Prosociality in a despotic society

Bhattacharjee, Debottam; Cousin, Eythan; Pflüger, Lena S.; Massen, Jorg J. M.

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.106587

Cited by 10 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…Since we did not find any collinearity of affiliation with social tolerance or friendship, it might imply that the observed affiliation trait scores were contingent on partner-specific affiliative interactions. It would be worthwhile to investigate whether this selective yet discriminative mechanism is exclusive to despotic societies due to interdependencies (see [66]). Therefore, in socially tolerant species, homophily in social personality traits, in general, can be expected to act as a stronger and more efficient force driving cooperation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here we investigate the cooperative tendencies of a group-living primate species that has a matrilineal hierarchical social structure, the long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis). While the existing covariation framework might suggest that a steep hierarchical structure could hinder cooperation [59], a growing number of empirical studies provide evidence of prosocial and cooperative tendencies in despotic societies [60][61][62][63][64][65][66]. Prosocial and cooperative behaviours seem to be selectively maintained through interdependence in these hierarchical systems [66].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While the existing covariation framework might suggest that a steep hierarchical structure could hinder cooperation [59], a growing number of empirical studies provide evidence of prosocial and cooperative tendencies in despotic societies [60][61][62][63][64][65][66]. Prosocial and cooperative behaviours seem to be selectively maintained through interdependence in these hierarchical systems [66]. Besides, rank similarities, i.e., low rank distances, can also be a strong mechanism favouring cooperation when hierarchies are relatively steep (see [67]).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Personality heterophily and friendship as drivers for successful cooperation

Bhattacharjee,

Waasdorp,

Middelburg

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Cooperation is widespread and arguably a pivotal evolutionary force in maintaining animal societies. Yet, proximately, what underlying motivators drive individuals to cooperate remains relatively unclear. Since ′free-riders′ can exploit the benefits by cheating, selecting the right partner is paramount. Such decision rules need not be based on complex calculations and can be driven by cognitively less-demanding mechanisms, like social relationships (e.g., kinship, non-kin friendships, dyadic tolerance), social status (e.g., dominance hierarchies) and personalities (social and non-social traits); however, holistic evidence related to those mechanisms is scarce. Using the classical ′loose-string paradigm′, we tested cooperative tendencies of a hierarchical primate, the long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis). We studied three groups (n=32) in social settings, allowing free partner choice. We supplemented cooperation with observational and experimental data on social relationships, dominance hierarchies, and personality. Friendship and dissimilarity in a non-social ′exploration′ personality trait predicted the likelihood of cooperative dyad formation. Furthermore, the magnitude of cooperative success was positively associated with friendship, low rank-distance, and dissimilarity in an ′activity-sociability′ personality trait. Kinship did not affect cooperation. While some findings align with prior studies, the evidence of (non-social)personality heterophily promoting cooperation may deepen our understanding of the proximate mechanisms and, broadly, the evolution of cooperation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Personality heterophily and friendship as drivers for successful cooperation

Bhattacharjee,

Waasdorp,

Middelburg

et al. 2023

Preprint

Self Cite

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show abstract

“…Here we investigate the cooperative tendencies of a group-living primate species that has a matrilineal hierarchical social structure, the long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis). While the existing covariation framework might suggest that a steep hierarchical structure could hinder cooperation [62], a growing number of empirical studies provide evidence of prosocial and cooperative tendencies in despotic societies [63][64][65][66][67][68][69]. Prosocial and cooperative behaviours seem to be selectively maintained through interdependence in these hierarchical systems [69].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While the existing covariation framework might suggest that a steep hierarchical structure could hinder cooperation [62], a growing number of empirical studies provide evidence of prosocial and cooperative tendencies in despotic societies [63][64][65][66][67][68][69]. Prosocial and cooperative behaviours seem to be selectively maintained through interdependence in these hierarchical systems [69]. Besides, rank similarities, i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Personality heterophily and friendship as drivers for successful cooperation

Bhattacharjee,

Waasdorp,

Middelburg

et al. 2024

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Cooperation is widespread and arguably a pivotal evolutionary force in maintaining animal societies. Yet, proximately, what underlying motivators drive individuals to cooperate remains relatively unclear. Since ‘free-riders’ can exploit the benefits by cheating, selecting the right partner is paramount. Such decision rules need not be based on complex calculations and can be driven by cognitively less-demanding mechanisms, like social relationships (e.g. kinship, non-kin friendships, dyadic tolerance), social status (e.g. dominance hierarchies) and personalities (social and non-social traits); however, holistic evidence related to those mechanisms is scarce. Using the classical ‘loose-string paradigm’, we tested cooperative tendencies of a hierarchical primate, the long-tailed macaque ( Macaca fascicularis ). We studied three groups ( n = 21) in their social settings, allowing partner choice. We supplemented cooperation with observational and experimental data on social relationships, dominance hierarchies and personality. Friendship and dissimilarities in non-social ‘exploration’ and ‘activity–sociability’ personality traits predicted the likelihood of cooperative dyad formation. Furthermore, the magnitude of cooperative success was positively associated with friendship, low rank-distance and dissimilarity in the activity–sociability trait. Kinship did not affect cooperation. While some findings align with prior studies, the evidence of (non-social) personality heterophily promoting cooperation may deepen our understanding of the proximate mechanisms and, broadly, the evolution of cooperation.

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The proximate regulation of prosocial behaviour: towards a conceptual framework for comparative research

Kopp,

Kanngiesser,

Brügger

et al. 2024

Anim Cogn

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Humans and many other animal species act in ways that benefit others. Such prosocial behaviour has been studied extensively across a range of disciplines over the last decades, but findings to date have led to conflicting conclusions about prosociality across and even within species. Here, we present a conceptual framework to study the proximate regulation of prosocial behaviour in humans, non-human primates and potentially other animals. We build on psychological definitions of prosociality and spell out three key features that need to be in place for behaviour to count as prosocial: benefitting others, intentionality, and voluntariness. We then apply this framework to review observational and experimental studies on sharing behaviour and targeted helping in human children and non-human primates. We show that behaviours that are usually subsumed under the same terminology (e.g. helping) can differ substantially across and within species and that some of them do not fulfil our criteria for prosociality. Our framework allows for precise mapping of prosocial behaviours when retrospectively evaluating studies and offers guidelines for future comparative work.

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Prosociality in a despotic society

Cited by 10 publications

References 83 publications

Personality heterophily and friendship as drivers for successful cooperation

Personality heterophily and friendship as drivers for successful cooperation

Personality heterophily and friendship as drivers for successful cooperation

The proximate regulation of prosocial behaviour: towards a conceptual framework for comparative research

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