Kittens as therapists: social behavior sequences in isolated squirrel monkeys after exposure to young nonconspecifics

Squirrel monkeys that had been exposed to repeated separations from cloth surrogates were given continuous access to domestic kittens. Information-theoretic measures showed that these monkeys exerted greater constraint on behaviors of adult feral squirrel monkeys than did monkeys who had not received previous kitten exposure. The latter monkeys displayed a behavioral encapsulation characterized by increased susceptibility to the constraint imposed by their own preceding behaviors and a decreased susceptibility to constraint from other monkeys' behaviors. In addition, kitten-reared monkeys displayed a high level of positive social behaviors, particularly following noncohesive or divisive behaviors by another monkey.