Conciliatory Tendency Research Articles

Social interaction analysis in captive orcas (Orcinus orca).

The management of socially complex species in captivity is challenging. Research on their social behavior improves our understanding of interactions in captive animals and captive-group management. We conducted a detailed analysis of social relationships shown by the orcas kept at Loro Parque zoo and their tendency to reconcile after aggressive episodes. Affiliative interactions were the most frequent social activities compared to agonistic or sexual interactions. Within affiliative behaviors, we documented the pattern "gentle tongue bite", where an animal touches the other's tongue with his teeth but does not bite it. Affiliative interactions between a specific pair of orcas occurred significantly more often than expected by chance, and together with low levels of agonistic interactions, indicated particular affinity between some individuals. The most frequently observed low-level agonistic relationship was that of the two older males (Tekoa-Keto); however, they also showed frequent sexual and affiliative interactions. Sexual-like behaviors (pursuit, mount, and penis between males) were found in both sexes. Finally, the observed corrected conciliatory tendency (31.57%) was within the range described for other primate and cetacean species. This study provides a systematic way to assess social interactions as well as conflict management strategies in cetaceans housed in zoos and zoo-like facilities and may help to improve animal welfare and management of animals in controlled environments.

Crise econômica, luta de classes e Serviço Social no Brasil

Resumo O texto objetiva analisar a crise econômica presente na realidade brasileira a partir de 2011, assinalando seus impactos sociais e políticos, em especial suas consequências para um acirramento da luta de classes no país. Aborda também a agenda restauradora que as classes dominantes estão impondo para resolução da crise. Em face desse quadro econômico e político, o texto visa, ainda, refletir sobre as tendências ideológicas e políticas conciliatórias tradicionalmente presentes no Serviço Social, e como o Conselho Federal de Serviço Social aponta uma alternativa estratégica para a inserção da profissão na realidade brasileira através do tema proposto para o Dia do/a Assistente Social de 2017: Na luta de classes não há empate - Assistente Social: profissional em defesa das liberdades democráticas e dos direitos sociais. Para tanto, foi realizado um estudo utilizando fontes bibliográficas e documentais.

Analysis of Post-agonism Reconciliation in a Captive Group of the Wedge-Capped Capuchin Monkey, Cebus olivaceus: a Pilot Study.

Agonism was often associated to an increase in inter-individual distances in social individuals; however, many evidences indicate that individuals affiliate after a dispute ( “reconciliate”). The post-agonism behavior of individuals in a captive troop of the wedge-capped capuchin monkey was described and conciliatory tendency (CT) was estimated by using the PC-MC (Post-Conflict – Matched Control) method; here PA-MC (Post-Agonism – Matched-Control). Males initiated more agonistic interactions toward females than to other males while females avoided initiating them toward males. Interestingly, females were more prone to initiate reconciliation than males, both toward males (CT: 0.20-0.42) and toward other females (CT: 0.24-0.25). Overall, the CT in the group ranged from 0.127 to 0.198. We compared our results with those from other capuchins and propose that reconciliation may not be fundamental in maintaining social cohesion in Cebidae; nonetheless, due to our small sample, this is a preliminary conclusion.

The Occurrence of Postconflict Skills in Captive Immature Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

Conflict management strategies can reduce costs of aggressive competition in group-living animals. Postconflict behaviors such as reconciliation and third-party postconflict affiliation are widely accepted as social skills in primates and have been demonstrated in many species. Although immature primates possess a repertoire of species-specific behaviors, it is thought that they gradually develop appropriate social skills throughout prolonged juvenility to establish and maintain complex social relationships within their group. We examined the occurrence of postconflict skills in five immature chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) over 15 mo, focusing on interactions that were not with the subject’s mother. We observed reconciliation, with conciliatory tendencies comparable to adults, and provide the first evidence that captive immature chimpanzees commonly reconciled using social play. However, immatures were not more likely to reconcile valuable than nonvaluable relationships. We also observed third party postconflict affiliation although at a lower level than reported for adults. Our results provide evidence for postconflict skills in immature chimpanzees but the lack of higher conciliatory tendency with valuable partners and low occurrence of third-party affiliation indicates extended juvenility may be required refine these skills. Further work is needed to investigate whether these behaviors have the same function and effectiveness as those found in adults.

