Greeting Behavior Research Articles

Effects of a single dose of orally administered gabapentin in dogs during a veterinary visit: a double-blinded, placebo-controlled study

To evaluate the effects of a single dose of orally administered gabapentin in alleviating stress at a veterinary visit in privately owned dogs. 22 healthy client-owned dogs (1.5 to 8.5 years old) were enrolled in this study. Each dog received a 50-mg/kg oral dose of either gabapentin or placebo 2 hours before the beginning of each visit protocol. The dog's behavioral responses were coded from recorded video clips during a 5-minute-long standardized physical examination and pre- and post-physical examination phases. The veterinary technician separately rated each greeting behavior at each visit. Physiological variables during veterinary visits (ie, eye surface temperature and salivary cortisol concentrations) were also compared between the pre- and post-physical examination phases. The owner was queried 24 hours after a visit to determine the incidence of adverse events. The greeting test score, eye surface temperature, and cortisol concentrations did not differ substantially between the gabapentin and placebo treatment groups. Lip licking frequency during the physical examination phase was significantly lower in the gabapentin treatment group than in the placebo group (P = 0.001). Lip licking frequency during the pre- and post-physical examination phases was also significantly lower in the gabapentin treatment group than in the placebo treatment group (P = 0.004). No serious adverse events were reported by the owners following gabapentin treatment. Results showed that the 50-mg/kg dose of gabapentin was well tolerated without serious adverse effects in healthy dogs. Further studies are recommended of dogs with documented stress in response to a veterinary visit.

The Role of the Addressee and Gender Diversity in Greeting Behavior in the Saudi Context

The current paper investigates verbal and nonverbal greeting behaviors in the Saudi context. The study aims to identify how Saudi males and females greet their parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends, and what role the addressee plays on the performance of the greeting behavior. The study further distinguishes the similarities and differences between Saudi males and females in their greeting behavior. This study is a mixed method study that adopts qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The participants of the study are 72 Saudi adults, 50 females and 22 males. The findings show that Saudis accommodate their greeting behavior according to their addressee’s gender, age, social (familial) status, and social distance. Moreover, the findings revealed that males and females vary in the way they greet their relatives and friends. This variation is interpreted in the light of previous studies. This study provides some practical implications for the successful and meaningful greeting as well as successful interactions. 

Characteristics of Student– Dog Interaction during a Meet-and-Greet Activity in a University-Based Animal Visitation Program

ABSTRACTThe use of university-based Animal Visitation Programs (AVPs)—programs aimed at reducing student stress through human–animal interaction (HAI)—has increased. Implementation has expanded despite our limited understanding about program effects on student and animal wellbeing. Moreover, little is known about the nature of interactions between students and animals and how interaction quality might influence effects. The aim of this study was to identify and describe dog and student behaviors that inform the quality, type, and quantity of human–animal interaction during a university-based AVP. Over a period of three semesters, university students (n = 150) and therapy dogs (n = 27) were videorecorded during a 10-minute “meet-and-greet” activity conducted in small group settings. Based on coding 22.9 hours of 135 videos, comparisons of the frequency and duration of dog behavior (e.g., postural state, oral behavior) before and during interactions with students revealed an increase in the frequency of lip licking (Mbefore = 1.23, Mduring = 1.76, Z = –4.651, p < 0.001, r = 0.283) and yawning (Mbefore = 0.08, Mduring = 0.16, Z = –3.051, p = 0.002, r = 0.186) in dogs. Correlations between dog and student greeting behavior (e.g., posture, petting behavior) revealed a positive correlation between the frequency of lip licking and mutual greetings between students and dogs (r(133) = 0.283, p = 0.001). Results suggest dogs experience heightened arousal upon greeting and interacting with students. The absence of severe stress behaviors and continued presence of sustained social approach behaviors suggests that the dogs were not severely stressed during interactions. Implications for the implementation of AVPs are discussed.

