Chimpanzees, bonobos, and children successfully coordinate in conflict situations.
Abstract
Social animals need to coordinate with others to reap the benefits of group-living
even when individuals’ interests are misaligned. We compare how chimpanzees, bonobos
and children coordinate their actions with a conspecific in a Snowdrift game, which
provides a model for understanding how organisms coordinate and make decisions under
conflict. In study 1, we presented pairs of chimpanzees, bonobos and children with
an unequal reward distribution. In the critical condition, the preferred reward could
only be obtained by waiting for the partner to act, with the risk that if no one acted,
both would lose the rewards. Apes and children successfully coordinated to obtain
the rewards. Children used a ‘both-partner-pull’ strategy and communicated during
the task, while some apes relied on an ‘only-one-partner-pulls’ strategy to solve
the task, although there were also signs of strategic behaviour as they waited for
their partner to pull when that strategy led to the preferred reward. In study 2,
we presented pairs of chimpanzees and bonobos with the same set-up as in study 1 with
the addition of a non-social option that provided them with a secure reward. In this
situation, apes had to actively decide between the unequal distribution and the alternative.
In this set-up, apes maximized their rewards by taking their partners’ potential actions
into account. In conclusion, children and apes showed clear instances of strategic
decision-making to maximize their own rewards while maintaining successful coordination.
Type
Journal articlePermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/14924Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1098/rspb.2017.0259Publication Info
Sánchez-Amaro, A; Duguid, S; Call, J; & Tomasello, M (2017). Chimpanzees, bonobos, and children successfully coordinate in conflict situations.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 284. 10.1098/rspb.2017.0259. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/14924.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Michael Tomasello
James F. Bonk Distinguished Professor
Major research interests in processes of social cognition, social learning, cooperation,
and communication from developmental, comparative, and cultural perspectives. Current
theoretical focus on processes of shared intentionality. Empirical research mainly
with human children from 1 to 4 years of age and great apes.

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