Adolphs, R. (2003). Cognitive neuroscience of human social behaviour. Nat Rev Neurosci, 4(3), 165–178.
Abstract: We are an intensely social species--it has been argued that our social nature defines what makes us human, what makes us conscious or what gave us our large brains. As a new field, the social brain sciences are probing the neural underpinnings of social behaviour and have produced a banquet of data that are both tantalizing and deeply puzzling. We are finding new links between emotion and reason, between action and perception, and between representations of other people and ourselves. No less important are the links that are also being established across disciplines to understand social behaviour, as neuroscientists, social psychologists, anthropologists, ethologists and philosophers forge new collaborations.
|
Larose, C., Richard-Yris, M. - A., Hausberger, M., & Rogers, L. J. (2006). Laterality of horses associated with emotionality in novel situations. Laterality, 11(4), 355–367.
Abstract: We have established that lateral biases are characteristic of visual behaviour in 65 horses. Two breeds, Trotters and French Saddlebreds aged 2 to 3, were tested on a novel object test. The main finding was a significant correlation between emotionality index and the eye preferred to view the novel stimulus: the higher the emotionality, the more likely that the horse looked with its left eye. The less emotive French Saddlebreds, however, tended to glance at the object using the right eye, a tendency that was not found in the Trotters, although the emotive index was the same for both breeds. The youngest French Saddlebreds did not show this trend. These results are discussed in relation to the different training practices for the breeds and broader findings on lateralisation in different species.
|
Khalil, A. M., Murakami, N., & Kaseda, Y. (1998). Relationship between plasma testosterone concentrations and age, breeding season and harem size in Misaki feral horses. J Vet Med Sci, 60(5), 643–645.
Abstract: Jugular vein blood samples were collected from 23 young and sexual mature feral stallions to examine the relationship between plasma testosterone concentration and age, breeding season or harem size. Testosterone concentration increased with the age of the stallions until they formed their own harems, at about 4 to 6 years old. Seasonal variations in testosterone concentrations were observed, and found to be significantly higher (P<0.001) throughout the breeding season than non-breeding season, from 3 years of age. Testosterone levels were correlated with harem size for individual stallions. It can be inferred from these results that there is a relationship between plasma testosterone concentration and age, breeding season and harem size.
|
Klingel, H. (1975). Social organization and reproduction in equids. J Reprod Fertil Suppl, (23), 7–11.
Abstract: There are two distinct types of social organization and, accordingly, two types of mating systems in equids. In the horse, Plains zebra and Mountain zebra, the adults live in non-territorial and cohesive one-male groups and in stallion groups. The family stallions have exclusive mating rights which are respected by all others. In Grevy's zebra and in the African and Asiatic wild asses, the stallions are permanently territorial and have exclusive mating rights within their territories. Ecological and evolutionary aspects are discussed.
|
Klingel, H. (1982). Social organization of feral horses. J Reprod Fertil Suppl, 32, 89–95.
Abstract: The basic social unit in feral horses is the family group consisting of one stallion, one to a few unrelated mares and their foals. Surplus stallions associate in bachelor groups. Stallions are instrumental in bringing mares together in a unit which then persists even without a stallion. The similarity of social organization in populations living in a variety of different habitats indicates that feral horses have reverted to the habits of their wild ancestors, and that domestication has had no influence on this basic behavioural feature.
|
Zentall, T. R. (2002). A cognitive behaviorist approach to the study of animal behavior. J Gen Psychol, 129(4), 328–363.
