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Social disappointment explains chimpanzees' behaviour in the inequity aversion task.

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Chimpanzees reject less-preferred food not due to fairness, but social disappointment. They refuse food from experimenters more than machines, indicating disappointment with the human provider.

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Area of Science:

  • Primate behavior
  • Comparative psychology
  • Animal cognition

Background:

  • Chimpanzees' food refusal has been interpreted as evidence of fairness.
  • An alternative explanation, the social disappointment hypothesis, suggests refusals stem from disappointment with the provider.
  • This study investigates the underlying motivation for food refusal in chimpanzees.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To test the social disappointment hypothesis against the fairness hypothesis in chimpanzee food refusal behavior.
  • To determine if chimpanzees' food rejections are directed towards human experimenters specifically.
  • To examine the role of social partners in mediating food refusal.

Main Methods:

  • A two-by-two experimental design was employed.
  • Food was dispensed by either a human experimenter or a machine.
  • The presence or absence of a social partner (conspecific) was manipulated.

Main Results:

  • Chimpanzees were significantly more likely to reject less-preferred food when it was provided by a human experimenter compared to a machine.
  • The presence or absence of a social partner did not influence the likelihood of food refusal.
  • This pattern of results supports the social disappointment hypothesis.

Conclusions:

  • Chimpanzees' food refusal behavior is better explained by social disappointment in the experimenter than by a sense of fairness.
  • The findings highlight the importance of social context and provider identity in primate decision-making.
  • This research offers new insights into the complex social cognition of chimpanzees.