Hostname: page-component-77f85d65b8-45ctf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-03-29T08:32:45.176Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Fearful apes or emotional cooperative breeders?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 May 2023

Pat Barclay Open the ORCID record for Pat Barclay [Opens in a new window] ,
Savannah Yerman  and
Oliver Twardus
Pat Barclay
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada barclayp@uoguelph.ca syerman@uoguelph.ca otwardus@uoguelph.ca www.patbarclay.com
Savannah Yerman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada barclayp@uoguelph.ca syerman@uoguelph.ca otwardus@uoguelph.ca www.patbarclay.com
Oliver Twardus
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada barclayp@uoguelph.ca syerman@uoguelph.ca otwardus@uoguelph.ca www.patbarclay.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The “fearful ape hypothesis” is interesting but is currently underspecified. We need more research on whether it is specific to fear, specific to humans (or even cooperative breeders in general), what is included in “fear,” and whether these patterns would indeed evolve despite arms races to extract help from audiences. Specifying these will result in a more testable hypothesis.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 46 , 2023 , e53
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Caro, S. M., Griffin, A. S., Hinde, C. A., & West, S. A. (2016b). Unpredictable environments lead to the evolution of parental neglect in birds. Nature Communications, 7(1), 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caro, S. M., West, S. A., & Griffin, A. S. (2016a). Sibling conflict and dishonest signaling in birds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(48), 13803–13808.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Daly, M., & Wilson, M. (1999). The truth about Cinderella: A Darwinian view of parental love. Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Hrdy, S. B. (2011). Mothers and others: The evolutionary origins of mutual understanding. Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kiel, E. J., & Buss, K. A. (2011). Prospective relations among fearful temperament, protective parenting, and social withdrawal: The role of maternal accuracy in a moderated mediation framework. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 39(7), 953–966.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, S. J., & Kou, X. (2014). Not all empathy is equal: How dispositional empathy affects charitable giving. Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 26(4), 312–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kret, M. E., Prochazkova, E., Sterck, E. H., & Clay, Z. (2020). Emotional expressions in human and non-human great apes. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 115, 378–395.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marsh, A. A., & Ambady, N. (2007). The influence of the fear facial expression on prosocial responding. Cognition and Emotion, 21(2), 225–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marsh, A. A., & Blair, R. J. R. (2008). Deficits in facial affect recognition among antisocial populations: A meta-analysis. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 32(3), 454–465.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marsh, A. A., Stoycos, S. A., Brethel-Haurwitz, K. M., Robinson, P., VanMeter, J. W., & Cardinale, E. M. (2014). Neural and cognitive characteristics of extraordinary altruists. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(42), 15036–15041.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parr, L. A., Waller, B. M., Vick, S. J., & Bard, K. A. (2007). Classifying chimpanzee facial expressions using muscle action. Emotion, 7(1), 172.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pritsch, C., Telkemeyer, S., Mühlenbeck, C., & Liebal, K. (2017). Perception of facial expressions reveals selective affect-biased attention in humans and orangutans. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 1–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rajhans, P., Altvater-Mackensen, N., Vaish, A., & Grossmann, T. (2016). Children's altruistic behavior in context: The role of emotional responsiveness and culture. Scientific Reports, 6(1), 1–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, K. E., Norman, G. J., & Decety, J. (2020). Medical students’ empathy positively predicts charitable donation behavior. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 15(6), 734–742.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Warneken, F. (2015). Precocious prosociality: Why do young children help?. Child Development Perspectives, 9(1), 1–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar