"This kind of study highlights the continuity between humans and animals, not only from a morphological, anatomical and physiological point of view, but also from a psychological and emotional point of view," Palagi says. "The human mind, like body, has evolved in continuity with other animals."

One challenge with calling such consolation sympathetic concern is that the researchers were measuring behaviors, not emotions per se, says developmental psychologist Carolyn Zahn-Waxler of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, who did not participate in this research. Future work could also investigate chimp vocalizations or even facial expressions to help overcome this issue, she notes. "Having visited the Yerkes Center firsthand, I myself have no doubts these behaviors the researchers are detailing are parallel to the first forms of comforting behaviors we see in human children," Zahn-Waxler adds.

Future research could also investigate more distant relatives of humans. "To date, there is no evidence that consolation is present in monkeys," Palagi says, "but we are working on an interesting [monkey] species, the gelada, in which females are extremely bonded. Preliminary data suggests that true consolation could be present in this species and, if the data are confirmed, will be a further important step in understanding the consolation mechanism and the cognitive scaffold at its basis."

8 Comments

1. 1. JLaurel 11:02 PM 6/14/10

   This is fascinating. Elitism, reciprocity, selfishness, it can't get more "human" than this.
   On the other hand, we see this excessive emphasis placed on females and motherhood. While the bonding is clearly described even in "seemingly inferior species", this is in fact a trait I still find lacking in my counterparts. Actually, this is one of the main reasons why men still have the upperhand in most relationships. Men stick for each other way more often than women do. A lesson still to be learned.
   Fantastic study. I'd love to read more on the subject!!

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2. 2. detaylor 01:39 AM 6/15/10

   This is not new information, Robert Sapolsky wrote a paper on that exact same thing in 1990.

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3. 3. detaylor in reply to JLaurel 01:42 AM 6/15/10

   You should check out a video on YouTube called "The Uniqueness of Humans" by Robert Sapolsky. It is a lecture he gave at Stanford University and covers this same subject and it pretty interesting. Be advised though, it is a 40 min video.

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4. 4. Feathered Ape 03:54 AM 6/15/10

   I agree, this doesn't seem like anything new as Frans de Waal himself has shown this many times before. Chimps are always put on a pedestal when it cones to their intelligence and empathy, but this 'consolation' behaviour has been found in other animals, perhaps most surprisingly rooks (a species of crow). What appears to be a difference between rooks and chimps is the fact that rooks console those that are important to them, such as their partner, whereas chimps console those that could strategically be important to them. Is that empathy or just politics? I think I would say the rooks were more empathic than the chimps!

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5. 5. JLaurel in reply to detaylor 07:34 AM 6/15/10

   I'll definitely check that. Thanks for the tip!
   Cheers

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6. 6. Wayne Williamson 08:45 PM 6/15/10

   detaylor...thanks for the youtube link...very much enjoyed...

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7. 7. Inner Smile 07:49 PM 6/16/10

   Frans de Waal (from his facebook page comment on this article): This study just came out about expressions of empatyhy in chimpanzees. Some of the comment lines claim that this was well-known before. The phenomenon was indeed, but there has been debate about it in the literature with some trying to turn consolation into a self-protective strategy (consoling someone who may otherwise attack you), and other alterantive scenarios. This is the first large-scale study that settles all of these issues in one swoop: consolation seems truly an expresion of empathy as it is aimed at close friends and kin (so, not those who usually attack you), is done more by females, and has a calming effect. Overall, very impressive support for the empathy hypothesis. And no, we didn't have this support before.

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8. 8. perfectarc 09:24 PM 6/21/10

   Nothing surprising here ..... especially since kin relations like this have been observed in the wild for many decades now. I still enjoyed the article though.

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