Am J Primatol. 2017 Jun 9. doi: 10.1002/ajp.22679. [Epub ahead of print]
- 1
- School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Brayford Pool, United Kingdom.
- 2
- Laboratoire CLLE-LTC, UMR 5263, Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès, Toulouse, France.
Abstract
Reciprocity is one of the mechanisms that have been proposed to explain the exchange of social behaviors, such as grooming, in animals.
Reciprocity assumes that individuals act as the donor and recipient of
grooming and switch roles over time to balance the benefits and costs of
this behavior. Three main patterns of reciprocity may follow a grooming
given: (i) direct reciprocity, where the former recipient returns the
grooming to the former donor; (ii) indirect reciprocity, where another
individual returns the grooming to the former donor; and (iii)
generalized reciprocity, where the former recipient returns the grooming
to another individual. While there is evidence that direct reciprocity
plays an important role in various species of animals,
the role of indirect and generalized reciprocity is less clear and has
been rarely analyzed. We tested the role of direct, indirect, and
generalized reciprocity in explaining grooming exchanges of wild
Barbary macaques, by analyzing the temporal contingency between giving
and receiving grooming. We collected the occurrence and latency of the
three types of grooming reciprocation during 1 hr long focal sessions
run simultaneously on two partners who just stopped grooming
(post-grooming session) or who were in proximity (i.e., within 1.5 m)
without grooming each other (control session). We ran the analyses on
284 post-grooming and 63 control sessions. The results revealed a
temporal contingency of grooming interactions exchanged according to
direct reciprocity but not according to indirect or generalized
reciprocity. Our results indicate that grooming distribution in Barbary
macaques is partner-specific. We discuss the possible role of cognition
and emotions in explaining direct reciprocity in animals.
© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
KEYWORDS:
altruism; grooming; primate; reciprocity
