Assessing joint commitment as a process in great apes
Raphaela Heesen,
Adrian Bangerter,
Klaus Zuberbühler,
Katia Iglesias,
Christof Neumann,
Aude Pajot,
Laura Perrenoud,
Jean-Pascal Guéry,
Federico Rossano,
Emilie Genty
Affiliations
Raphaela Heesen
Institute of Work and Organizational Psychology, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland; Department of Psychology, Durham University, UK; Corresponding author
Adrian Bangerter
Institute of Work and Organizational Psychology, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Klaus Zuberbühler
School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK; Institute of Biology, University of Neuchatel, Switzerland
Katia Iglesias
School of Health Sciences (HEdS-FR), HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland, Fribourg, Switzerland
Christof Neumann
Institute of Work and Organizational Psychology, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland; German Primate Center (DPZ), Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
Aude Pajot
Institute of Work and Organizational Psychology, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Laura Perrenoud
Institute of Work and Organizational Psychology, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Jean-Pascal Guéry
Zoological Park La Vallée des Singes, France
Federico Rossano
Department of Cognitive Science, University of California San Diego, USA
Emilie Genty
Institute of Work and Organizational Psychology, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Summary: Many social animals interact jointly, but only humans experience a specific sense of obligation toward their co-participants, a joint commitment. However, joint commitment is not only a mental state but also a process that reveals itself in the coordination efforts deployed during entry and exit phases of joint action. Here, we investigated the presence and duration of such phases in N = 1,242 natural play and grooming interactions of captive chimpanzees and bonobos. The apes frequently exchanged mutual gaze and communicative signals prior to and after engaging in joint activities with conspecifics, demonstrating entry and exit phases comparable to those of human joint activities. Although rank effects were less clear, phases in bonobos were more moderated by friendship compared to phases in chimpanzees, suggesting bonobos were more likely to reflect patterns analogous to human “face management”. This suggests that joint commitment as process was already present in our last common ancestor with Pan.
