Abstract
Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) cooperate according to indirect
reciprocity, which implies the involvement of a reputation mechanism.
Here, we test whether the rats employ such mechanism in repeated
cooperative interactions. Focal subjects were first trained individually
to pull food towards a social partner. During the experiment, the focal
rats were confronted with two types of trained social partners: one
always cooperated and the other one always defected, either in the
presence or in the absence of an audience. Based on the hypotheses that
the rats possess a reputation mechanism involving image scoring, we
predicted them to be more helpful in the presence of an audience,
independently of the partner's cooperative behaviour. If, in contrast,
reputation involved a standing strategy, we predicted the rats to
distinguish more between cooperators and defectors in the presence of an
audience than in its absence. The rats helped cooperative partners more
than defectors, but against both predictions the presence or absence of
an audience did not influence their helping propensity. This indicates
that either reputation is not included in the decision of rats to help
an individual that has helped others, or that reputation is neither
involving image scoring nor a standing strategy. Although the rats have
been shown to modulate their decision to help a social partner based on
its helpful behaviour towards others, they do not seem to adjust their
behaviour strategically to the presence of an audience.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 513-521 |
Journal | Ethology |
Volume | 122 |
Issue number | 6 |
Early online date | 21 Apr 2016 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jun 2016 |
Keywords
- Altruism
- Image scoring
- Indirect reciprocity
- Reputation
- Standing strategy
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No evidence for audience effects in reciprocal cooperation of Norway rats (dataset)
Schweinfurth, M. K. (Creator) & Taborsky, M. (Creator), University of St Andrews, 18 May 2020
DOI: 10.17630/fe3b6b9b-0f5b-4319-ad67-4f6ec6e1110d
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