Female-female Dyads Research Articles

The Function and Determinants of Reconciliation in Pan troglodytes

Reconciliation (the postconflict affiliative reunion between former opponents) may mitigate costs of aggressive conflict by repairing the opponents’ relationship and reducing stress. We showed that postconflict levels of self-directed behavior were lower after reconciliation than when reconciliation did not occur in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) at Chester Zoo, providing support for a stress-alleviating function for reconciliation. Further, we investigated the effects of multiple factors on the occurrence of reconciliation using generalized linear mixed models. We performed 2 separate analyses, a “traditional” analysis and a “targeted” analysis. The former included variables previously used to assess the occurrence of reconciliation in primates, i.e., conflict characteristics, sex combination, and a simple measure of relationship value. The latter included species-specific variables such as the occurrence of consolation (postconflict affiliation from a bystander to the recipient of aggression); initiation of the conflict with a bluff display; and measures of relationship value, compatibility, and security specific to the study group. Whereas the traditional analysis showed that female-female dyads and valuable partners were most likely to reconcile, the targeted analysis showed that reconciliation was less likely to occur when consolation took place or when aggression was initiated with bluff displays. Further analyses revealed that the effect of sex-combination on reconciliation was due to its intercorrelation with bluff display. This study highlights the importance of considering variables specific to the study species and group when investigating the determinants of reconciliation and warns against premature interpretation of results without due consideration for all other possible determinants.

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.

Scream–embrace displays in wild black‐horned capuchin monkeys

Reintroduction of capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) into their social group in captivity can elicit sirena screams and embraces. Captive scream-embrace displays are male biased, and females never perform sirena screams. One hypothesis is that scream-embrace displays serve a tension-reduction or reconciliatory function between males with conflicting interests. Alternatively, these displays may function to maintain strong affiliative bonds between friendly male dyads. Scream and/or embrace displays in wild Brazilian black-horned capuchins were analyzed for social and ecological contexts, behavioral components, and individuals involved. Seventy-two displays were observed during the 199-day study period. Among the 66 displays for which both members could be identified by sex, there were 42 occurrences of male-male dyads, 17 of male-female dyads, and seven of female-female dyads. Scream-embrace dyads were male-male pairs significantly more often than expected from group membership, and the alpha male was the only male to engage in scream-embrace displays with females. Female-female pairs did embrace, but never emitted sirena screams. Displays most commonly occurred in "reunion" contexts, primarily the reuniting of subgroups after hours or days out of contact, but also after intergroup encounters, and across groups in "intergroup" displays. Displays were rare, but socially contagious, and subgroup reunions could elicit multiple displays in rapid succession. Although the occurrence of screams and embraces was positively correlated, both behaviors also occurred independently, and their functions may be different. Male sirena screams may be honest advertisements of united alliances, directed toward a third party, whereas the embrace may be a risky affiliative signal, directed primarily within the dyad.

The Unbearable Likeness of Being Digital: The Persistence of Nonverbal Social Norms in Online Virtual Environments

Every day, millions of users interact in real-time via avatars in online environments, such as massively-multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). These online environments could potentially be unique research platforms for the social sciences and clinical therapy, but it is crucial to first establish that social behavior and norms in virtual environments are comparable to those in the physical world. In an observational study of Second Life, a virtual community, we collected data from avatars in order to explore whether social norms of gender, interpersonal distance (IPD), and eye gaze transfer into virtual environments even though the modality of movement is entirely different (i.e., via keyboard and mouse as opposed to eyes and legs). Our results showed that established findings of IPD and eye gaze transfer into virtual environments: (1) male-male dyads have larger IPDs than female-female dyads, (2) male-male dyads maintain less eye contact than female-female dyads, and (3) decreases in IPD are compensated with gaze avoidance as predicted by the Equilibrium Theory. We discuss implications for users of online games as well as for social scientists who seek to conduct research in virtual environments.

Novel object exploration in ravens (Corvus corax): Effects of social relationships

Social context has been shown to encourage, or to delay object exploration and learning. This ambiguity might be due to factors such as social relationships and personality of the individuals involved. Here, we investigated in ravens (Corvus corax) individuals' consistency in response to novel objects over development and across contexts: alone versus social. In the social setting we focussed on the effects of social relationships on social facilitation during the approach to novel objects. We tested 11 hand-raised ravens with novel objects individually at three and six months of age and in dyadic combinations at six months of age. Individuals were consistent over development and contexts in their response to different novel objects. Birds joined siblings faster to approach novel objects than non-siblings. They also spent more time sitting close to siblings than to non-siblings. In male-male dyads but not in female-female dyads, subordinates approached the novel objects significantly faster than dominant birds. In contrast, dominant males were the first to approach the novel objects in mixed-sex combinations. Hence, the effect of social context seems to depend on the social relationships towards the companions and on the combination of the sexes.