Reconciliation and third-party affiliation in pair-bond budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus)

Some group-living animals show conciliatory tendencies towards specific group members after conflicts, referred to as post-conflict affiliation (PC-affiliation). PC-affiliation with a former opponent and a third-party bystander is classified as ‘reconciliation’ and ‘third-party affiliation’, respectively. PC-affiliation is assumed to be mediated by high-quality social relationships between individuals. Recently, studies assessing lifelong monogamous birds, such as corvids, have found PC-affiliation as a case of convergent evolution with regard to primates. Nevertheless, PC-affiliation divergence in birds is still poorly understood. Here, we report that pair-bonds of budgerigars, a lifelong-monogamous small parrot, engage in both reconciliation and third-party affiliation. We also found that males initiated both types of PC-affiliation more often than females. However, during reconciliation, this skewed affiliation pattern was unlikely specific to the PC-context but could also stem from sex differences in basic social-behavioural features (i.e., female dominance over males and males’ primary role in initiating affiliation with females), which are common outside the PC-context. Conversely, the third-party PC-affiliation pattern was significantly different from the basic affiliation pattern: affiliations were initiated more often by combatant winners, by bystander males toward defeated females, and less often by defeated males. These results suggest specific signal and stress reduction functions related to PC-affiliation among budgerigar pair-bonds. The present study supports the view that PC-affiliations, based on high-quality relationships, did not only evolve in mammals but also in birds, with species-specific forms associated with social behavioural tendencies.

Postconflict Conciliation within One-Male Breeding Units in Sichuan Snub-Nosed Monkeys in the Qinling Mountains, China

This study analyzed conflict and postconflict (PC) conciliation between males and females within one-male breeding units in Sichuan snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana) in the Qinling Mountains, China. The PC matched-control and time rule methods were used to collect and analyze data recorded from September 2013 to June 2014. The conciliatory tendency among individuals following conflict was 82.07%, and affiliation occurred within a few minutes after the conflict, which was not significantly different between mating and nonmating seasons. The PC conciliation scenarios were different from those reported from captivity. Lumbar hold and grooming were the most common expressions in reconciliation. In addition, bystander affiliation was uniquely found, which may be associated with the more terrestrial locomotion of R. roxellana, compared with other colobines.

Group apology under unstable status relations: Perceptions of insincerity hinder reconciliation and forgiveness

This research examined the effects of structural conditions on perceptions of and responses to an apology offered by an advantaged majority group to a disadvantaged minority group. We used the dramatic regional changes of the Arab Spring to manipulate the instability of status relations between Israeli Arabs and Jews. In two studies, we found that under instability (vs. control), both Israeli Jews (advantaged group members; Study 1) and Israeli Arabs (disadvantaged group members; Study 2) perceived an apology offered to the Arab minority by the Israeli Prime Minister as insincere and manipulative (i.e., intended to serve the Jews rather than the Arabs). Perceived insincerity, in turn, led to reduced forgiveness and conciliatory tendencies among Israeli Arabs (Study 2). These findings shed light on how structural factors might render group apologies counterproductive in promoting positive intergroup relations. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Conflict management in free-ranging wolves, Canis lupus

Individuals should invest in conflict management when the costs of conflicts outweigh their benefits. We investigated whether free-ranging wolves engage in conflict resolution. We predicted that reconciliation and consolation should occur because pack members are highly interdependent upon each other owing to the benefits that group members derive from cooperative breeding, cooperative hunting and cooperation in between-group conflicts. As within-group conflict in wolves is low, in accordance with tolerant dominance relationships among pack members, we also predicted a high conciliatory tendency. We collected behavioural data from two packs in Yellowstone National Park (U.S.A.). We report reconciliation, mainly initiated by victims and directed towards aggressors, and solicited and unsolicited consolation. As predicted, the conciliatory tendency was high and comparable to the values reported in primate species with a tolerant dominance style. We suggest that conflict management is favoured in wolves, and more generally in species with a sufficiently high degree of interdependence among group members, as interdependence can explain investment in conflict mitigation without the need to invoke particular relationships of mutual value. 2014 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Individual differences in chimpanzee reconciliation relate to social switching behaviour

