Potential Social Partners Research Articles

Social threat processing in adults and children: Faster orienting to, but shorter dwell time on, angry faces during visual search.

Attention to emotional signals conveyed by others is critical for gleaning information about potential social partners and the larger social context. Children appear to detect social threats (e.g., angry faces) faster than non-threatening social signals (e.g., neutral faces). However, methods that rely on behavioral responses alone are limited in identifying different attentional processes involved in threat detection or responding. To address this question, we used a visual search paradigm to assess behavioral (i.e., reaction time to select a target image) and attentional (i.e., eye-tracking fixations, saccadic shifts, and dwell time) responses in children (ages 7-10 years old, N=42) and adults (ages 18-23 years old, N=46). In doing so, we compared behavioral responding and attentional detection and engagement with threatening (i.e., angry and fearful faces) and non-threatening (i.e., happy faces) social signals. Overall, children and adults were faster to detect social threats (i.e., angry faces), but spent a smaller proportion of time dwelling on them and had slower behavioral responses. Findings underscore the importance of combining different measures to parse differences between processing versus responding to social signals across development. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Children and adults are slower to select angry faces when measured by time to mouse-click but faster to detect angry faces when measured by time to first eye fixation. The use of eye-tracking addresses some limitations of prior visual search tasks with children that rely on behavioral responses alone. Results suggest shorter time to first fixation, but subsequently, shorter duration of dwell on social threat in children and adults.

Identifying social partners through indirect prosociality: A computational account

The ability to identify people who are prosocial, supportive, and mindful of others is critical for choosing social partners. While past work has emphasized the information value of direct social interactions (such as watching someone help or hinder others), social tendencies can also be inferred from indirect evidence, such as how an agent considers others when making personal choices. Here we present a computational model of this capacity, grounded in a Bayesian framework for action understanding. Across four experiments we show that this model captures how people infer social preferences based on how agents act when their choices indirectly impact others (Experiments 1a, 1b, & 1c), and how people infer what an agent knows about others from knowledge of that agent’s social preferences (Experiment 2). Critically, people’s patterns of inferences could not be explained by simpler alternatives. These findings illuminate how people can discern potential social partners from indirect evidence of their prosociality, thus deepening our understanding of partner detection, and social cognition more broadly.

Impact of the Dog-Human Bond on Canine Social Evaluation: Attachment Predicts Preference toward Prosocial Actors.

Scholars have argued that social evaluation, the capacity to evaluate different potential social partners, is an important capacity not just for humans but for all cooperative species. Recent work has explored whether domesticated dogs share a human-like ability to evaluate others based on prosocial and antisocial actions toward third parties. To date, this work has shown mixed results, suggesting that individual differences may play a role in dogs' capacity to evaluate others. In the present study, we test whether attachment-an individual difference that affects human social evaluation performance-can explain the mixed pattern of social evaluation results observed in dogs. We first tested dogs on a social evaluation task in which an experimenter either helped or refused to help the dog's owner open a container. We then assessed dogs' attachment strength using a subset of the C-BARQ. We found that attachment was a statistically significant predictor of dogs' preference toward the prosocial actor but was not a predictor in antisocial or control conditions. This finding provides early evidence that attachment may drive positivity biases in dogs and that attachment might explain mixed results within canine social evaluation literature.

Neighbors Matter: An Investigation into Intergroup Interactions Affecting the Social Networks of Adjacent Chimpanzee Groups

Wild chimpanzees live in large and complex social communities, but their complexity is determined by the number of potential social partners as well as the frequent changes in group composition due to fission–fusion dynamics. Alternatively, captive housed chimpanzee groups are usually much smaller and less complex. However, studies have shown that groups can be housed in adjacent habitats, potentially increasing the number of social partners, i.e., granting additional relationship opportunities and enhanced social complexity. While most social network studies analyze social groups as closed systems, this study assessed the impact of social interactions between two neighboring groups of chimpanzees, based on two social network indices (Vertex strength centrality and Deviation from edge weight disparity). Furthermore, Linear Mixed Models (LMMs) were employed to assess whether gender, age, and intra-/intergroup directionality influenced these indices. We recorded occurrences of social behaviors, social proximity and whether chimpanzees observed individuals in the other group as a measure of interest. Most social behaviors were directed towards group members; however, 13% were directed towards the neighboring group. Although enclosure barriers constrained the chimpanzee’s capacity to physically interact, it does not necessarily impede social interactions with the outside world. Hence, the presence of neighboring chimpanzees potentially provides additional relationship opportunities, increasing social stimulation and complexity leading to an enriching social environment.

