Direct and indirect reputation formation in nonhuman great apes (Pan paniscus, Pan troglodytes, Gorilla gorilla, Pongo pygmaeus) and human children (Homo sapiens).
Journal Article (Journal Article)
Humans make decisions about when and with whom to cooperate based on their reputations. People either learn about others by direct interaction or by observing third-party interactions or gossip. An important question is whether other animal species, especially our closest living relatives, the nonhuman great apes, also form reputations of others. In Study 1, chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, and 2.5-year-old human children experienced a nice experimenter who tried to give food/toys to the subject and a mean experimenter who interrupted the food/toy giving. In studies 2 and 3, nonhuman great apes and human children could only passively observe a similar interaction, in which a nice experimenter and a mean experimenter interacted with a third party. Orangutans and 2.5-year-old human children preferred to approach the nice experimenter rather than the mean one after having directly experienced their respective behaviors. Orangutans, chimpanzees, and 2.5-year-old human children also took into account experimenter actions toward third parties in forming reputations. These studies show that the human ability to form direct and indirect reputation judgment is already present in young children and shared with at least some of the other great apes.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Herrmann, E; Keupp, S; Hare, B; Vaish, A; Tomasello, M
Published Date
- February 2013
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 127 / 1
Start / End Page
- 63 - 75
PubMed ID
- 22746158
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1939-2087
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 0735-7036
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1037/a0028929
Language
- eng