Do chimpanzee learn reputation by observation?
In a series of three experiments we tested chimpanzees’ abilities to infer from the observation of third-party interactions whether a (generous) stranger, whom they observed always giving food to others, and a (selfish) stranger, whom they observed never giving food to others, was more likely to give food to them. In all our studies we assessed chimpanzees’ preference on the very first trial, guaranteeing that their preferences were guided by indirect (rather than direct) experience. In two of the three experiments chimpanzees distinguished between the two types of donors: often times significantly preferring to gestur to the novel generous donor. These results recently published in Animal Cognition (2008) suggest that chimpanzee can attribute reputation by observation.