Cheat to win: Children’s judgements of advantageous vs. disadvantageous rule breaking

Cheating is a complex social phenomenon. However, common across most forms of cheating are two major components: violating a rule and gaining an unfair advantage. Children understand rules and rule violations from early in development, but little is known about how children perceive and judge cheating behavior. In the present study, 5-year-old (n = 31) and 7-year-old children (n = 32) watched videos of games in which one player broke the rules in a manner that advantaged them, and another broke the rules in a manner that disadvantaged them. Overall, both the 5-year-olds and 7-year-olds readily recognized the rule violators by endorsing that both players’ actions were bad and that someone had cheated. However, the older children more readily distinguished the advantageous from the disadvantageous player and were more likely to negatively evaluate the advantageous player. Thus, by the late preschool to early school years, children demonstrate an emerging understanding of the nuances of rule violations. This understanding can help children make sense of others’ actions and draw important inferences about potential social partners.

Infants infer potential social partners by observing the interactions of their parent with unknown others

Infants are born into networks of individuals who are socially connected. How do infants begin learning which individuals are their own potential social partners? Using digitally edited videos, we showed 12-mo-old infants' social interactions between unknown individuals and their own parents. In studies 1 to 4, after their parent showed affiliation toward one puppet, infants expected that puppet to engage with them. In study 5, infants made the reverse inference; after a puppet engaged with them, the infants expected that puppet to respond to their parent. In each study, infants' inferences were specific to social interactions that involved their own parent as opposed to another infant's parent. Thus, infants combine observation of social interactions with knowledge of their preexisting relationship with their parent to discover which newly encountered individuals are potential social partners for themselves and their families.

Social Support Influences Preference for Feminine Facial Cues in Potential Social Partners : A Replication

Attractive facial cues are preferred by most but, interestingly, people tend to find certain facial features more attractive depending on the context. This replication of Watkins and colleagues (2012) investigates how priming different social support conditions influences preferences for feminized or masculinized faces. In this study, 124 participants were recruited to complete an online survey where they were asked to imagine a time they felt socially isolated (low support condition) or a time they felt emotionally supported (high support condition). Participants were then shown 20 pairs of masculinized and feminized versions of the same face and were asked to rate attractiveness. Overall, feminine female faces and masculine male faces were significantly preferred. We did not replicate the finding that femininity is preferred under conditions of low social support. Future research is needed to make conclusions about how perceived social support influences our perception of faces.

Dynamic regulation of oxytocin neuronal circuits in the sequential processes of prosocial behavior in rodent models.

:The expression of positive social (i.e., prosocial) behavior is governed by a multitude of sensory and cognitive abilities to identify and recognize key features of potential social partners, elucidate social and individual status, and maintain appropriate behaviors. Oxytocin (OT) is a neuropeptide that has been implicated as a major player in regulating prosocial behavior, and much of its role in social situations has been uncovered. As social behavior inherently comprises sequential processes related to multimodal assessments of interactive features, a comprehensive approach to understanding the functions of OT in these prosocial behavior sequences is required. Here, the author discusses recent evidence illustrating the functioning of OT neural circuits in the processing of multimodal components of social behavior, including the detection/recognition of social cues via the olfactory bulb through olfactory cortices, evaluation of social features via the circuits of the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus to the medial amygdala, and maintenance of prosocial behaviors via the circuits of the ventral tegmental area to the nucleus accumbens. A review of rodent studies with an emphasis on mice and rats is also provided to investigate the effects of OT in interaction with other neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and dopamine, to characterize the neuromodulatory mechanisms that mediate the sequences of prosocial engagements. The review further highlights OT function as a temporal dynamic of specific neural circuits.