Dynamics of Female–Female Relationships in Wild Cebus capucinus: Data from Two Costa Rican Sites.

Three questions about female-female relationships remain largely unexplored in female-philopatric platyrrhines. First, to what extent is female dominance status dependent on coalitional support? Second, how stable are female dominance hierarchies over multiyear periods? Third, what is the role of allogrooming in servicing long-term social relationships? We addressed these questions using data collected on Cebus capucinus at Lomas Barbudal and Santa Rosa, over a six-year period. Most female-female coalitions against females reinforced the existing dominance hierarchy, but such coalitions were 3–7 times more frequent at Lomas Barbudal than at Santa Rosa. The Lomas Barbudal group's female hierarchy was highly stable throughout the six years of observation, whereas all three of the intensively observed Santa Rosa groups experienced frequent dominance reversals accompanied by physical aggression. In the Lomas Barbudal group, grooming tended to be directed up the hierarchy, and more closely-ranked females groomed at higher rates than distantly-ranked females, whereas these patterns were not consistently found at Santa Rosa. At both sites, grooming was evenly balanced within 67% of female-female dyads, and mothers of young infants received more grooming than other females did. Females did not spend more of their time grooming each other in groups containing more females than in groups containing fewer females, but they distributed their grooming less evenly among their female groupmates in the largest observed group of females. Some of the intersite differences may be attributable to differences in the rate of female mortality or transfer or both.

Male-Male Social Relationships in Wild White-Faced Capuchins, Cebus Capucinus

Male white-faced capuchins are expected to have tense, yet cooperative, relationships because they must compete for matings in an intragroup context, yet males of the same group need one another's support for intergroup competition for mates. In this paper, I examine in detail the social relationships of the 4 adult males in a single social group of wild white-faced capuchins at Lomas Barbudal Biological Reserve, Costa Rica. There was a clear alpha male, to whom all other males deferred; however, there was no obvious linear ranking among the subordinate males. Urine rubbing and branch displays were performed more often by the alpha than by subordinate males, though one subordinate male increased his rates of these behaviours when the alpha male was out of view. The alpha male formed coalitions with subordinate males against other males, but pairs of subordinate males never formed coalitions against the alpha male. The alpha male was not consistent with regard to which subordinate male he supported in triadic interactions. Affiliative interactions between subordinate males were consistently disrupted by the alpha male. Males cooperated with one another in the context of defense against predators and defense against males of other social groups. Relaxed affiliation and close proximity between males were rare, in comparison with male-female and female-female dyads. Tense affiliation (e.g. wheeze dances, play, and rough grooming) was most common following a change in alpha male, when aggressive interactions were also more common. Despite males' relatively low rates of affiliation and proximity, males actively searched for one another when a male was missing from the group for an extended period of time.

Female-female social relationships in wild white-faced capuchin monkeys,Cebus capucinus

A single social group of wild white-faced capuchin monkeys was studied for a period of 26 months at Lomas Barbudal Biological Reserve, Costa Rica. A total of 604 hr of focal animal data was collected on six adult females in a group of 21 monkeys. Females could be ranked in a stable, linear dominance hierarchy. Adult females spent much more time in proximity to other adult females than to adult males. Females groomed other females twice as often as they groomed males, and about 55 times more often than males groomed males. Females tended to groom up the dominance hierarchy, and dyads with smaller rank distances groomed more often. Higher-ranking females nursed infants other than their own at lower rates than did lower-ranking females; however, females nursed infants of females ranked both above and below them. Although lower-ranking females were more likely than higher-ranking females to be the victims of aggression, higher-ranking females were not necessarily more aggressive than lower-ranking females. In 96% of female-female coalitions vs. a female, the victim was lower-ranking than both coalition partners; in the remaining 4%, the victim was intermediate in rank between the two coalition partners. Higher-ranking female-female dyads formed coalitions more often than did lower-ranking dyads. Those female-female dyads that groomed more frequently also formed coalitions more frequently. The patterning of social interactions indicates that Cebus capucinus at Lomas Barbudal are female bonded. o 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

When primary and secondary caregivers disagree: predictors and psychosocial consequences.

