Fuentes, A., Malone, N., Sanz, C., Matheson, M., & Vaughan, L. (2002). Conflict and post-conflict behavior in a small group of chimpanzees. Primates, 43(3), 223–235.
Abstract: Chimpanzee research plays a central role in the discussions of conflict negotiation. Reconciliation, or the attraction and affiliation of former opponents following conflict, has been proposed as a central element of conflict negotiation in chimpanzees and various other taxa. In an attempt to expand the database of chimpanzee conflict resolution, conflict and post-conflict behavior were recorded for a small group of socially housed chimpanzees at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute, at Central Washington University. Data were collected over six 6-week periods between 1997 and 2000, for a total of 840 hours of observation, resulting in a substantial post-conflict (PC) and matched control (MC) data set. The data demonstrate this group's tendencies to maintain visual contact and closer proximity after conflicts. Dyadic corrected conciliatory tendencies ranged between 0 – 37.5% and averaged 17.25% across all dyads. Individual corrected conciliatory tendencies ranged between 5.8 and 32%. The results of this study combined with recent publications on captive and free-ranging chimpanzee post-conflict behavior suggest that variation in post-conflict behavior may be important to our understanding of chimpanzee conflict negotiation, and may also have implications for the design and management of captive chimpanzee enclosures and social groups, respectively.
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Gruter, C. C. (2004). Conflict and postconflict behaviour in captive black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti). Primates, 45(3), 197–200.
Abstract: Black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti) have almost never been the subject of any behavioural observations in captivity. This study was aimed at providing preliminary information about agonistic and reconciliation behaviour in a group kept at the Kunming Institute of Zoology in China. Established procedures were used for this investigation (i.e., the postconflict/matched-control method and the time-rule method). Intra-group aggression rates were quite low. Postconflict affiliation as well as selective attraction of former opponents to each other following conflicts was demonstrated. Former opponents contacted each other earlier in postconflict periods than in matched-control periods. The average conciliatory tendency of all focal individuals combined was 54.5%. After an agonistic interaction, the first affiliative contact between former aggressors usually took place within the first minute. The behaviours most often shown as first affiliations after a conflict were body contact, mount, touch, and “hold-lumbar”, of which the latter is an explicit reconciliatory gesture. Furthermore, the adult male intervened non-aggressively in 84% of all conflicts (n=25) among the adult females. Overall, the patterns of aggression and reconciliation observed in R. bieti bear many of the traits that characterise tolerant primate species.
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Kutsukake, N., & Castles, D. L. (2004). Reconciliation and post-conflict third-party affiliation among wild chimpanzees in the Mahale Mountains, Tanzania. Primates, 45(3), 157–165.
Abstract: This study investigated post-conflict (PC) behavior among wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) of the M-group in the Mahale Mountains, Tanzania, and examined what types of behavior characterize the PC situation in this group, and the factors that influence the occurrence of PC affiliation between opponents soon after the end of an aggressive conflict (i.e., reconciliation). We found that the opponents affiliated selectively soon after the end of aggression, suggesting that reconciliation occurred in this group. The mean individual corrected conciliatory tendency (CCT) (Veenema et al. 1994 in Behav Proc 31:29-38) was 14.4%, which is similar to or lower than frequencies observed in studies of captive and wild chimpanzees. The valuable relationship hypothesis predicts that the CCT is higher among individuals who share valuable relationships (e.g., males or affiliative dyads) than among individuals who do not (e.g., females or less-associative dyads). However, the analysis based on data for aggression between unrelated individuals (including one incident between an adult and non-adult) and aggression between unrelated adults, did not uncover this difference. Affiliation by a previously uninvolved individual with the victim (“consolation”) and with the aggressor (“appeasement”) occurred more frequently following aggression than in the control condition. The results are compared with previous studies of captive and wild chimpanzees.
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de Wall, F. B., & Aureli, F. (1997). Conflict resolution and distress alleviation in monkeys and apes. Ann N Y Acad Sci, 807, 317–328.
Abstract: Research on nonhuman primates has produced compelling evidence for reconciliation and consolation, that is, postconflict contacts that serve to respectively repair social relationships and reassure distressed individuals, such as victims of attack. This has led to a view of conflict and conflict resolution as an integrated part of social relationships, hence determined by social factors and modifiable by the social environment. Implications of this new model of social conflict are discussed along with evidence for behavioral flexibility, the value of cooperation, and the possibility that distress alleviation rests on empathy, a capacity that may be present in chimpanzees and humans but not in most other animals.
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Pereira, M. E., Schill, J. L., & Charles, E. P. (2000). Reconciliation in captive Guyanese squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus). Am. J. Primatol., 50(2), 159–167.
Abstract: The tendency for agonistic interaction to increase the probability of friendly interaction between social partners has been demonstrated across a range of Old World primates. While research on such post-conflict behavior proceeds into an hypothesis-testing phase, new comparative information must accumulate to provide full phylogenetic perspective on primate social behavior. Data from New World and prosimian primates are yet extremely limited. We studied captive squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) via post-conflict (PC) and matched control (MC) observations and analyzed results using both the PC-MC and time-rule methods. Former opponents maintaining affiliative relationships soon engaged in friendly interaction following large proportions of agonistic interactions, whereas non-affiliated individuals, including virtually all male-female pairs, reconciled conflicts rarely. Close-proximity approaching and huddling contact constituted the principal modes of post-conflict amicability. Agonistic interactions of relatively high intensity were most likely to be reconciled and most likely to be reconciled via physical contact. High vulnerability of Saimiri to predation may have favored this species' strong inclination to reconcile soon after agonistic interaction. Research on free-living populations of this and other primate species is needed to illuminate similarities and differences across taxa.
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