Human caregivers are integrated social partners for captive chimpanzees.

In a captive environment, it is challenging to ensure the highest level of social and psychological well-being for species with naturally complex social organizations and structures. There is a growing need to meet the social requirements for individuals of these species, especially chimpanzees, housed in zoos, sanctuaries, rehabilitation centers, and laboratories. Complex social interactions and broader social structures can be aptly described via social network analysis. We expand on the literature regarding captive chimpanzee social networks, but uniquely consider their human caregivers as potential social partners. We observed the social interactions between one group of seven chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and their caregivers in six behavioral contexts (nearest neighbor, play, aggression, grooming, grooming solicitation, and social vigilance) at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest (USA). By constructing multiple chimpanzee and chimpanzee-caregiver social networks, our results indicate that caregivers are integrated partners in this group's social structure. Additionally, we observed that the type and strength of chimpanzee-caregiver relationships varied between the chimpanzees. These results support the notion that caregivers offer additional opportunities (i.e., beyond those with conspecifics) for captive chimpanzees to construct and maintain meaningful social relationships. Our results show that considerations of captive primate social dynamics should include caregivers as potentially important social partners. Our results also highlight the importance of evaluating individual chimpanzee characteristics when developing philosophies of care and adopting husbandry practices that offer fulfilling social niches. Our findings bear influence oncontemporary discussions of interspecies social relationships, captive welfare, health, translocation, and husbandry protocols for captive chimpanzees and other nonhuman primates.

Intergroup food transfers in wild golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia)

The transfer of food between adults is uncommon in primates. Although golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia) are unique among primates in the extent to which they transfer food, reports of food transfers between adults have so far been restricted to captive or reintroduced individuals. Here, I report the first recorded events of adult–adult food transfers in golden lion tamarins between individuals belonging to different groups in the wild. Given that individuals emigrate from their natal group to find reproductive opportunities, I suggest that intergroup food transfers could be a way for individuals to estimate the quality or availability of potential mates or social partners. I propose an additional function of food transfers in wild golden lion tamarins: that they create and strengthen social bonds with individuals outside of the family group.

Juvenile social dynamics reflect adult reproductive strategies in bottlenose dolphins

AbstractThe juvenile period is a challenging life-history stage, especially in species with a high degree of fission–fusion dynamics, such as bottlenose dolphins, where maternal protection is virtually absent. Here, we examined how juvenile male and female bottlenose dolphins navigate this vulnerable period. Specifically, we examined their grouping patterns, activity budget, network dynamics, and social associations in the absence of adults. We found that juveniles live in highly dynamic groups, with group composition changing every 10 min on average. Groups were generally segregated by sex, and segregation was driven by same-sex preference rather than opposite-sex avoidance. Juveniles formed strong associations with select individuals, especially kin and same-sex partners, and both sexes formed cliques with their preferred partners. Sex-specific strategies in the juvenile period reflected adult reproductive strategies, in which the exploration of potential social partners may be more important for males (which form long-term alliances in adulthood) than females (which preferentially associate with kin in adulthood). Females spent more time alone and were more focused on foraging than males, but still formed close same-sex associations, especially with kin. Males cast a wider social net than females, with strong same-sex associations and many male associates. Males engaged in more affiliative behavior than females. These results are consistent with the social bonds and skills hypothesis and suggest that delayed sexual maturity in species with relational social complexity may allow individuals to assess potential associates and explore a complex social landscape without the risks associated with sexual maturity (e.g., adult reproductive competition; inbreeding).

Acute stress alters neural patterns of value representation for others

Acute stress is often evoked during social interactions, by feelings of threat or negative evaluation by other people. We also constantly interact with others while under stress – in the workplace or in private alike. However, it is not clear how stress affects social interactions. For one, individuals could become more selfish and focused on their own goals. On the other hand, individuals might also become more focused on affiliating with potential social partners, in order to secure their support. There is, indeed, accumulating behavioral evidence that prosocial behaviors increase rather than decrease under stress. Here, we tested the underlying brain processes of such findings, by assessing the effects of stress on the neural representations of (monetary) value for self and other. Participants (N ​= ​30; male, 18–40 years) played a gambling task for themselves and for another participant while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Each participant played the gambling task twice: once immediately following acute stress induction, and once in a control session. We compared neural patterns of value representation in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and striatum using representational similarity analysis (RSA). We found that under stress, dmPFC and striatum showed higher dissimilarity between neural patterns underlying high and low value for the other. Dissimilarity of neural patterns underlying high and low value for the self was unaffected by stress. These findings suggest that participants track the magnitude of possible rewards for others more under stress, suggesting increased prosocial orientation.