School students' greeting behavior and its association with their community attachment and helping behavior

Objectives Many local governments and elementary and junior high schools in Japan have conducted a "greeting campaign". This has been done in order to activate communication among local residents, and to instill public spirit and sociability in students' minds. However, few studies have explored the significance of greeting campaigns. The present study investigates greeting in neighborhoods and its relationship with students' spontaneous greeting behavior. The study also seeks to understand the quantity of greeting in daily life and its association with a student's community attachment and helping behavior.Methods A self-completion questionnaire survey was conducted with 1,346 students studying in the fourth and higher grades at elementary schools, and 1,357 students in the first and second grade at junior high schools. There were 2,692 valid respondents. We performed the following analyses using the data of elementary school students and junior high school students separately. A partial correlation analysis was conducted wherein gender and grade were introduced as control variables. This analysis tested the correlation between the frequency of being greeted by surrounding people and the frequency of greeting by students, of their own accord. A path analysis that tested the relationship between students' greeting behavior, their attachment to residential areas, and helping behavior was also conducted.Results The results of the partial correlation analysis revealed that there was a positive correlation between the frequency of being greeted by surrounding people and the frequency of greeting by students, of their own accord, regardless of gender and grade. Moreover, the results of the path analysis revealed that the frequency of being greeted was positively associated with community attachment and that the frequency of students' spontaneous greeting behavior was positively associated not only with community attachment but also with helping behavior. The goodness of model fit was high for both the data of elementary school students as well as the data of junior high school students.Conclusion We found that exchanging greetings with surrounding people in daily life enhanced students' attachment to the community. In particular, we showed that students' spontaneous greeting behavior led to their helping behavior, which supports the significance of recommending greeting at home, school, or in the local community. Since there was a correlation between the frequency of being greeted and the frequency of greeting willingly, we consider that actions of surrounding adults become important to help students acquire spontaneous greeting behavior.

Greeting Behaviors in Male Alouatta palliata at La Pacifica, Costa Rica

Greeting behaviors are ritualized, nonaggressive interactions that serve as a form of tactile communication between two individuals; however, our understanding of the function of male greetings and how they vary inter- and intraspecifically is limited, particularly in Neotropical species. I examined greeting behavior in male Alouatta palliata to determine their social function by testing the tension reduction, social bonding, and formal dominance hypotheses. I collected 1751 h of behavioral data on two groups (G2 and G12/42) of similar size and sex ratio, with clear male dominance hierarchies. The overall number of greetings was low in both groups (N = 36 for both groups). More greetings occurred during times of social disruption (i.e., intergroup encounters, competition for food or females) than during neutral contexts (i.e., traveling or resting without potentially cycling females nearby), though frequencies varied by context in each group. Greetings occurred during all intergroup encounters in G2 but not in G12/42. With the exception of the competitive context in G12/42, alpha males and the higher-ranked male in the dyad initiated the majority of greetings in all contexts, though unidirectionality was not consistent. The pattern of greetings differed among dyads and between the groups. Subordinates in the dyad initiated more greetings than dominants only in G12/42 in the context of competitive activities, and the number of greetings decreased in G12/42 as rank distance increased. These results partially support the tension reduction hypothesis, and suggest greetings communicate nonagonistic intent among males. However, the nature of these encounters can vary by dyad and group within the same population, suggesting that greetings may also be partly driven by differing group histories, the social and ecological environments surrounding each group, and individual male temperaments.

Greetings in male Guinea baboons and the function of rituals in complex social groups

Ritualized greetings, defined as exchanges of non-aggressive signals, are common among males living in multi-male groups and are thought to balance the trade-offs of male co-residence. While ritualized greetings are widespread in the animal kingdom, the behavioral repertoire described in the genus Papio is exceptional, as it involves potentially harmful behaviors such as genital fondling. Although greetings are one of the most striking male social interactions in baboons, their function is still disputed. We investigated the function of male–male ritualized greeting behavior in wild Guinea baboons. This species lives in multilevel societies where several ‘units’ comprising a primary male, females with young, and occasionally a secondary male form a ‘party’, and two to three parties form a gang. Adult males maintain affiliative relationships with preferred male partners whom they support in coalitions, regardless of kinship. We examined the social behavior of 24 adolescent and adult males (∼900 h focal observations) in the Niokolo-Koba National Park, Senegal, to test whether greetings reflect relationship quality or function to buffer tension. Greetings were ten times more frequent than aggression and twice as frequent as affiliation. Neither dyadic aggression nor tense context predicted greeting rate, discounting the buffering hypothesis. Greetings occurred almost exclusively between males of the same party, even when other parties were around. Within parties, spatially tolerant partners greeted more frequently but dyads did not greet due to proximity prior to the greeting. Although affiliation did not predict overall greeting rate, intense and potentially costly greetings were more likely between males with stronger affiliative relationships. Greetings in Guinea baboons appear to signal commitment among party members, test relationships among spatially tolerant partners, and accentuate relationship strength among highly affiliated males. Although ritualized baboon greetings lack the symbolic component of human rituals, they appear to serve similar functions, specifically to strengthen in-group affiliation and promote cooperation.

Greetings as social action in Finland Swedish and Sweden Swedish service encounters – a pluricentric perspective

AbstractWhile greetings are performed in all cultures and open most conversations, previous studies suggest that there are cross-cultural differences between different languages in greeting behavior. But do speakers of different national varieties of the same language organize and perform their greeting behavior in similar ways? In this study, we investigate the sequential organization of greetings in relation to gaze behavior in the two national varieties of Swedish: Sweden Swedish spoken in Sweden and Finland Swedish spoken in Finland. In recent years, the importance of studying pluricentric languages from a pragmatic perspective has been foregrounded, not least within the framework of variational pragmatics. To date, most studies have focused on structural differences between national varieties of pluricentric languages. With this study, we extend the scope of variational pragmatics through adding an interactional, micro perspective to the broader macro analysis typical of this field. For this study, we have analyzed patterns for greetings in 297 video-recorded service encounters, where staff and customers interact at theatre box offices and event booking venues in Sweden and Finland. The study shows that there are similarities and differences in greeting behavior between varieties. There is a strong preference for exchanging reciprocal verbal greetings, one at a time, in both. There is also a similar organization of the greeting sequence, where customer and staff establish mutual gaze prior to the verbal greetings, thus signaling availability for interaction. The duration of mutual gaze and the timing of the greeting, however, differ between the two varieties. We have also conducted a multi modal analysis of gaze behavior in correlation to the greeting. We found that the customers and staff in the Finland Swedish data share mutual gaze before and during the verbal greeting, and often avert gazeafterthe verbal greetings. However, in the Sweden Swedish data, the participants often avert gazebeforethe verbal greetings. Our results thus indicate that both similarities and differences in pragmatic routines and bodily behavior exist between the two national varieties of Swedish. The present study on greeting practices in Finland Swedish and Sweden Swedish should contribute to the field of variational pragmatics and to the development of pluricentric theory.

Context and Individual Characteristics Modulate the Association between Oxytocin Receptor Gene Polymorphism and Social Behavior in Border Collies.

