Given the choice between accepting goodies from helpful, neutral or unhelpful people, capuchin monkeys (
Cebus apella) tend to avoid individuals who refuse aid to others, according to a
study published today in
Nature Communications.
“Humans can build up an impression
* about somebody just based on what we see,” says author James Anderson, a comparative psychologist at the University of Stirling, UK. The capuchin results suggest that this skill “probably extends to other species”, he says.
Anderson chose to study capuchins because of their highly social and cooperative instincts. Monkeys in the study watched as a person either agreed or refused to help another person to open a jar containing a toy. Afterwards, both people offered a food pellet to the animal. The monkey was allowed to accept food from only one.
When help was given, the capuchins showed little preference between the person requesting help and the one providing aid. But when help was denied, the seven monkeys tended to accept food less often from the unhelpful person than from the requester
.
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