The purpose of this study was to investigate primary caregiving spouses' and their lay helpers' divergent opinions about the caregiving environment. Through parallel assessments, both primary and secondary caregivers of a patient with Alzheimer's disease were asked to rate the degree of patient problem behaviors; the degree of strain the primary caregiver was experiencing; and primary care-giver efficacy, or perceived ability to cope with caregiving demands. Analyses concentrated on the general levels of disagreement in these domains, as well as on potential predictors and consequences of such disagreement. Results revealed a substantial divergence in perceptions across caregiving domains, with relatively less disagreement about patient problem behaviors and primary caregiver strain than about primary caregiver coping efficacy. Primary caregivers with relatively pessimistic secondary caregivers experienced relatively less psychosocial distress than primary caregivers with more optimistic helpers. These findings were strongest among female-female caregiving dyads. Theoretical implications and methodological limitations of the study are discussed, along with suggestions for future research.

Developmental themes in Japanese-North American interpersonal relationships

The purpose of this study was to examine relational themes, patterns of discourse which focus on partners' interpretations of their interaction, in intercultural relationships. More specifically, two research questions were addressed: What themes emerge in intercultural relationships? and How do specific themes relate to intercultural relationship development? Partners in low, moderate, and high intimacy, Japanese-North American, female-female dyads were interviewed individually in their native languages. An interpretive analysis of the participants' accounts of their relationships revealed four themes: communication competence, similarity, involvement, and turning points. Each theme had three subthemes. The presence, form, and interconnections among the relational themes varied across intimacy levels. The subthemes of cultural similarity, language/cultural knowledge, and accommodation emerged more frequently in these Japanese-North American relationships than would be expected in relationships between members of the same culture.

Intrusions Upon Same-Sex or Different-Sex Dyads in a Turkish University Dining Hall

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Friendship and Freedom of Movement as Moderators of Sex Differences in Interpersonal Distancing

Abstract American undergraduates (96 males, 96 females) interacted face-to-face with a same-sex or opposite-sex target person who was either a friend or a stranger. Half the subjects were free to move and approach the target person, stopping at the point where approaching “any closer would be uncomfortable.” The other half were stationary and were approached by the target person, who was asked to stop at a similar uncomfortable point. As expected, friends maintained closer distances than strangers. Moreover, both sexes kept closer distances with males when subjects were free to move than when stationary, but freedom of movement made no difference when the target was female. Though not statistically reliable, our experiments showed that male-male dyads generally maintained greater distances than female-female dyads, with male-female dyads closest among friends. The results suggest that freedom of movement and friendship were important moderators of gender differences in interpersonal distancing.

Naturalistic social cognition: Intersubjectivity in same-sex dyads

The research paradigm that Ickes and his colleagues (Ickes, Robertson, Tooke, & Teng, 1986; Ickes & Tooke, 1988) have developed for the study of naturalistic social cognition was used to explore the phenomenon ofintersubjectivity as it naturally occurs in the initial, unstructured interactions of same-sex (male-male and female-female) dyads. The results of two studies revealed evidence of greater similarity (i.e., convergence) in the thought-feeling content of the male dyad members than in that of the female dyad members on measures pertaining to the quality of their reported feelings. These findings were consistent with the assumption that, due to a normatively narrower range of affective involvement in the male-male dyads, the male dyad members were more likely than the female dyad members to monitor closely the emotional tone of their interaction. In direct support of this assumption, there was significantly less nonverbal involvement (i.e., gesturing, smiling, gazing, mutual gaze) in the male-male dyads in both studies, along with corresponding differences in the variability of these behaviors. In addition, the results of both studies revealed serendipitous evidence of greater similarity in the thought-feeling content of the female, than of the male, dyad members on measures pertaining to the degree of metaperspective taking and to thoughts and feelings about other people. The discussion emphasized the need for theorists and researchers in cognitive social psychology to address those genuinelysocial-cognitive (i.e., intersubjective) phenomena that have traditionally been ignored.

Heterosis of adult mouse (Mus musculus) ultrasonic vocalizing.

Four sets of adult mice (Mus musculus), each comprised of individuals from two inbred strains and both reciprocal F1 crosses, were tested during male-female and female-female dyadic encounters for their emission of 70-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations. For each sex-dyad type of each set, a single progeny mean representing both reciprocal F1 groups was calculated and compared to (1) the average value from the inbred parents and (2) the higher mean of the within-set progenitor inbred strains. In addition to demonstrating strain-and sex-influenced ultrasonic vocalizing levels, the results indicated that for each set examined, the F1-progeny mean amount of ultrasonic vocalizing significantly exceeded the average inbred parent value. This was true for both dyad types, providing strong evidence that ultrasonic vocalizing displlays a directional dominance mode of inheritance in both female and male mice. Moreover, for female-female dyads of all four sets and for male-female dyads of three of four sets, the F1-progeny mean amount of ultrasonic vocalizing significantly exceeded that of the highest progenitor inbred strain. Analyses of ultrasonic vocalizing latencies yielded similar hybrid-inbred differences. Collectively, these findings are interpreted as being consistent with the notion that, for both sexes of mice, ultrasonic vocalizing is a phenotypically heterotic behavioral trait.