In recent years, the presence of stable individual variation in animal behaviour has been corroborated by studies across a wide variety of taxa and research disciplines. Reconciliation, or postconflict affiliation between former opponents, is a behavioural domain in which individual differences have not been systematically studied. Using a long-term data set comprising over 2000 conflict and postconflict observations in two groups of outdoor-housed chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, we provide evidence for stable individual variation in reconciliation and test several hypotheses on how this postconflict mechanism relates to social switching behaviour. Results of generalized multilevel models revealed that individual differences remained a substantial source of variation in reconciliation after controlling for a number of situational variables (e.g. the nature of the relationship between opponents) shown by previous research to influence its occurrence. We further demonstrated a positive association between an individual's conciliatory tendency and three separate indices of social switching behaviour, proposing that individual differences in reconciliation may reflect a more fundamental motivation to switch between different social states. In addition to a discussion of potential motivational underpinnings, we provide an impetus for future work to consider how reconciliation relates to the broader constructs and themes identified within animal personality research. To the extent that individual differences in other aspects of conflict and postconflict repertoires exhibit temporal and cross-situational consistency, they too should inform our understanding of animal personalities. Delineating how these and other dimensions of sociality are in part driven by stable individual variation not only has implications for how social interactions themselves unfold, but ultimately for the fitness of the individuals therein.

Dominance style of female white‐faced capuchins

Dominance style, the level of tolerance displayed by dominant individuals toward subordinate ones, is exhibited along a continuum from despotic to relaxed. It is a useful concept to describe the nature of dominance relationships in macaque species and it bridges among multiple features of dominance hierarchies, aggression, kinship and conflict resolution. Capuchins share many behavioral similarities with Old World monkeys and like macaques, may exhibit a suite of covarying characteristics related to dominance. Here, we provide an assessment of dominance style by examining measures of aggression and kin bias in 22 adult female white-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus) in three social groups at Santa Rosa Sector, Costa Rica. We found that bidirectionality of aggression was low (mean = 6.9% ± SE 1.6). However, there were few significant correlations between kin relatedness and social behavior (approaching, grooming, proximity, and co-feeding), even though the intensity of kin bias in grooming was moderate and higher in the larger group. We conclude that patterns of aggression and kin-biased behavior in our study animals are dissimilar to the patterns of covariation observed in macaque species. While unidirectional aggression suggests a despotic dominance style, the moderate expression of kin bias suggests an intermediate to relaxed classification when compared with results from an analysis of 19 macaque species. Additional studies of capuchin species and behaviors associated with dominance style (i.e., conciliatory tendencies) would help to create a comparative framework for the genus Cebus, and allow for more detailed cross-species comparison of dominance relationships across all primates.

Social tolerance in wild female crested macaques (Macaca nigra) in Tangkoko-Batuangus Nature Reserve, Sulawesi, Indonesia.

