Abstract
Across species, cooperative alliances must withstand internal tensions. The mechanisms by which allies respond to competing against one another have been studied extensively in non-human animals, but much less so in humans. In non-human species, affiliative physical contact and close proximity immediately following a contest are utilized to define reconciliation between opponents. The proportion of conflicts that are reconciled however differs markedly by species and sex. The purpose of this study was to examine whether, like many other social species, humans utilize physical contact and close proximity following a competition between friends, and if so, whether one sex is more likely to exhibit these behaviors. Using a standardized procedure, two same-gender friends competed against one another producing a clear winner and loser. Prior to and following the competition, the friends relaxed together. Videotapes of the relaxation periods showed that male friends spent more time than female friends engaged in affiliative physical contact and close proximity both before and after the competition, but not during a brief intervening cooperative task. These results suggest that in the face of competing self-interests, physical contact and close proximity facilitate repair of males’ more than females’ valuable relationships.
Highlights
Numerous studies document the mechanisms by which non-human social animals who form cooperative alliances repair their bonds following a competition
No two chairs were positioned more than 12 cm. apart, so that when one participant crossed the plane, the two participants were in close proximity. We tabulated both the total time the pair was in joint physical contact and the total time each participant was in close proximity to the other participant
To examine gender differences in time spent in joint physical contact in preparation for and in the aftermath of a competition, a repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted with time period as the repeated factors and gender of pair as the independent variable
Summary
Numerous studies document the mechanisms by which non-human social animals who form cooperative alliances repair their bonds following a competition. Some form of physical contact, such as grooming, embracing, linking arms, holding hands, kissing, patting, muzzling, cupping of bodily appendages, mounting, rubbing, nuzzling, and nudging, has been observed to indicate reconciliation across myriad species, for example chimpanzees[1], bonobos[10], gorillas (Gorilla gorilla bereingi)[11], rhesus macaques[12], stump-tailed macaques[13], and bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncates)[14] as well as in numerous other social non-primates[15]. No gender differences have been found in reconciliation of children’s conflicts These conflicts occurred under supervision of adults who typically constrain the outcomes and aftermath
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