scholarly journals Experimental evidence that intruder and group member attributes affect outgroup defence and associated within-group interactions in a social fish

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1912) ◽  
pp. 20191261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ines Braga Goncalves ◽  
Andrew N. Radford

In many social species, individuals communally defend resources from conspecific outsiders. Participation in defence and in associated within-group interactions, both during and after contests with outgroup rivals, is expected to vary between group members because the threat presented by different outsiders is not the same to each individual. However, experimental tests examining both the contributions to, and the consequences of, outgroup conflict for all group members are lacking. Using groups of the cichlid Neolamprologus pulcher , we simulated territorial intrusions by different-sized female rivals and altered the potential contribution of subordinate females to defence. Dominant females and subordinate females defended significantly more against size- and rank-matched intruders, while males displayed lower and less variable levels of defence. Large and small, but not intermediate-sized, intruders induced increased levels of within-group aggression during intrusions, which was targeted at the subordinate females. Preventing subordinate females from helping in territorial defence led to significant decreases in post-contest within-group and female-specific submissive and affiliative displays. Together, these results show that the defensive contributions of group members vary greatly depending both on their own traits and on intruder identity, and this variation has significant consequences for within-group social dynamics both during and in the aftermath of outgroup contests.

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 1257-1265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A Pardo ◽  
Eric L Walters ◽  
Walter D Koenig

Abstract Triadic awareness, or knowledge of the relationships between others, is essential to navigating many complex social interactions. While some animals maintain relationships with former group members post-dispersal, recognizing cross-group relationships between others may be more cognitively challenging than simply recognizing relationships between members of a single group because there is typically much less opportunity to observe interactions between individuals that do not live together. We presented acorn woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus), a highly social species, with playback stimuli consisting of a simulated chorus between two different individuals, a behavior that only occurs naturally between social affiliates. Subjects were expected to respond less rapidly if they perceived the callers as having an affiliative relationship. Females responded more rapidly to a pair of callers that never co-occurred in the same social group, and responded less rapidly to callers that were members of the same social group at the time of the experiment and to callers that last lived in the same group before the subject had hatched. This suggests that female acorn woodpeckers can infer the existence of relationships between conspecifics that live in separate groups by observing them interact after the conspecifics in question no longer live in the same group as each other. This study provides experimental evidence that nonhuman animals may recognize relationships between third parties that no longer live together and emphasizes the potential importance of social knowledge about distant social affiliates.


2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew N Radford ◽  
Amanda R Ridley

Many studies of social species have reported variation in the anti-predator vigilance behaviour of foraging individuals depending on the presence and relative position of other group members. However, little attention has focused on how foragers assess these variables. It is commonly assumed that they do so visually, but many social species produce frequent calls while foraging, and these ‘close’ calls might provide valuable spatial information. Here, we show that foraging pied babblers ( Turdoides bicolor ) are less vigilant when in larger groups, in the centre of a group and in closer proximity to another group member. We then show that foragers are less vigilant during playbacks of close calling by more individuals and individuals on either side of them when compared with calls of fewer individuals and calls on one side of them. These results suggest that foragers can use vocal cues to gain information on group size and their spatial position within a group. Future studies of anti-predator vigilance should consider the relative importance of both visual and vocal monitoring of group members.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 1425-1435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Morris-Drake ◽  
Charlotte Christensen ◽  
Julie M Kern ◽  
Andrew N Radford

Abstract In social species, conspecific outsiders present various threats to groups and their members. These out-group threats are predicted to affect subsequent within-group interactions (e.g., affiliation and aggression) and individual behavior (e.g., foraging and vigilance decisions). However, experimental investigations of such consequences are rare, especially in natural conditions. We used field-based call playbacks and fecal presentations on habituated wild dwarf mongooses (Helogale parvula)—a cooperatively breeding, territorial species—to examine postinteraction responses to the simulated threat of a rival group. Dwarf mongooses invested more in grooming of groupmates, foraged closer together, and more regularly acted as sentinels (a raised guard) after encountering indicators of rival-group presence compared to control conditions. These behavioral changes likely arise from greater anxiety and, in the case of increased vigilance, the need to seek additional information about the threat. The influence of an out-group threat lasted at least 1 h but individuals of different dominance status and sex responded similarly, potentially because all group members suffer costs if a contest with rivals is lost. Our results provide field-based experimental evidence from wild animals that out-group threats can influence within-group behavior and decision making, and suggest the need for greater consideration of the lasting impacts of social conflict.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Evy van Berlo ◽  
Alejandra P. Díaz-Loyo ◽  
Oscar E. Juárez-Mora ◽  
Mariska E. Kret ◽  
Jorg J. M. Massen

AbstractYawning is highly contagious, yet both its proximate mechanism(s) and its ultimate causation remain poorly understood. Scholars have suggested a link between contagious yawning (CY) and sociality due to its appearance in mostly social species. Nevertheless, as findings are inconsistent, CY’s function and evolution remains heavily debated. One way to understand the evolution of CY is by studying it in hominids. Although CY has been found in chimpanzees and bonobos, but is absent in gorillas, data on orangutans are missing despite them being the least social hominid. Orangutans are thus interesting for understanding CY’s phylogeny. Here, we experimentally tested whether orangutans yawn contagiously in response to videos of conspecifics yawning. Furthermore, we investigated whether CY was affected by familiarity with the yawning individual (i.e. a familiar or unfamiliar conspecific and a 3D orangutan avatar). In 700 trials across 8 individuals, we found that orangutans are more likely to yawn in response to yawn videos compared to control videos of conspecifics, but not to yawn videos of the avatar. Interestingly, CY occurred regardless of whether a conspecific was familiar or unfamiliar. We conclude that CY was likely already present in the last common ancestor of humans and great apes, though more converging evidence is needed.


