex,
and age; or group identity) significantly affected individual reconciliation rates, and such
rates were lowest during the mating period. Thus, reconciliation can be present in groups in
which dominants strongly influence and limit social relationships (steep dominance hierarchy)
except when the advantages of intra-group cooperation are overcome by competition,
as occurs in seasonal breeders when reproduction is at stake. We conclude that in despotic
social groups in which coalitions are observed, the right question is not if but when reconciliation
can be present.
Introductio
The dark side of play: play fighting as a substitute for real fighting in domestic pigs, Sus scrofa
She more than he: gender bias supports the empathic nature of yawn contagion in Homo sapiens
Psychological, clinical and neurobiological findings endorse that empathic abilities are more developed in women than in men. Because there is growing evidence that yawn contagion is an empathy-based phenomenon, we expect that the female bias in the empathic abilities reflects on a gender skew in the
responsiveness to others’ yawns. We verified this assumption by applying a linear model on a dataset gathered during a 5 year period of naturalistic observations on humans. Gender, age and social bond were included in the analysis as fixed factors. The social bond and the receiver’s gender remained in the best model. The rates of contagion were significantly lower between acquaintances than between friends and family members, and significantly higher in women than in men. These results not only confirm that yawn contagion is sensitive
to social closeness, but also that the phenomenon is affected by the same gender bias affecting empathy. The sex skew, also found in other non-human species, fits with the female social roles which are likely to require higher empathic abilities (e.g. parental care, group cohesion maintenance, social mediation). The fact that female influence in social dynamics also relies on face-to-face emotional exchange raises concerns on the
negative repercussions of having women’s facial expressions forcibly concealed
Yawn contagion in humans and bonobos: emotional affinity matters more than species.
In humans and apes, yawn contagion echoes emotional contagion, the basal layer of empathy. Hence, yawn contagion is a unique tool to compare empathy across species. If humans are the most empathic animal species, they should show the highest empathic response also at the level of emotional contagion. We gathered data on yawn contagion in humans (Homo sapiens) and bonobos (Pan paniscus) by applying the same observational paradigm and identical operational definitions .W eselected a naturalistic approach because experimental management practices can produce different psychological and behavioural biases in the two species, and differential attention to artificia lstimuli .Withi nspecies ,yaw ncontagio nwa shighes tbetween strongly bonded subjects. Between species, sensitivity to others\u27 yawns was higher in humans than in bonobos when involving kin and friends but was similar when considering weakly-bonded subjects. Thus, emotional contagion is not always high- est in humans. The cognitive components concur in empowering emotional affinity between individuals. Yet, when they are not in play, humans climb down from the empathic podium to return to the "understory", which our species shares with apes
Anxiety Behavior in Pigs (Sus scrofa) Decreases Through Affiliation and May Anticipate Threat
She more than he: gender bias supports the empathic nature of yawn contagion in Homo sapiens.
Looking into each other's eyes makes it better: eye-to-eye contact enhances sexual interactions in wild geladas
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