Chimpanzees' Ability To Make Judgments About Reputation of Strangers

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http://www.medicaln ewstoday. com/articles/ 101879.phpChimpanzees make judgments about the actions and dispositions ofstrangersby observing others' behavior and interactions in different situations.Specifically, chimpanzees show an ability to recognize certainbehavioraltraits and make assumptions about the presence or absence of thesetraitsin strangers in similar situations thereafter. These findings, by Dr. Francys Subiaul - from the George Washington University inWashington DC - and his team, have just been published online in AnimalCognition, a Springer journal.Character judgments are an essential feature of cooperative exchangesbetween humans, and we use them to predict future behavioralinteractions.A system for attributing reputation is therefore expected in anyspecieswhich

needs to assess the behavior of others and to predict theoutcomesof future interactions. Chimpanzees have sophisticated social skillsandthere is evidence that primates eavesdrop and benefit from third-partyinteractions. Could they have a system for forming reputation judgmentsacross a wide variety of contexts like humans"In a series of three experiments, Dr. Subiaul and colleagues looked atwhether chimpanzees learn the reputation of strangers indirectly byobservation, or by first-hand experience. Seven chimpanzees observedunfamiliar humans either consistently give ('generous' donor) orrefuse togive ('selfish' donor) food to either a familiar human recipient oranother chimp.In the first experiment, after observing humans either give orrefuse foodto familiar humans, chimps were in turn given the opportunity togestureto either the 'selfish' or the 'generous' human. There was no

markedpreference for either donor. However, in a second experiment, theresearchers evaluated whether prolonged observation and first-handexperience would allow chimps to generalize this social rule -pertainingto the reputation of strangers - to new humans. In this experiment, thechimpanzees showed a strong preference for the new generous donor. Theywere able to predict which new donor was generous, based entirely onobservation. In a third experiment, chimpanzees (rather than humans)werethe recipients of either 'selfish' or 'generous' acts. The resultsof thislast experiment replicated the results of the second experiment in anewcontext and using novel 'generous' and 'selfish' acts, demonstratedthatchimpanzees are flexible and astute social problem-solvers, capable ofattributing reputation to strangers by eavesdropping on interactionsbetween others.The authors conclude that their results

demonstrate chimpanzees'ability"to infer stability in an individual's character or behavior over timethrough observation - an inference that underlies the ability to makereputation judgmentsThis ability may have served as a catalyst to the evolution of variousuniquely human traits such as shared intentionality, language andreasoning."------------ --------- -------Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.------------ --------- -------ReferenceSubiaul F et al (2008). Do chimpanzees learn reputation by observation?Evidence from direct and indirect experience with generous and selfishstrangers. Animal Cognition (DOI 10.1007/s10071- 008-0151- 6)Source: Joan RobinsonSpringerArticle URL: http://www.medicaln ewstoday. com/articles/

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