Author(s):  
Scott N. Brooks

Conducting ethnographic fieldwork in varied spaces, with different actors, enriches our understanding. A researcher may find paradoxes in practices and ideas and ask for clarification, or recognize that social dynamics and behavior are peculiar to group members present in a specific setting. This article highlights the usefulness of intentional variability and flexibility in the field. Researchers should plan to do multi-site analysis (MSA) to look for negative cases and opportunities to challenge commonsense notions. Additionally, this article emphasizes that the relationships built during fieldwork shape the data that are captured. Therefore, researchers need to consider the bases for their relationships, including what the subjects get out of them, and how subjects’ positionality affects what comes to be known. This perspective de-emphasizes false norms of objectivity and renders a more complete account of the social worlds we study.


2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (17) ◽  
pp. 4375-4380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noam Zerubavel ◽  
Mark Anthony Hoffman ◽  
Adam Reich ◽  
Kevin N. Ochsner ◽  
Peter Bearman

Why do certain group members end up liking each other more than others? How does affective reciprocity arise in human groups? The prediction of interpersonal sentiment has been a long-standing pursuit in the social sciences. We combined fMRI and longitudinal social network data to test whether newly acquainted group members’ reward-related neural responses to images of one another’s faces predict their future interpersonal sentiment, even many months later. Specifically, we analyze associations between relationship-specific valuation activity and relationship-specific future liking. We found that one’s own future (T2) liking of a particular group member is predicted jointly by actor’s initial (T1) neural valuation of partner and by that partner’s initial (T1) neural valuation of actor. These actor and partner effects exhibited equivalent predictive strength and were robust when statistically controlling for each other, both individuals’ initial liking, and other potential drivers of liking. Behavioral findings indicated that liking was initially unreciprocated at T1 yet became strongly reciprocated by T2. The emergence of affective reciprocity was partly explained by the reciprocal pathways linking dyad members’ T1 neural data both to their own and to each other’s T2 liking outcomes. These findings elucidate interpersonal brain mechanisms that define how we ultimately end up liking particular interaction partners, how group members’ initially idiosyncratic sentiments become reciprocated, and more broadly, how dyads evolve. This study advances a flexible framework for researching the neural foundations of interpersonal sentiments and social relations that—conceptually, methodologically, and statistically—emphasizes group members’ neural interdependence.


Author(s):  
Sally H. Barlow

Chapter 8 discusses supervision and consultation in group specialty practice. A group therapist relies upon professional consultation and supervision to remain competent about his or her plan for each group member within the group setting and throughout the group sessions. Group interactions are highly complex given the exponential components of many members (as contrasted to individual therapy). Assuring clear metavision (tracking both process and content of all interactions between member-leader, member-member) is greatly assisted by giving and receiving consultation when necessary.


2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 2752-2761 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward H. Chang ◽  
Erika L. Kirgios ◽  
Aneesh Rai ◽  
Katherine L. Milkman

We highlight a feature of personnel selection decisions that can influence the gender diversity of groups and teams. Specifically, we show that people are less likely to choose candidates whose gender would increase group diversity when making personnel selections in isolation (i.e., when they are responsible for selecting a single group member) than when making collections of choices (i.e., when they are responsible for selecting multiple group members). We call this the isolated choice effect. Across six preregistered experiments (n = 3,509), we demonstrate that the isolated choice effect has important consequences for group diversity. When making sets of hiring and selection decisions (as opposed to making a single hire), people construct more gender-diverse groups. Mediation and moderation studies suggest that people do not attend as much to diversity when making isolated selection choices, which drives this effect. This paper was accepted by Yuval Rottenstreich, decision analysis.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hillie Aaldering ◽  
Robert Böhm

Engaging in personally costly within-group cooperation benefits one’s in-group members but also impacts other groups by benefiting, neglecting, or harming out-group members, leading to a range of potential consequences for between-group relations (e.g., collaboration vs. competition). We introduce the Intergroup Parochial and Universal Cooperation (IPUC) game to investigate the prevalence of the individual preferences underlying these different expressions of within-group cooperation: universalism, weak parochialism, and strong parochialism. In two online experiments with natural groups, we show that the IPUC has value beyond existing economic games in measuring these preferences separately. In a third experiment conducted in the lab, we show how dispositional measures traditionally associated with within- and between-group cooperation, that is, social value orientation, social dominance orientation, honesty-humility, and empathic concern, predict different preferences. Thus, the IPUC provides a tool to better understand within- and between-group interactions and to test interventions to overcome intergroup conflict.


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