A Cross-Species Comparison and Experimental Approach
Friendship plays a vital role in our well-being, helping us to stay healthy and live longer. People who are socially isolated have impaired immune function, a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, and die younger than their socially integrated counterparts. The formation of friendly relationships is believed to underpin our unique cooperation skills, complex language and brain size. Social relationships are not only crucially important for us humans, but also for other animal species, in which similar beneficial effects of being socially well-connected have been found. However, the evolutionary origins and function of friendship in humans and other animals remains unclear. We know surprisingly little about the forces that have shaped friendships, what has driven the evolution of friendship-relevant cognitive abilities, or why social isolation persists despite being detrimental.
FriendOrigins is an ERC-funded project (project 864461) that will address these questions, by combining cross-species comparisons and innovative experiments.
Friendship plays a vital role in our well-being, helping us to stay healthy and live longer. People who are socially isolated have impaired immune function, a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, and die younger than their socially integrated counterparts. The formation of friendly relationships is believed to underpin our unique cooperation skills, complex language and brain size. Social relationships are not only crucially important for us humans, but also for other animal species, in which similar beneficial effects of being socially well-connected have been found. However, the evolutionary origins and function of friendship in humans and other animals remains unclear. We know surprisingly little about the forces that have shaped friendships, what has driven the evolution of friendship-relevant cognitive abilities, or why social isolation persists despite being detrimental.
FriendOrigins is an ERC-funded project (project 864461) that will address these questions, by combining cross-species comparisons and innovative experiments.
PROJECT AIMS
Aim 1 Test the social and ecological forces that shape variation in social structure across species.
Using the MacaqueNet database, an unparalleled cross-species dataset on over 1000 individuals across 15 macaque species, we will conduct the first ever comparative analysis on the socio-ecological forces that shape variation in social structure.
Aim 2 Test whether having information on the friendships of others is a uniquely human skill.
We will conduct playback experiments informed by objective quantifications of social relationships on rhesus macaques at the Cayo Santiago field station, where relatedness between all animals is known. We will test for third-party knowledge of non-kin social bonds and friend-of-a-friend relationships in macaques.
Aim 3 Change levels of social isolation by changing competition levels.
We will experimentally reduce feeding competition in 4 groups of provisioned rhesus macaques at the Cayo Santiago field station to test how decreased competition levels impact how socially isolated individuals are.
Using the MacaqueNet database, an unparalleled cross-species dataset on over 1000 individuals across 15 macaque species, we will conduct the first ever comparative analysis on the socio-ecological forces that shape variation in social structure.
Aim 2 Test whether having information on the friendships of others is a uniquely human skill.
We will conduct playback experiments informed by objective quantifications of social relationships on rhesus macaques at the Cayo Santiago field station, where relatedness between all animals is known. We will test for third-party knowledge of non-kin social bonds and friend-of-a-friend relationships in macaques.
Aim 3 Change levels of social isolation by changing competition levels.
We will experimentally reduce feeding competition in 4 groups of provisioned rhesus macaques at the Cayo Santiago field station to test how decreased competition levels impact how socially isolated individuals are.