Abstract: Traditional psychological approaches to animal learning and behavior have involved either the atheoretical behaviorist approach proposed by B. F. Skinner (1938), in which input-output relations are described in response to environmental manipulations, or the theoretical behaviorist approach offered by C. L Hull (1943), in which associations mediated by several hypothetical constructs and intervening variables are formed between stimuli and responses. Recently, the application of a cognitive behaviorist approach to animal learning and behavior has been found to have considerable value as a research tool. This perspective has grown out of E. C. Tolman's cognitive approach to learning in which behavior is mediated by mechanisms that are not directly observable but can be inferred from the results of critical experiments. In the present article, the author presents several examples of the successful application of the cognitive behaviorist approach. In each case, the experiments have been designed to distinguish between more traditional mechanisms and those mediated by hypothesized internal representations. These examples were selected because the evidence suggests that some form of active cognitive organization is needed to account for the behavioral results.
|
Brosnan, S. F., & de Waal, F. B. M. (2004). Socially learned preferences for differentially rewarded tokens in the brown capuchin monkey (Cebus apella). J Comp Psychol, 118(2), 133–139.
Abstract: Social learning is assumed to underlie traditions, yet evidence indicating social learning in capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella), which exhibit traditions, is sparse. The authors tested capuchins for their ability to learn the value of novel tokens using a previously familiar token-exchange economy. Capuchins change their preferences in favor of a token worth a high-value food reward after watching a conspecific model exchange 2 differentially rewarded tokens, yet they fail to develop a similar preference after watching tokens paired with foods in the absence of a conspecific model. They also fail to learn that the value of familiar tokens has changed. Information about token value is available in all situations, but capuchins seem to pay more attention in a social situation involving novel tokens.
|
Weaver, A., & de Waal, F. B. M. (2003). The mother-offspring relationship as a template in social development: reconciliation in captive brown capuchins (Cebus apella). J Comp Psychol, 117(1), 101–110.
Abstract: Mother-offspring (MO) relationship quality was investigated to determine its influence on the development of reconciliation--affiliation between opponents shortly after a fight--because it influenceswhat distressed youngsters learn about calming down. Data were longitudinal and cross-sectional observational samples of 38 MO pairs of monkeys across 24 months. An MO relationship quality index (RQI) classified each pair as secure or insecure. Reconciliation emerged in infancy.Secure youngsters had an appeasing conciliatory style, and insecure youngsters had an agitated conciliatory style. Conclusions are that reconciliation develops from the attachment behavior system and MO RQI is related to the particular conciliatory style youngsters develop by affecting how aroused they are by conflict and the subsequent socializing they seek to calm down.
|
Lilienfeld, S. O., Gershon, J., Duke, M., Marino, L., & de Waal, F. B. (1999). A preliminary investigation of the construct of psychopathic personality (psychopathy) in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). J Comp Psychol, 113(4), 365–375.
Abstract: Although the construct of psychopathy has received considerable attention in humans, its relevance to other animals is largely unknown. We developed a measure of psychopathy for use in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), the Chimpanzee Psychopathy Measure (CPM), and asked 6 raters to complete this index on 34 chimpanzees. The CPM (a) demonstrated satisfactory interrater reliability and internal consistency; (b) exhibited marginally significant sex differences (males > females); (c) correlated positively with measures of extraversion, agreeableness, and observational ratings of agonism, sexual activity, daring behaviors, teasing, silent bluff displays, and temper tantrums, and negatively with observational ratings of generosity; and (d) demonstrated incremental validity above and beyond a measure of dominance. Although further validation of the CPM is needed, these findings suggest that the psychopathy construct may be relevant to chimpanzees.
|
Aureli, F., Preston, S. D., & de Waal, F. B. (1999). Heart rate responses to social interactions in free-moving rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta): a pilot study. J Comp Psychol, 113(1), 59–65.
Abstract: Heart rate telemetry was explored as a means to access animal emotion during social interactions under naturalistic conditions. Heart rates of 2 middle-ranking adult females living in a large group of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) were recorded along with their behavior. Heart rate changes during 2 types of interactions were investigated, while controlling for the effects of posture and activity. The risk of aggression associated with the approach of a dominant individual was expected to provoke anxiety in the approachee. This prediction was supported by the heart rate increase after such an approach. No increase was found when the approacher was a kin or a subordinate individual. The tension-reduction function of allogrooming was also supported. Heart rate decelerated faster during the receipt of grooming than in matched control periods.
|