Recent studies suggest that the relationship between endogenous oxytocin and social affiliative behavior can be critically moderated by contextual and individual factors in humans. While oxytocin has been shown to influence human-directed affiliative behaviors in dogs, no study investigated yet how such factors moderate these effects. Our study aimed to investigate whether the context and the dogs’ individual characteristics moderate the associations between the social affiliative (greeting) behavior and four single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene. We recorded the greeting behavior in three contexts: (1) when the dog first met an unfamiliar experimenter, (2) during a separation from the owner, and (3) after the experimenter approached the dog in a threatening manner. In the latter two contexts (during separation and after threatening), we categorized the dogs into stressed and non-stressed groups based on their behavior in the preceding situations. In line with previous studies, we found that polymorphisms in the OXTR gene are related to the greeting behavior of dogs. However, we also showed that the analyzed SNPs were associated with greeting in different contexts and in different individuals, suggesting that the four SNPs might be related to different functions of the oxytocin system. The -213A/G was associated with greeting only when the dog had no prior negative experience with the experimenter. The rs8679682 was found in association with greeting in all three contexts but these associations were significant only in non-stressed dogs. The -94T/C was associated with greeting only when the dog was stressed and had an interaction with the sex of the dog. The -74C/G SNP was associated with greeting only when the dog was stressed during separation and also had a sex interaction. Taken together, our results suggest that, similarly to humans, the effects of oxytocin on the dogs’ social behavior are not universal, but constrained by features of situations and individuals. Understanding these constraints helps further clarify how oxytocin mediates social behavior which, in the long run, could improve the application of oxytocin in pharmacotherapy.

Oxytocin and Opioid Receptor Gene Polymorphisms Associated with Greeting Behavior in Dogs.

Meeting humans is an everyday experience for most companion dogs, and their behavior in these situations and its genetic background is of major interest. Previous research in our laboratory reported that in German shepherd dogs the lack of G allele, and in Border collies the lack of A allele, of the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) 19208A/G single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was linked to increased friendliness, which suggests that although broad traits are affected by genetic variability, the specific links between alleles and behavioral variables might be breed-specific. In the current study, we found that Siberian huskies with the A allele approached a friendly unfamiliar woman less frequently in a greeting test, which indicates that certain polymorphisms are related to human directed behavior, but that the relationship patterns between polymorphisms and behavioral phenotypes differ between populations. This finding was further supported by our next investigation. According to primate studies, endogenous opioid peptide (e.g., endorphins) receptor genes have also been implicated in social relationships. Therefore, we examined the rs21912990 of the OPRM1 gene. Firstly, we found that the allele frequencies of Siberian huskies and gray wolves were similar, but differed from that of Border collies and German shepherd dogs, which might reflect their genetic relationship. Secondly, we detected significant associations between the OPRM1 SNP and greeting behavior among German shepherd dogs and a trend in Border collies, but we could not detect an association in Siberian huskies. Although our results with OXTR and OPRM1 gene variants should be regarded as preliminary due to the relatively low sample size, they suggest that (1) OXTR and OPRM1 gene variants in dogs affect human-directed social behavior and (2) their effects differ between breeds.

Vocal greeting during mother-infant reunions in a nocturnal primate, the gray mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus)

In human societies, ritualized greeting behavior includes gestural and vocal displays to signal the social acceptance of an encountering person. These displays are universal across cultures suggesting a pre-human origin. Vocal greeting displays are only reported for monkeys and apes with complex social systems, but none of these studies confirmed that greeting signals fulfill all criteria characterizing human greeting behavior. In this study, we analyzed for the first time whether vocal exchanges between mother and infants in a non-human primate fulfill the criteria of human greeting behavior and whether vocal greeting behavior is present in a basal primate with a less complex social system, the gray mouse lemur. By comparing spontaneous leave-takings and reunions, we found that vocal exchanges during mother-infant reunions fulfilled all six criteria characterizing human greeting behavior. Thus, predictable reciprocal vocal exchanges occurred at the start of the reunion (but not during leave-taking), when mother and infant had visual contact to each other. Thus, we argued that mother-infant vocal exchanges governing reunions are essential to establish social bonds and to ritualize the greeting function. Our findings suggest that ritualized vocal greeting has its origins deeply rooted in mammalian phylogeny and derives from vocal exchanges during parent-infant reunions.

