Negotiators aka Chimpanzees
New research has demonstrated that one of our two closest primate relatives, the chimpanzee can settle conflicts of interest over resources in mutually satisfying ways – even without the social norms of equity, planned strategies of reciprocity, and the complex communication characteristic of human negotiation.
Dr. Alicia Melis from the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany has been conducting various experiments with chimpanzees. An article recently published in the journal “Evolution and Human Behavior” authored by Dr. Melis has shed light on the various intricate negotiating capabilities of chimpanzees.
Basic cooperation among social species in aspects like travel direction or activity timing has long been documented however solving conflicts on resources like food have had very little research. Dr. Melis and team, trained a group of chimps on various aspects including the importance of cooperation. The chimps were taught that cooperation benefits both. The chimps were also paired containing a dominant partner and a subordinate partner. Most of these chimps had been already involved in cooperation oriented experiments. Here is a clip which demonstrates how chimps are demonstrated the importance of cooperation.