Do First Impressions of Autistic Adults Differ Between Autistic and Nonautistic Observers?

Background: Autistic adults receive unfavorable first impressions from typically developing (TD) adults, but these impressions improve when TD adults are made aware of their diagnosis. It remains u...

Fairness informs social decision making in infancy.

The ability to reason about fairness plays a defining role in the development of morality. Thus, researchers have long been interested in understanding when and how a sensitivity to fairness first develops. Here, we examined infants’ ability to use fairness information in selecting social partners. Using a novel experimental paradigm that combined pre-recorded stimuli with an active behavioral measure, we tested whether infants preferred to socially engage with an individual they had previously seen behave fairly or unfairly. After viewing an individual distribute goods to third parties either equally (i.e., 3:3 distribution) or unequally (i.e., 5:1 distribution), both 13- and 17-month-old infants selectively chose to engage in a social interaction with (i.e., take a toy from) an individual who distributed resources equally. The use of a novel paradigm to assess infants’ fairness preferences demonstrates that infants’ previously established fairness preferences extend across different, more demanding paradigms, and may therefore be more enduring in nature. Together, these findings provide new insights into the nature of infants’ fairness representations, and fill in key gaps in the developmental timeline of infants’ ability to use fairness information in their consideration of potential social partners. In sum, these findings build on previous research by demonstrating that infants not only hold an expectation that resources should be distributed fairly, they also preferentially interact with those who have previously done so. The early-emerging ability to both reason about and use fairness information may play an influential role in the development of complex prosocial behaviors related to morality more broadly.

Spontaneous categorization along competence in partner and leader evaluations

Abstract Successful cooperation requires a partner both willing and capable of contributing to a joint endeavour. Accordingly, partner choice psychology should include mechanisms to distinguish between people with good and bad intentions, and between people who are competent and incompetent. While it is well established that intentions influence partner choice, the literature offers mixed evidence concerning people's ability to gauge competence in social interactions. Theoretical accounts in leadership-followership psychology and food-sharing imply that partner competence can influence the estimated future benefits from cooperation. The available empirical evidence, however, is limited to leadership evaluations in the political science literature. This paper thus investigates if people have dedicated cognitive mechanisms, which have evolved to categorize potential social partners on competence. It looks at competence both in regular social partnerships and leader-follower relations. In a series of four experiments relying on the memory confusion protocol, it demonstrates that people spontaneously distinguish between competent and incompetent social partners. This mental categorization is present equally in partner and leader evaluations. These results have interesting implications for partner choice literature and evolutionary leadership theories.

Neurotypical Peers are Less Willing to Interact with Those with Autism based on Thin Slice Judgments

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), including those who otherwise require less support, face severe difficulties in everyday social interactions. Research in this area has primarily focused on identifying the cognitive and neurological differences that contribute to these social impairments, but social interaction by definition involves more than one person and social difficulties may arise not just from people with ASD themselves, but also from the perceptions, judgments, and social decisions made by those around them. Here, across three studies, we find that first impressions of individuals with ASD made from thin slices of real-world social behavior by typically-developing observers are not only far less favorable across a range of trait judgments compared to controls, but also are associated with reduced intentions to pursue social interaction. These patterns are remarkably robust, occur within seconds, do not change with increased exposure, and persist across both child and adult age groups. However, these biases disappear when impressions are based on conversational content lacking audio-visual cues, suggesting that style, not substance, drives negative impressions of ASD. Collectively, these findings advocate for a broader perspective of social difficulties in ASD that considers both the individual’s impairments and the biases of potential social partners.