Behavioral assessment and owner perceptions of behaviors associated with guilt in dogs

Dog owners ascribe guilt to dogs, and we explored this attribution with pet dogs and their owners using a questionnaire and experiment. The questionnaire found that the majority of owners perceive dog behavior as guilty in certain situations and believe that dogs know when they have committed a disapproved act. As a novel finding, the questionnaire revealed that dog presentation of guilty behavior could lead owners to scold dogs less.The experiment aimed to investigate the owner-reported anecdote that dogs sometimes greet owners displaying guilty behavior. Owners claim to be unaware of a dog's misdeed and assert it is the guilty behavior that informs them of the dog's infraction. We studied whether dogs that were disobedient in owners’ absences showed associated behaviors of guilt (ABs) upon owners’ return to a room. We also assessed whether owners could determine their dog's disobedience by relying solely on the dog's greeting behavior.Behavioral analysis revealed no significant difference between obedient and disobedient dogs in their display of ABs after having the opportunity to break a rule in owners’ absences. Analyses at the individual level, however, revealed a significant increase in cross situational presentation of ABs only by dogs that transgressed in owners’ absences. While owners appeared able to determine whether or not their dogs ate in their absences, a subset of owners—those whose decisions were most likely based solely on dog greeting behavior and not earlier experiment-generated cues—were not better than chance in their determinations. Taken together, our findings suggest that dog presentation of ABs during greetings is not necessarily a reliable indicator whether or not a dog engaged in a misdeed. The investigated phenomenon appears to be very sensitive to the social condition, which includes owner prior experience with their dog in specific contexts.

Partner recognition in a perennially monogamous pipefish, Corythoichthys haematopterus

The pipefish Corythoichthys haematopterus, which forms lifelong pair bonds and exhibits strict monogamy, performs a daily ritualized intrapair interaction, called the greeting. Cross-pairing experiments were performed to examine the capacity for partner recognition in C. haematopterus during the greeting. When pair members were released into an artificially constructed greeting arena, they exhibited typical greeting behavior immediately after contact. In contrast, when males and females from different pairs met, almost no displays were exchanged. These results strongly suggest that paired C. haematopterus can recognize their own partners, irrespective of the meeting location.

Function of Notification in Papio hamadryas

Notification is a form of ritualized greeting behavior performed by adult male hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas). Originally observed in the wild when harem leaders signaled the direction of travel to their followers on daily foraging marches, its true function is unknown. Notification involves the approach of an adult male baboon to another male, the presentation of his hindquarters, then retreat. Researchers have previously linked notification to aggression avoidance, appeasement, and the dominance-subordination relationship between males. We observed instances of notification over 6 mo among 8 adult males in a troop of 61 captive-bred hamadryas baboons at Paignton Zoo Environmental Park, Devon, UK. We compared observation sessions in which notification occurred with matched control periods. We classified different forms of notification according to the recipient’s response: presenting, mounting, touching of the buttocks or genitals, or ignoring. Results suggest that different forms of notification may have different functions, including submission, alliance, and peacekeeping but not general greeting, recruitment, or appeasement.

47 SELF-IDENTIFICATION AND ADAPTIVE MECHANISMS OBSERVED IN LONGITUDINAL PSYCHOMOTOR STUDIES OF XIPHOPAGUS CONJOINED TWINS

The birth of xiphopagus conjoined twins presents a unique condition, only 11 sets having survived separation since 1689 free of anomalies. In none have psychologic and psychomotor development been recorded pre-and post-surgery. Therefore a 100-hour videotape analysis of a pair of xiphopagus twins was undertaken. A startling observation was the absence of en-face positioning between the twins (p<.001). Visual stimuli at the midline were only minimally attended to by the twins in the eye-to-eye direct frontal position, although they attended to the same stimuli from other positions (p<.001). Reciprocal hand-knee pre-surgery greeting behavior persisted post-surgery. Severe neck hyperextension and lumbar lordosis continued as the position of choice after surgery. A modified Bayley Motor Scale and Denver Developmental Screening Test administered prior to surgery at 6 months of age delineated a 4-month gross motor development lag; partial compensation occurred by 3 months after separation. These studies document that the development of mental and psychomotor functions can be altered by physical constraints and anomalous development may persist.