Social disappointment and partner presence affect long-tailed macaque refusal behaviour in an ‘inequity aversion’ experiment
Protest in response to unequal reward distribution is thought to have played a central role in the evolution of human cooperation. Some animals refuse food and become demotivated when rewarded more poorly than a conspecific, and this has been taken as evidence that non-human animals, like humans, pr...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The Royal Society
2023-03-01
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| Series: | Royal Society Open Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.221225 |
| _version_ | 1827977699723837440 |
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| author | Rowan Titchener Constance Thiriau Timo Hüser Hansjörg Scherberger Julia Fischer Stefanie Keupp |
| author_facet | Rowan Titchener Constance Thiriau Timo Hüser Hansjörg Scherberger Julia Fischer Stefanie Keupp |
| author_sort | Rowan Titchener |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Protest in response to unequal reward distribution is thought to have played a central role in the evolution of human cooperation. Some animals refuse food and become demotivated when rewarded more poorly than a conspecific, and this has been taken as evidence that non-human animals, like humans, protest in the face of inequity. An alternative explanation—social disappointment—shifts the cause of this discontent away from the unequal reward, to the human experimenter who could—but elects not to—treat the subject well. This study investigates whether social disappointment could explain frustration behaviour in long-tailed macaques, Macaca fascicularis. We tested 12 monkeys in a novel ‘inequity aversion’ paradigm. Subjects had to pull a lever and were rewarded with low-value food; in half of the trials, a partner worked alongside the subjects receiving high-value food. Rewards were distributed either by a human or a machine. In line with the social disappointment hypothesis, monkeys rewarded by the human refused food more often than monkeys rewarded by the machine. Our study extends previous findings in chimpanzees and suggests that social disappointment plus social facilitation or food competition effects drive food refusal patterns. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T21:10:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0fc05fc70ed4456b935e72bd6cdea390 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2054-5703 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T21:10:27Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | The Royal Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Royal Society Open Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-0fc05fc70ed4456b935e72bd6cdea3902023-03-28T20:17:14ZengThe Royal SocietyRoyal Society Open Science2054-57032023-03-0110310.1098/rsos.221225Social disappointment and partner presence affect long-tailed macaque refusal behaviour in an ‘inequity aversion’ experimentRowan Titchener0Constance Thiriau1Timo Hüser2Hansjörg Scherberger3Julia Fischer4Stefanie Keupp5Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, Deutsches Primatenzentrum GmbH, Kellnerweg 4, 37073 Goettingen, GermanyUniversité Paris Nord, 99 Avenue Jean Baptiste Clément, 93430 Villetaneuse, FranceNeurobiology Laboratory, Deutsches Primatenzentrum GmbH, Kellnerweg 4, 37073 Goettingen, GermanyNeurobiology Laboratory, Deutsches Primatenzentrum GmbH, Kellnerweg 4, 37073 Goettingen, GermanyCognitive Ethology Laboratory, Deutsches Primatenzentrum GmbH, Kellnerweg 4, 37073 Goettingen, GermanyCognitive Ethology Laboratory, Deutsches Primatenzentrum GmbH, Kellnerweg 4, 37073 Goettingen, GermanyProtest in response to unequal reward distribution is thought to have played a central role in the evolution of human cooperation. Some animals refuse food and become demotivated when rewarded more poorly than a conspecific, and this has been taken as evidence that non-human animals, like humans, protest in the face of inequity. An alternative explanation—social disappointment—shifts the cause of this discontent away from the unequal reward, to the human experimenter who could—but elects not to—treat the subject well. This study investigates whether social disappointment could explain frustration behaviour in long-tailed macaques, Macaca fascicularis. We tested 12 monkeys in a novel ‘inequity aversion’ paradigm. Subjects had to pull a lever and were rewarded with low-value food; in half of the trials, a partner worked alongside the subjects receiving high-value food. Rewards were distributed either by a human or a machine. In line with the social disappointment hypothesis, monkeys rewarded by the human refused food more often than monkeys rewarded by the machine. Our study extends previous findings in chimpanzees and suggests that social disappointment plus social facilitation or food competition effects drive food refusal patterns.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.221225social disappointmentinequity aversionlong-tailed macaquesMacaca fascicularis |
| spellingShingle | Rowan Titchener Constance Thiriau Timo Hüser Hansjörg Scherberger Julia Fischer Stefanie Keupp Social disappointment and partner presence affect long-tailed macaque refusal behaviour in an ‘inequity aversion’ experiment Royal Society Open Science social disappointment inequity aversion long-tailed macaques Macaca fascicularis |
| title | Social disappointment and partner presence affect long-tailed macaque refusal behaviour in an ‘inequity aversion’ experiment |
| title_full | Social disappointment and partner presence affect long-tailed macaque refusal behaviour in an ‘inequity aversion’ experiment |
| title_fullStr | Social disappointment and partner presence affect long-tailed macaque refusal behaviour in an ‘inequity aversion’ experiment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Social disappointment and partner presence affect long-tailed macaque refusal behaviour in an ‘inequity aversion’ experiment |
| title_short | Social disappointment and partner presence affect long-tailed macaque refusal behaviour in an ‘inequity aversion’ experiment |
| title_sort | social disappointment and partner presence affect long tailed macaque refusal behaviour in an inequity aversion experiment |
| topic | social disappointment inequity aversion long-tailed macaques Macaca fascicularis |
| url | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.221225 |
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