Risk buffering and resource access shape valuation of out-group strangers

Unlike other primates, humans exhibit extensive inter-group tolerance and frequently build relationships with out-group members. Despite its common occurrence, little is known about the conditions leading to out-group relationship building in humans. What are the social and ecological factors promoting valuation of out-group members as potential social partners? Do they differ from those promoting valuation of in-group members? We propose that opportunities for non-local resource access and resource buffering, crucial in the human foraging niche, will increase valuation of out-group strangers. Using survey and experimental data collected among three Bolivian horticultural populations, we find that individuals with fewer non-locally available resources and more information about out-groups demonstrate more generosity toward out-group strangers, but not in-group strangers. The effects are specific to subjective resource access, not objective measures of access, and out-group exposure, not stereotypes. Further, depending on the measure, existing network connections affect both out-group and in-group giving, suggesting that new partnerships from both in-groups and out-groups may bolster one’s networks. Our results illustrate how evolved human psychology is sensitive to the costs and benefits of both out-group and in-group relationships, but underscore that the social and ecological factors favoring new relationships with in-group versus out-group strangers may differ.

Corruption and the Other(s): Scope of Superordinate Identity Matters for Corruption Permissibility.

The decision to engage in corruption—public and private corruption, nepotism, and embezzlement—is often attributed to rational actors maximizing benefits to themselves. However, the importance of reciprocal relationships in humans suggests that an actor may weigh the costs of harms of her corrupt behavior to individuals who may generate future benefits for her. We hypothesize that actors who have a larger circle of actual and potential social partners will have more individuals to consider when generating harms and will thus be less likely to find corrupt acts permissible than actors with smaller circles of valued others. Using data from the World Values Survey and European Values Study (WVS), we explore whether participants with a larger geographic identity or a greater number of group memberships (i.e. a larger scope of actual and potential social partners) are less likely to find accepting bribes permissible. We find mixed support for our hypotheses, but consistently find that WVS participants with local, country, continent, or world geographic identities are less likely to find accepting a bribe permissible than those with regional identities—that is, actors whose primary identities that encompass more than their region find corruption less permissible. We discuss the importance of considering an actor’s valuation of others when modeling corruption persistence, noting that establishing scopes of positive valuation is a precursor to predicting where actors will target benefits and shunt costs.

I Don't Like the Tone of Your Voice: Infants Use Vocal Affect to Socially Evaluate Others

Infants can make social judgments about characters by visually observing their interactions with others (e.g., Hamlin, Wynn & Bloom, Nature, 2007, 450, 557). Here, we ask whether infants can form similar judgments about potential social partners based solely on their tone of voice. In Experiment 1, we presented 10.5-month-olds with two visually neutral puppets. One puppet spoke in a positive affect and the other spoke in a negative affect. When the puppets were placed within reach of the infants, infants selected the formerly positive puppet. This preference disappeared when the voices were paired with nonsocial objects (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, 10.5-month-olds were once again exposed to the same emotionally negative and positive voices. However, no visual characters were present. At test, infants’ visual orientation controlled how long they heard the neutral versions of each voice. Here, infants listened longer to the neutral voice of the formerly positive speaker. That is, just as in Experiment 1, infants’ preferences for the emotionally neutral test stimuli were shaped by their earlier exposure to emotionally charged recordings of that voice. Our findings provide convergent evidence to suggest that infants possess sophisticated social evaluation abilities, preferring to interact with prosocial over antisocial others.

The long goodbye: A test of grief as a social signal.

The human grief response has perplexed researchers. Grief is costly, leading to painful and potentially deleterious symptoms. Yet, it is a human universal. We argue that grief functions as a hard-to-fake signal of underlying capacities to form strong social bonds. If so, those who grieve more intensively than others should be perceived as higher quality social partners. We tested this hypothesis in 4 studies. High grievers were rated as nicer, more loyal, and more trustworthy than low grievers. High grievers were also expected to cooperate in a prisoner’s dilemma more than low grievers. Last, high grievers were chosen as a trusted social partner more than another individual who expressed sadness for lost material items, indicating that grief may be a specific display of distress that is particularly informative to potential social partners. These results support a signaling theory of grief and are discussed in that context.