Stevens,J.R.

Helping others at no cost to oneself is a simple way to demonstrate other?regarding preferences. Yet, pri? mates exhibit mixed results for other?regarding pref? erences: chimpanzees and tamarins do not show these effects, whereas capuchin monkeys and marmosets preferentially give food to others. One factor of rele? vance to this no?cost food donation is the payoff to the donor. Though donors always receive the same pay? offs regardless of their choice, previous work varies in whether they receive either a food reward or no food re? ward. Here, I tested cotton?top tamarins in a preferen? tial giving task. Subjects could choose from two tools, one of which delivered food to a partner in an adjacent cage and the other of which delivered food to an empty cage. Thus, subjects could preferentially give or with? hold food from a partner. I varied whether subjects re? ceived food payoffs, whether a partner was present or absent, and whether the partner was a non?cagemate or the subject’s mate. Results showed that the subjects’ overall motivation to pull either tool declined when they did not receive any food. Additionally, they did not preferentially donate or withhold food, regardless of their own payoff or their relationship with the partner. Thus, cotton?top tamarins do not take advantage of cost? free food giving, either when they might gain in the fu? ture (mates) or when they have no opportunity for fu? ture interactions (non?cagemates).

Stevens, J. R. (2010). Donor payoffs and other-regarding preferences in cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus). Animal Cognition, 13, 663-670. doi:10.1007/s10071-010-0309-x (Full text)

Publication year	2010
Document type:	Article
Publication status:	Published
External URL:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10071-010-0309-x View
Categories:	Animal Behavior
Keywords:	altruismcooperative breedinginequitypayoffself-interest