The Thief in the Mirror

The few animals capable of recognizing themselves in a mirror have advanced social cognition related to adopting the perspective of someone else

With a Little Help from a Friend

In humans, the most commonly assumed motivation behind altruism is empathy. Might this also apply to other animals or are they indifferent to each other's welfare

Peace Lessons from an Unlikely Source

How much is the aggression we observe in nonhuman primates the result of culture, and will the answer provide insights into our own violent behaviour

Situating the study of jealousy in the context of social relationships

Whereas the feelings of other beings are private and may always remain so, emotions are simultaneously manifested in behavior, physiology, and other observables. Nonetheless, uncertainty about whether emotions can be studied adequately across species has promoted skepticism about their very presence in other parts of the animal kingdom. Studying social emotions like jealousy in the context of the social relationships in which they arise, as has been done in the case of animal empathy, may help dispel this skepticism. Empathy in other species came to be accepted partly because of the behavioral similarities between its expression in nonhuman animals and humans, and partly because of the neurological parallels. Non-invasive brain imaging results like those reported in the target article can thus help integrate human and animal emotions within an evolutionary framework — but the social context underlies precise definitions of the phenomenon

Ingroup-Outgroup Bias in Contagious Yawning by Chimpanzees Supports Link to Empathy

Humans favor others seen as similar to themselves (ingroup) over people seen as different (outgroup), even without explicitly stated bias. Ingroup-outgroup bias extends to involuntary responses, such as empathy for pain. However, empathy biases have not been tested in our close primate relatives. Contagious yawning has been theoretically and empirically linked to empathy. If empathy underlies contagious yawning, we predict that subjects should show an ingroup-outgroup bias by yawning more in response to watching ingroup members yawn than outgroup. Twenty-three chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) from two separate groups watched videos of familiar and unfamiliar individuals yawning or at rest (control). The chimpanzees yawned more when watching the familiar yawns than the familiar control or the unfamiliar yawns, demonstrating an ingroup-outgroup bias in contagious yawning. These results provide further empirical support that contagious yawning is a measure of empathy, which may be useful for evolutionary biology and mental health

Cracking the laugh code: laughter through the lens of biology, psychology and neuroscience

Preface to the theme issue which tackles the biological, psychological, neural, and cultural underpinnings of laughter in humans and other animals from a naturalistic and evolutionary perspective

The naturalistic approach to laughter in humans and other animals: towards a unified theory

This opinion piece aims to tackle the biological, psychological, neural and cultural underpinnings of laughter from a naturalistic and evolutionary perspective. A naturalistic account of laughter requires the revaluation of two dogmas of a longstanding philosophical tradition, that is, the quintessen tial link between laughter and humour, and the uniquely human nature of this behaviour. In the spirit of Provine’s and Panksepp’s seminal studies, who firstly argued against the anti-naturalistic dogmas, here we review com pelling evidence that (i) laughter is first and foremost a social behaviour aimed at regulating social relationships, easing social tensions and establish ing social bonds, and that (ii) homologue and homoplasic behaviours of laughter exist in primates and rodents, who also share with humans the same underpinning neural circuitry. We make a case for the hypothesis that the contagiousness of laughter and its pervasive social infectiousness in everyday social interactions is mediated by a specific mirror mechanism. Finally, we argue that a naturalistic account of laughter should not be intended as an outright rejection of classic theories; rather, in the last part of the piece we argue that our perspective is potentially able to integrate previous viewpoints—including classic philosophical theories—ultimately providing a unified evolutionary explanation of laughter

Long-term consistency in chimpanzee consolation behaviour reflects empathetic personalities

In contrast to a wealth of human studies, little is known about the ontogeny and consistency of empathy-related capacities in other species. Consolation—post-conflict affiliation from uninvolved bystanders to distressed others—is a suggested marker of empathetic concern in non-human animals. Using longitudinal data comprising nearly a decade of observations on over 3000 conflict interactions in 44 chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), we provide evidence for relatively stable individual differences in consolation behaviour. Across development,individuals consistently differ from one another in this trait, with higher consolatory tendencies predicting better social integration, a sign of social competence. Further, similar to recent results in other ape species, but in contrast to many human self-reported findings,older chimpanzees are less likely to console than are younger individuals. Overall, given the link between consolation and empathy, these findings help elucidate the development of individual socio-cognitive and -emotional abilities in one of our closest relatives