In the Light of Evolution Volume V: Cooperation and Conflict (2011) / Chapter Skim
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15 Extent and Limits of Cooperation in Animals--DOROTHY L. CHENEY
15 Extent and Limits of Cooperation in Animals--DOROTHY L. CHENEY
Pages 325-342
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From page 325... ...
In contrast, several experiments with nonprimates have found that animals can take into account recent interactions when supporting others, suggesting that the apparent rarity of contingent cooperation in primates may not stem from cognitive constraints. Instead, individuals may tolerate short-term inequities in favors given and received because most cooperation occurs among long-term reciprocating partners.
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From page 326... ...
Whether they recognize more complex mental attributes like the intent to deceive, however, remains unclear, as does the extent to which ani mals share humans' sometimes hyperbolic motivation to engage others in cooperative ventures. RECOGNITION OF OTHER ANIMALS' RELATIONSHIPS Many social animals live in groups containing both kin and nonkin, in which interactions are simultaneously competitive and cooperative and in which individuals maintain differentiated relationships with a s ubset of group members.
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From page 327... ...
. Similarly, if a female baboon hears a call sequence that mimics a fight between one of her own close relatives and the close relative of a more dominant female, she will subsequently avoid that female (Cheney and Seyfarth, 1999)
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From page 328... ...
Some progress is beginning to be made in identifying the neural mechanisms underlying knowledge of others' social relationships. In male zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata)
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From page 329... ...
. There appears to have been strong selection pressure for passive observational learning in the context of social interactions and for the acquisition of knowledge about other i ndividuals' social relationships.
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From page 330... ...
Thus, baboons use their memory of recent interactions to make inferences about the caller's intention to communicate with them. In primates, faces and voices are the primary means of transmitting social signals, and monkeys recognize the correspondence between facial and vocal expressions (Ghazanfar and Logothetis, 2003)
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From page 331... ...
Playback experiments suggest, however, that baboons call primarily with respect to their own separa tion from the group, not their audience's. They "answer" others when they themselves are separated, and they often fail to respond even to the calls of their offspring when they themselves are in close proximity to other group members (Cheney et al., 1996; Rendall et al., 2000)
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From page 332... ...
Female baboons, for example, do not groom only with close kin and those with whom they share a close social bond; they also groom less regularly with other females. When a close partner dies, they may attempt to establish a close bond with a previously infrequent partner.
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From page 333... ...
Furthermore, although it is now clear that both humans and other animals derive reproductive benefits from strong, predictable social relationships, at least some of the mechanisms underlying these relationships are doubtless very different. Human social relationships are imbued with inferences about others' intentions and beliefs, and humans are at times also acutely aware of whether a favor has been returned, or whether a partner has deceived them.
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From page 334... ...
. Although there is limited experimental and correlational evidence that animals sometimes rely on memory of recent interactions when behaving altruistically toward others, interpretation has been complicated by a paucity of convincing examples, the absence of important controls in some early tests, and a number of experimental studies seeming to indicate that animals lack the cognitive or empathetic ability to sustain contingent cooperative exchanges.
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From page 335... ...
Moreover, the ability of primates and other animals to delay gratification in contexts that do not involve food rewards remains largely untested. Thus, contingent cooperation in animals is not necessarily constrained by the inability to delay reward or to quantify past coopera tive acts.
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From page 336... ...
. MEASURING CONTINGENT COOPERATION For several reasons, it has proved difficult to investigate contingent cooperation under natural conditions.
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From page 337... ...
found a weak but highly significant correlation between grooming and alliances among long-term partners over extended periods, but little evidence that alliance support is motivated by a specific recent grooming bout. Indeed, in one study of captive Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata)
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From page 338... ...
Whether cooperation in this context is more, or less, contingent upon memory of previous events remains unclear. Although chimpanzees' interactions with preferred partners become reciprocal over extended periods of time, tests on captive subjects have provided little evidence for contingency-based reciprocity.
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From page 339... ...
Thus, females' willingness to attend to the recruitment calls of other individuals appeared to be prompted at least in part by memory of a specific friendly interaction. In sum, several factors may interact to motivate contingent coopera tion in animals under natural conditions: the strength of the partners' social relationship, the nature of their recent interactions, and the opportunity to reengage in some form of cooperative behavior.
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From page 340... ...
In playback experiments that simulated the approach of an aggressive intruder, some females consistently advanced toward the source of the calls, whereas others consistently lagged behind, avoiding the potential cost of a conflict (Heinsohn and Packer, 1995)
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From page 341... ...
Finally, it is important to emphasize that, although the absence of punishment in animals may derive partly from cognitive constraints, a strict accounting of services given and received is likely maladaptive in groups in which individuals establish close bonds and interact regularly with familiar partners in a variety of contexts. In fact, although the cognitive constraints that supposedly limit contingent cooperation in animals is often contrasted with humans' sensitivity to inequitable exchanges, human friendships are rarely contingency-based.
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From page 342... ...
Whether animals have the cognitive capacity to engage in contingent cooperation is one question; whether it is always adaptive for them to do is another. It may well be that the relative rar ity of contingent cooperation in animals stems less from the inability to keep track of recent interactions (and even, perhaps, to anticipate future ones)
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