Abstract
Many patterns of affiliative behaviour have been described for primates, for instance: reciprocation and exchange of grooming, grooming others of similar rank, reconciliation of fights, and preferential reconciliation with more valuable partners. For these patterns several functions and underlying cognitive processes have been suggested. It is, however, difficult to imagine how animals may combine these diverse considerations in their mind. Although the co-variation hypothesis, by limiting the social possibilities an individual has, constrains the number of cognitive considerations an individual has to take, it does not present an integrated theory of affiliative patterns either. In the present paper, after surveying patterns of affiliation in egalitarian and despotic macaques, we use an individual-based model with a high potential for self-organisation as a starting point for such an integrative approach. In our model, called GrooFiWorld, individuals group and, upon meeting each other, may perform a dominance interaction of which the outcomes of winning and losing are self-reinforcing. Besides, if individuals think they will be defeated, they consider grooming others. Here, the greater their anxiety is, the greater their “motivation” to groom others. Our model generates patterns similar to many affiliative patterns of empirical data. By merely increasing the intensity of aggression, affiliative patterns in the model change from those resembling egalitarian macaques to those resembling despotic ones. Our model produces such patterns without assuming in the mind of the individual the specific cognitive processes that are usually thought to underlie these patterns (such as recordkeeping of the acts given and received, a tendency to exchange, memory of the former fight, selective attraction to the former opponent, and estimation of the value of a relationship). Our model can be used as a null model to increase our understanding of affiliative behaviour among primates, in particular macaques.
Highlights
IntroductionOne of the most frequent behavioural acts is grooming
Patterns of affiliative behaviour have long puzzled primatologists
For several types of patterns, a separate theory based on specific cognitive processes has been developed
Summary
One of the most frequent behavioural acts is grooming It has been explained as serving several functions, such as cleaning the fur [1], reducing anxiety, tension and stress [2], social bonding [3], repairing relationships [4] and social reciprocation and exchange [5]. As regards the mechanisms of exchange, individuals have been supposed to direct grooming up the hierarchy in order to receive more effective support in return, and due to competition for partners of high rank they may end up grooming others of similar rank [6]. Individuals appeared to reconcile in particular with those partners that appeared more valuable to them, the so-called ‘valuable-relationship hypothesis’ [8]
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