In primates, females typically drive the evolution of the social system and present a wide diversity of social structures. To understand this diversity, it is necessary to document the consistency and/or flexibility of female social structures across and within species, contexts, and environments. Macaques (Macaca sp.) are an ideal taxon for such comparative study, showing both consistency and variation in their social relations. Their social styles, constituting robust sets of social traits, can be classified in four grades, from despotic to tolerant. However, tolerant species are still understudied, especially in the wild. To foster our understanding of tolerant societies and to assess the validity of the concept of social style, we studied female crested macaques, Macaca nigra, under entirely natural conditions. We assessed their degree of social tolerance by analyzing the frequency, intensity, and distribution of agonistic and affiliative behaviors, their dominance gradient, their bared-teeth display, and their level of conciliatory tendency. We also analyzed previously undocumented behavioral patterns in grade 4 macaques: reaction upon approach and distribution of affiliative behavior across partners. We compared the observed patterns to data from other populations of grade 4 macaques and from species of other grades. Overall, female crested macaques expressed a tolerant social style, with low intensity, frequently bidirectional, and reconciled conflicts. Dominance asymmetry was moderate, associated with an affiliative bared-teeth display. Females greatly tolerated one another in close proximity. The observed patterns matched the profile of other tolerant macaques and were outside the range of patterns of more despotic species. This study is the first comprehensive analysis of females’ social behavior in a tolerant macaque species under natural conditions and as such, contributes to a better understanding of macaque societies. It also highlights the relevance of the social style concept in the assessment of the degree of tolerance/despotism in social systems. Am. J. Primatol. 75:361-375, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Reconciliation in Male Stump‐tailed Macaques (Macaca arctoides): Intolerant Males Care for Their Social Relationships

AbstractRecent research has shown that social relationships may exert positive effects on fitness. Therefore, it is expected that animals make efforts to develop and preserve close social bonds. Reconciliation is a conflict resolution mechanism, which allows buffering the negative effects of aggressive conflict on social relationships. As socioecological theories claim that intrasexual competition and conflict‐shaped social interactions among macaque males, postconflict behaviour should reflect the effects of these evolutionary forces. Here, we present the results of a study on a provisioned group ofMacaca arctoidesinThailand focusing exclusively on male postconflict behaviour. Through an Information Theory–Model Selection approach, we evaluated the relative support for three predictions about the occurrence of reconciliation and the quality of the opponents' social relationships. The strength of the opponents' affiliative relationship was the only variable predicting reconciliation occurrence. This agrees with the main prediction of the valuable relationship hypothesis for the function and distribution of reconciliation, which states that the opponents sharing high‐quality relationships are more likely to reconcile, and this interaction is aimed to repair the disturbing effects of previous aggression on their relationship. The conciliatory tendency found among these wild males is much lower than reported previously for this species from captive conditions, matching more closely the rates reported for species with an intolerant‐despotic dominance style. The results offer strong support for the importance of developing and preserving valuable relationships, even among rather intolerant males.

Motivations for Reconciliation: Regulatory Mode, Individual Differences, and Evolutionary Considerations

Conflict is an integral component of human and other group-living animals’ social nature. But conflicts are often managed and settled through a process called reconciliation, whereby friendly relations between former opponents are restored. In humans, conflict resolution research has focused primarily on forgiveness and less on this broader and perhaps more basic dynamic of when two individuals are actually motivated to come together in the first place. Further, research in all species has failed to emphasize individual differences as a potential source of variation in conciliatory tendencies, perhaps because reconciliation is inherently an inter- as opposed to intra-individual phenomenon. The overall goal of this paper is to expand what we know about reconciliation by examining whether there are individual differences in basic human motivations to reconcile. Regulatory Mode Theory (RMT) is a potentially useful starting point for addressing this question. RMT distinguishes between two fundamental and independent components of effective self-regulation: locomotion and assessment. Locomotion constitutes the aspect of self-regulation concerned with movement from state-to-state, while assessment is the aspect of self-regulation involved in making comparisons. This is the first research, to our knowledge, that examines the direct influence of regulatory mode on conflict resolution. In this study, participants were presented with various interpersonal conflict scenarios, and then rated their motivations for reconciliation and feelings of negativity following these conflicts. Results of multilevel mixed-effects regression analyses revealed that there were significant individual differences, such that as locomotion increased, the motivation to reconcile was higher and less influenced by feelings of negativity generated by the conflict. Conversely, as assessment increased, the motivation to reconcile decreased and became more influenced by these negative feelings. Further interactions revealed that high assessors are most sensitive to the roles that they are depicted playing in the conflict. Results are consistent with the idea that high locomotors are motivated to just do it whereas high assessors are motivated to do it right. RMT provides a promising approach to investigating the relation between motivation, individual differences, and reconciliation, not just in humans but in other species as well. Evolutionary implications and future steps for further research in humans and other animals are also discussed.