Experiments on respect of possession and property in hamadryas baboons ( Papio hamadryas)

The question of how useful concepts of possession and property are in analysing the relationship between baboons and objects was evaluated in five experimental situations. The results of laboratory experiments concerning the possession of a food container and experiments on possession of fruits confirmed the inhibition of the dominant partner to take food away from a lower-ranking companion. This inhibition always appeared in male-male dyads, while in male-female and female-female dyads, the extent of respect depended on the difference in dominance rank and the type of food. However, in a dominance test, where food pieces were thrown between both partners, the dominant did not allow the subordinate to take a single piece. Given the choice, males preferred neutral food-cans over cans previously used by their partner. In experiments in a field enclosure, whole one-male units preferred their own feeding place over that of another unit. The outcome of the two experiments concerning choice does not support the alternative explanation involving ‘familiar’ versus ‘new’, but does support the property hypothesis.

A DEVELOPMENTAL STUDY OF INTERPERSONAL DISTANCE AND BODILY ORIENTATION IN JAPAN

The present study was designed to investigate the developmental process of interpersonal distance and bodily orientation in relation to sex of the subjects and interpersonal feelings.Ss were 120 male and 120 female students from 3rd, 5th, and 8th grades of elementary and junior high school within the same public school system and from the undergraduate students of a university. They served as subjects in same sex pair or opposite sex pair. Each pair of the subjects was photographed through one-way mirror every 20 seconds when they were playing the roles of liking pair and disliking pair. In each relationship, ten photographs were obtained. Interpersonal distances and bodily orientations were measured on the basis of analysis of the photographs.The major findings are as follows:(1) The interpersonal distances of the same sex pairs enlarged relatively linear, while those of the opposite sex pairs showed curvilinear pattern having the highest level at puberty.(2) In all the grade levels, male-male dyads were inclined to maintain greater interpersonal distance than female-female dyads.(3) In all the grade levels, disliking pairs maintained greater interpersonal distance than liking pairs.(4) In all the grade levels, liking pairs interacted face-to-face more often than disliking pairs.(5) In comparison with younger graders, adults (undergraduate students) interacted with less faced bodily orientation.In summary, the childrens' spatial behavior in social interactions is similar to adults', and so the mode of spatial bebavior is considered to be learned earlier than the age of the subjects in the present study.

Judgments of Assertive Behavior as a Function of Speech Loudness, Latency, Content, Gestures, Inflection, and Sex

Ninety-six undergraduate males and females judged 112 videotaped scenes of male-male, male-female, female-male, and female-female dyads involved in a line or restaurant scene in which the responses to confrontations varied systematically in voice loudness, latency to reply, speech content, gestures, and voice inflection. It was found that each of these variables substantially altered judgments along a subassertive-assertive-aggressive continuum. While the sex of the rater was never important, the sex of the stimulus dyad was always important. Females responding were rated higher than males, perhaps demonstrating that raters saw greater social incongruence for females to be reacting assertively than for males. Line scenes were always rated slightly higher than restaurant scenes, perhaps because standing is a more dominant posture than sitting.

Agonistic behaviour and dominance in confined wallabies, Wallabia rufogrisea frutica

Agonistic behaviour between the two mature males strongly affected agonistic behaviour within other dyads in seven confined wallabies ( Wallabia rufogrisea frutica). First, agonistic behaviour patterns and those social behaviour patterns which often evolved into agonistic patterns are described. Male-male dyads displayed only agonistic behaviour but in male-female and female-female dyads agonistic behaviour evolved from sexual, grooming, and unclassified behaviour. Agonistic behaviour was far more frequent in male-male than in male-female or female-female dyads. Baseline dominance relationships were determined by considering both the number of agonistic interactions in which each dyad engaged and the resulting wins and losses. Then, dominance reversals between the two mature males were twice engineered by removing the dominant male for 18 days and then reintroducing him. Dominance relationships within other dyads were greatly altered thereby, sometimes reversibly. Finally, the currently dominant mature male was removed for only 48 hr and then reintroduced. This resulted in a uniquely violent battle but not in a dominance reversal.