1,721,016 research outputs found
Revisiting the spaces of societies and the cooperation that sustains them
No full textWe embrace Moffett's call for more rigorous definitions of social organizations but raise two intersecting critiques: (1) The spaces controlled by societies are not exclusively physical, and (2) cooperation is required to maintain control over spaces, physical or otherwise. We discuss examples of non-physical societal spaces across species and highlight the top-down group cooperation challenge that is maintaining them
Cooperation across social borders in bonobos
No full textCooperation beyond familial and group boundaries is core to the functioning of human societies, yet its evolution remains unclear. To address this, we examined grooming, coalition, and food-sharing patterns in bonobos (Pan paniscus), one of our closest living relatives whose rare out-group tolerance facilitates interaction opportunities between groups. We show that, as in humans, positive assortment supports bonobo cooperation across borders. Bonobo cooperative attitudes toward in-group members informed their cooperative relationships with out-groups, in particular, forming connections with out-group individuals who also exhibited high cooperation tendencies. Our findings show that cooperation between unrelated individuals across groups without immediate payoff is not exclusive to humans and suggest that such cooperation can emerge in the absence of social norms or strong cultural dispositions
Rethinking peace from a bonobo perspective
No full textReconstructing pathways to human peace can be hampered by superficial evaluations of similar processes in nonhuman species. A deeper understanding of bonobo social systems allows us to reevaluate the preconditions for peace to gain a greater insight on the evolutionary timescale of peace emergence
Oxytocin activity is not linked to out-group prosociality in wild bonobos
No full textAbstract In many group-living species, cooperative group defense is crucial to the reproduction and survival of group members. In humans and chimpanzees, this adaptive behavior is regulated by oxytocin, a highly conserved neurohormone. In humans, oxytocin can also enhance prosocial attitudes towards out-group individuals and reduces xenophobia. While the role of oxytocin in supporting cooperative group defense is likely evolutionarily ancient, it is unclear to what extent oxytocin’s role in promoting out-group prosociality is conserved. Bonobos, our closest living relatives together with chimpanzees, can provide valuable insights into this question, because they are not known to engage in collective group defense but instead exhibit tolerance and prosocial behaviors across groups. Through examining variation in bonobo cooperative behavior, specifically coalition formation, we reinforce the idea that bonobo coalitions do not serve as a form of group defense. Despite increased competition, bonobos formed fewer coalitions in the presence of out-groups. Further, bonobo coalitions included both in- and out-group partners, reflecting reduced xenophobia and between-group cooperation. Physiologically, neither females nor males showed increased oxytocin activity with out-group presence. This suggests that, unlike in humans, oxytocin is not involved in regulating out-group prosociality in bonobos
Maternal conflict intervention is more frequent in chimpanzee compared to bonobo development
No full textMusic production and its role in coalition signaling during foraging contexts in a hunter-gatherer society
Full text linkMusic is a cultural activity universally present in all human societies. Several hypotheses have been formulated to understand the possible origins of music and the reasons for its emergence. Here, we test two hypotheses: (1) the coalition signaling hypothesis which posits that music could have emerged as a tool to signal cooperative intent and signal strength of alliances and (2) music as a strategy to deter potential predators. In addition, we further explore the link between tactile cues and the propensity of mothers to sing toward infants. For this, we investigated the singing behaviors of hunter-gatherer mothers during daily foraging trips among the Mbendjele BaYaka in the Republic of the Congo. Although singing is a significant component of their daily activities, such as when walking in the forest or collecting food sources, studies on human music production in hunter-gatherer societies are mostly conducted during their ritual ceremonies. In this study, we collected foraging and singing behavioral data of mothers by using focal follows of five BaYaka women during their foraging trips in the forest. In accordance with our predictions for the coalition signaling hypothesis, women were more likely to sing when present in large groups, especially when group members were less familiar. However, predictions of the predation deterrence hypothesis were not supported as the interaction between group size and distance from the village did not have a significant effect on the likelihood of singing. The latter may be due to limited variation in predation risk in the foraging areas, because of the intense bush meat trade, and hence, future studies should include foraging areas with higher densities of wild animals. Lastly, we found that mothers were more likely to sing when they were carrying infants compared to when infants were close, but carried by others, supporting the prediction that touch plays an important prerequisite role in musical interaction between the mother and child. Our study provides important insight into the role of music as a tool in displaying the intent between or within groups to strengthen potentially conflict-free alliances during joint foraging activities. Copyright © 2023 Chittar, Jang, Samuni, Lewis, Honing, Loon and Janmaat
Concerted conservation actions to support chimpanzee cultures
No full textChimpanzees were among the first animals recognized to have culture, and our understanding of the breadth of their cultural repertoire has grown significantly since the 1960s. Throughout their range, chimpanzee populations have come under increasing pressure, with their endangered status necessitating immediate and long-term conservation interventions. Recognizing the importance of diverse behavioural repertoires for chimpanzees’ survival, there has been a recent focus of conservation efforts on preserving their culturally transmitted behaviours and the environments in which they are exhibited. This article evaluates the practicality of developing conservation measures focused on chimpanzee culture. We highlight innovative conservation strategies aimed at integrating chimpanzee cultural behaviours into conservation policies. We review synergistic conservation initiatives led by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the UN Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals and other international and local groups that share the goal of preserving chimpanzee populations and their cultural diversity. We underline how successful conservation implementation requires engagement and collaboration with a diverse group of interested or affected people. Finally, we provide recommendations aimed at guiding future efforts to incorporate animal cultures into conservation strategies. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Animal culture: conservation in a changing world’.Born Free FoundationDeutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001659Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001711Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/50110000026
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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