Coevolution of Facial Expression and Social Tolerance in Macaques

The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that social tolerance drives the evolution of facial expression in macaques. Macaque species exhibit a range of social styles that reflect a continuum of social tolerance. Social interactions in more tolerant taxa tend to be less constrained by rank and kinship than in less-tolerant macaques. I predicted that macaques that are more tolerant would exhibit a wider range of facial displays than less-tolerant species because interactions that are open to negotiation are characterized by greater uncertainty than interactions that are constrained by rank or kinship. To test this hypothesis, I conducted a phylogenetically informed regression analysis (N = 11) using previously published data on repertoire size and two quantitative measures of social tolerance (conciliatory tendency and counter-aggression). As predicted, macaques with more tolerant social styles tended to have larger repertoires than less-tolerant species. These results support the hypothesis that increased social tolerance favors the elaboration of communication to mitigate uncertainty.

British Conservatism and Trade Unionism, 1945-1964. By Peter Dorey.

Despite the popular impression of outright hostility between trade unions and the Conservative Party, Peter Dorey argues that the two decades following the Second World War marked a significant attempt to build a more constructive relationship. ‘From 1945 to 1964’, he suggests, ‘A unique set of circumstances, ideas and individuals combined to ensure that the Conservative Party and the trade unions enjoyed their most harmonious relationship ever’ (p. 184). In the initial chapter, Dorey highlights the conciliatory tendencies of Tories and Conservatives from Disraeli through to the strife of the inter-war years (when Macmillan was a young backbencher), suggesting that this ‘presaged the voluntarist paradigm which was to prevail throughout the 1950s and early 1960s’ (p. 14). He argues that even when repressive legislation was enacted, such as the 1799–1800 Combination Acts or the 1927 Trade Disputes Act, some within the party had considerable doubts over the pragmatic benefits of such a hostile approach. Indeed, such a reading of the period somewhat diminishes the claim on the dust jacket of the book that the post-war years were radically different from anything that preceded them. Yet, even if elements of a constructive relationship can be traced to earlier eras, it was indeed the post-war years that saw the most significant attempt yet to bring the trade unions into the Conservative fold.

Reconciliation in captive cotton‐top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus), a cooperative breeding primate

Reconciliation has been demonstrated in all primate species in which the phenomenon has been studied. However, reconciliation has been studied in only two species of callitrichids, and conclusions remain controversial. The first aim of this study has been to find out whether captive cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) reconcile, since this is the first such study on this species. We examined 227 conflicts in three family groups (N=19). Instances in which individuals remained together in t=0 (29; 12.8%) were not analyzed. The cotton-top tamarins showed heightened affiliation between opponents in the postconflict periods (PC) compared with matched control (MC) periods (39.88+/-5.12% and 3.18+/-1.27%, respectively), with a corrected conciliatory tendency of 37.17+/-5.37%, and a "time window" that included the first 180 sec of the PC period. Former opponents were the most likely recipient of affiliative behaviors during the PC periods: 39.83+/-4.26% vs. 11.36+/-5.33% during MC periods. The proportion of attracted pairs (47.13+/-6.25%) was significantly higher than those of dispersed pairs for male-male conflicts (3.79+/-1.79), but not for male-female conflicts (27.31+/-9.32 and 4.82+/-2.9, respectively). In cooperative-breeding species, specific sex-class dyads might differ in how they resolve conflicts.

