Social power, conflict policing, and the role of subordination signals in rhesus macaque society.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Policing is a conflict-limiting mechanism observed in many primate species. It is thought to require a skewed distribution of social power for some individuals to have sufficiently high social power to stop others' fights, yet social power has not been examined in most species with policing behavior. We examined networks of subordination signals as a source of social power that permits policing behavior in rhesus macaques.

Materials and methods

For each of seven captive groups of rhesus macaques, we (a) examined the structure of subordination signal networks and used GLMs to examine the relationship between (b) pairwise dominance certainty and subordination network pathways and (c) policing frequency and social power (group-level convergence in subordination signa

SUBMITTER: Beisner BA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5380402 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature