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Touch-screen-guided task reveals a prosocial choice tendency by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

2018-07Journal article Open access
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dc.contributor.authorMendonça, Renata S.
dc.contributor.authorDahl, Christoph D.
dc.contributor.authorCarvalho, Susana
dc.contributor.authorMatsuzawa, Tetsuro
dc.contributor.authorAdachi, Ikuma
dc.date.accessioned2018-12-07T14:53:14Z
dc.date.available2018-12-07T14:53:14Z
dc.date.issued2018-07
dc.description.abstractHumans help others even without direct benefit for themselves. However, the nature of altruistic (i.e., only the other benefits) and prosocial (i.e., self and other both benefit) behaviors in our closest living relative, the chimpanzee, remains controversial. To address this further, we developed a touch-screen-guided task that allowed us to increase the number of trials for a thorough test of chimpanzees' prosocial and altruistic tendencies. Mother-offspring dyads were tested in the same compartment; one was the actor while the other was the recipient. In Experiment 1, the actor chose among three options: prosocial, selfish (only the actor benefited) and altruistic. To better understand the nature of the chimpanzees' choices and to improve experimental control, we conducted two additional experiments. Experiment 2 consisted of two-option choices interspersed with three-option choices, and in Experiment 3 the two-option choice were blocked across all trials. The results of Experiment 1 clearly showed that chimpanzees acted prosocially in the touch-screen-guided task, choosing the prosocial option on an average of 79% of choices. Five out of the six chimpanzees showed the preference to act prosocially against chance level. The preference for the prosocial option persisted when conditions were changed in Experiments 2 and 3. When only selfish and altruistic options were available in Experiments 2 and 3, chimpanzees preferred the selfish option. These results suggest that (1) most individuals understood the nature of the task and modified their behavior according to the available options, (2) five out of the six chimpanzees chose to act prosocially when they had the option to, and (3) offspring counterbalanced between altruistic and selfish, when given those two options perhaps to avoid suffering repercussions from the mother.
dc.description.sponsorshipMinistry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, Japan [24000001]; Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS); [16H06283]; [22700270]
dc.identifier.doi10.7717/peerj.5315
dc.identifier.issn2167-8359
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/11419
dc.language.isoeng
dc.peerreviewedyes
dc.publisherPeerj Inc
dc.subjectWest-African Chimpanzees
dc.subjectUnrelated Group Members
dc.subjectWild Chimpanzees
dc.subjectCapuchin Monkeys
dc.subjectHuman Altruism
dc.subjectNational-Park
dc.subjectConspecifics
dc.subjectCooperation
dc.subjectReciprocity
dc.subjectBehavior
dc.titleTouch-screen-guided task reveals a prosocial choice tendency by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
dc.typejournal article
dspace.entity.typePublication
oaire.citation.startPagee5315
oaire.citation.titlePeerj
oaire.citation.volume6
person.familyNameCarvalho
person.givenNameSusana
person.identifier356037
person.identifier.orcid0000-0003-1300-1953
person.identifier.ridF-3872-2016
rcaap.rightsopenAccess
rcaap.typearticle
relation.isAuthorOfPublicationdf445e58-ed96-4e28-9be9-f8515e41f5c0
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscoverydf445e58-ed96-4e28-9be9-f8515e41f5c0

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