Postconflict Affiliation of Aggressors in Papio hamadryas

Researchers have associated variation in the occurrence of postconflict behaviors with variation in the relationship quality between involved individuals. Apart from those on the great apes, the vast majority of postconflict studies involved female-bonded species and focused on the victim. We examined postconflict affiliation involving the aggressor in a non-female-bonded species, hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas), and investigated the influence of relationship quality on the occurrence of 2 types of postconflict affiliative behaviors. Hamadryas baboons reconciled after a conflict and the highest rate of reconciliation was between one-male unit (OMU) leader males and their females. Via direct measures of relationship characteristics we also found that partners with higher-quality relationship, e.g., highly affiliative dyads and allies, showed higher levels of conciliatory tendency than dyads with lower-quality relationship, e.g., less affiliative dyads and non-allies. We found evidence of postconflict third-party affiliation initiated by aggressors, but not by third parties. Further, aggressor-initiated affiliation was more likely with individuals of the same OMU and individuals with which the aggressor maintained a strongly affiliative relationship. Our findings provide further support for relationship quality as a fundamental underlying factor not only in reconciliation, but also in postconflict affiliations involving third parties.

Reconciliation, consolation and postconflict behavioral specificity in chimpanzees

Conflicts of interest arise regularly in the lives of all group-living animals and may escalate into aggressive conflicts. The costs of aggressive escalation can be reduced through peaceful postconflict interactions. This study investigated the postconflict behavior of 22 adult chimpanzees at Chester Zoo. The occurrence of reconciliation, i.e. the postconflict affiliative reunion between conflict opponents, and consolation, i.e. a postconflict affiliative interaction directed from a third party to the recipient of aggression, were demonstrated. Consolation was more likely to occur in the absence of reconciliation than after reconciliation, and reconciliation was more likely to occur in the absence of consolation than after consolation, supporting the hypothesis that consolation acts as a substitute for reconciliation when the latter fails to occur. Evidence for behavioral specificity, i.e. context-specific use of certain behaviors, was found for both reconciliation and consolation, which, along with high conciliatory tendencies, suggests an explicit style of postconflict behavior in the study subjects.

Male reproductive skew, paternal relatedness, and female social relationships

Female social relationships among primates are thought to be shaped by socio-ecological factors and phylogenetic constraints. We suggest that patterns of paternal relatedness among females influence measures of social tolerance that have been used to classify species into different social relationship categories. As kin support and kin preference have only been measured for matrilineal kin and related individuals exchange less aggression and have a higher conciliatory tendency, the observed low nepotism levels and high tolerance levels may be an artifact of hidden paternal relatedness among the nonkin category. Using comparative data on macaques, we investigate this hypothesis using male reproductive skew as a proxy for paternal relatedness. Within the limitations of the study we show that populations classified as being less nepotistic, and more tolerant exhibit higher levels of reproductive skew. This first result and the reasoning behind may motivate future students of social relationships to take paternal relatedness into consideration. Potential implications of this finding if repeated with larger samples include that variation in aspects of macaque social relationships may be explained without considering phylogeny or the strength of between-group contest competition for food.

Evaluating Dominance Styles in Assamese and Rhesus Macaques

Researchers have suggested that several types of agonistic and affiliative behavior covary as a set of species-specific traits, and have used the term dominance style to describe the covariation. We compared measures of dominance style between a group of Assamese macaques (Macaca assamensis) and a group of rhesus macaques (M. mulatta), though kinship information was unknown. Assamese and rhesus female-female dyads each showed a low proportion of counter aggression and a low conciliatory tendency, suggesting that they have despotic social relationships. They also showed a despotic pattern on several other types of agonistic and affiliative behavior, such as approach outcomes and grooming distributions, which is consistent with the covariation of dominance style traits. Assamese male-male dyads showed relatively high levels of reconciliation and counter aggression versus other macaque males portrayed in the literature, suggesting that Assamese males have a tolerant dominance style. Insofar as macaque dominance style depends on the behavior of females, we suggest that Assamese macaques, like rhesus macaques, have despotic social relationships, which contrasts with evidence of a strong correlation between phylogeny and dominance style in macaques. Further, our results indicate that strong male bonding and tolerant dominance relationships among males are independent of female dominance style. Lastly, some measures of agonistic behavior, such as rate of aggression or proportion of bites, are likely altered in competitive environments and thus are not useful indicators of dominance style.