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Domain-specific inferences about conspecifics' skills by chimpanzees
Stefanie Keupp1,2,3, Esther Herrmann4
1Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077, Göttingen, Germany. skeupp@dpz.eu.
Scientific Reports
|September 23, 2024
Summary
Chimpanzees recruit partners differently for cooperative versus competitive tasks. They prefer skilled partners for cooperation but learn partner value through experience in competition, showing domain-specific social evaluations.
Area of Science:
- Primate cognition
- Social learning in animals
- Comparative psychology
Background:
- Chimpanzees engage in daily collaboration, but the cognitive mechanisms for partner selection remain unclear.
- Understanding how chimpanzees choose partners is crucial for deciphering their complex social dynamics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how chimpanzees recruit partners for cooperative and competitive tasks.
- To determine if chimpanzees use past performance to select partners in different social contexts.
Main Methods:
- Chimpanzees were presented with a choice to recruit a partner for either a cooperative or competitive task.
- Partner selection was observed based on whether potential conspecifics had previously succeeded or failed at a similar task.
Main Results:
- For cooperative tasks, chimpanzees spontaneously preferred partners previously seen succeeding.
- For competitive tasks, partner preference for successful or unsuccessful individuals emerged only after experiencing task consequences.
- This indicates divergent social information use dependent on the task's cooperative or competitive nature.
Conclusions:
- Chimpanzees demonstrate domain-specific social evaluation, adjusting partner recruitment strategies based on task context.
- These findings expand our understanding of chimpanzee social cognition and their ability to make skill-based inferences about others.
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