The perception of emotions in others regulates many aspect of social life. Consolation, a post-conflict mechanism aimed at reducing distress of the victim, relies on the victim and the consoler sharing emotions. One hypothesis is that consolation depends on a mirroring effect. Mirroring permits an exchange of representations between the victim, who experiences an emotional variation, and the consoler, who is affected by the emotional variation of the victim. From this perspective, consolation is considered an empathy-rooted phenomenon, activated by a perception-action mechanism. If consolation relies on the perception of the victim’s distress, the occurrence of a conflict and the following consolatory contact should produce an emotional variation in the consoler as well as in the victim. As a model species we selected Macaca tonkeana , a primate characterized by high levels of tolerance, which allows individuals to reveal their social relationships through many different behaviours including consolation. Data were collected on a colony of 54 macaques housed at the Parc zoologique de Thoiry (France). Behaviour of both the victim and the bystander was recorded at the same time with a video camera. Our results showed that victims and bystanders increased their anxiety rate after the end of a conflict. Consolation decreased anxiety in the receiver and in the actor of the affiliative contact, but not in bystanders who did not actively participate in the consolatory event. Moreover, in the absence of consolation, a correlation between the anxiety rate of the victim and the bystander was found. These findings, taken together, strongly indicate the sensitivity of the subjects to react empathically according to the affective state variation of the victims.

Post-conflict emotional variation in bystanders: the case of Tonkean Macaques

PALAGI, ELISABETTA
2017-01-01

Abstract

The perception of emotions in others regulates many aspect of social life. Consolation, a post-conflict mechanism aimed at reducing distress of the victim, relies on the victim and the consoler sharing emotions. One hypothesis is that consolation depends on a mirroring effect. Mirroring permits an exchange of representations between the victim, who experiences an emotional variation, and the consoler, who is affected by the emotional variation of the victim. From this perspective, consolation is considered an empathy-rooted phenomenon, activated by a perception-action mechanism. If consolation relies on the perception of the victim’s distress, the occurrence of a conflict and the following consolatory contact should produce an emotional variation in the consoler as well as in the victim. As a model species we selected Macaca tonkeana , a primate characterized by high levels of tolerance, which allows individuals to reveal their social relationships through many different behaviours including consolation. Data were collected on a colony of 54 macaques housed at the Parc zoologique de Thoiry (France). Behaviour of both the victim and the bystander was recorded at the same time with a video camera. Our results showed that victims and bystanders increased their anxiety rate after the end of a conflict. Consolation decreased anxiety in the receiver and in the actor of the affiliative contact, but not in bystanders who did not actively participate in the consolatory event. Moreover, in the absence of consolation, a correlation between the anxiety rate of the victim and the bystander was found. These findings, taken together, strongly indicate the sensitivity of the subjects to react empathically according to the affective state variation of the victims.
2017
https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/479129
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11568/873522
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