| Concept/Content |
non-human expressions of sympathy / Rhesus monkey cagemates |
| Information caption |
In an effort to understand the nature of sympathy in non-humans, in 1963 Jules Masserman investigated how macaques responded to other monkey's suffering in a laboratory environment. How would they behave if they knew that securing food would give an electric shock to another monkey? Masserman's monkeys often prolonged their hunger rather than administer a painful stimulus. One monkey refrained from taking food for twelve days. Responses showed several patterns. Self-starvation was more likely in monkeys that had themselves experienced electroshock as a subject. Sacrificial behavior was not biased towards members of higher dominance rank, but was slightly stronger for cagemates (although not statistically significant). Visual contact, even without auditory cues, seemed sufficient to induce the response. The monkeys' behavior seemed to reflect an understanding of another's pain, as well as strong aversity to causing such suffering.
(Experimental ethics have since become stricter and no one has replicated this important early study in primates.)
[Note: these are not the monkeys used in Masserman's study.] |
| Inquiry caption |
In an effort to understand the nature of sympathy in non-humans, in 1963 Jules Masserman investigated how macaques, such as these, responded to other monkey's suffering in a laboratory environment. How would they behave if they knew that securing food would give an electric shock to another monkey? (Changes in research ethics no longer allow such studies.) What would you expect, here?
Masserman's monkeys often prolonged their hunger rather than administer a painful stimulus. One monkey refrained from taking food for twelve days. Responses showed several patterns. Self-starvation was more likely in monkeys that had themselves experienced electroshock as a subject. Sacrificial behavior was not biased towards members of higher dominance rank, but was slightly stronger for cagemates (although not statistically significant). Visual contact, even without auditory cues, seemed sufficient to induce the response. What conclusions about sympathy in non-human primates would you draw from this study? For example, did the monkeys' behavior seem to reflect an understanding of and concern for another's pain?
Mice also seem to show signs of proto-empathy in expressing feelings modified by the feelings of others. Experimentally, they exhibit increased sensitivity to mild pain when cagemates (but not unfamiliar mice) also experienced noxious stimuli at the same time. Again, visual contact seems important in communicating an emotional state and triggering a corresponding, even if not directly empathetic, response (Langford et al 2006).
Target Concept: Non-human organisms exhibit sympathetic concern for both kin and non-related individuals. |
| Photographer |
Victor Reinhardt |
| Credit |
Photo by Victor Reinhardt. |
| SIZE in pixels [file size] |
211x324 |
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