Prosocial behavior in rats

Article Sidebar

PDF (Spanish)
Published: Apr 3, 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32348/1852.4206.v9.n1.15135
Keywords:
empathy, helping behavior, prosocial behavior, rats

Main Article Content

Rodolfo Bernal-Gamboa
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Facultad de Psicología

Abstract

In recent years, prosocial behavior has become an interesting topic within cognitive sciences. It was accepted that humans are the only ones with prosociality actions. However, recent experiments with rats have challenged that view. The present article reviews the experimental tasks recently developed to study prosocial behavior in rats. In addition, the present article discussed the findings of those experiments in order to assess whether empathy is the mechanism that underlies prosocial behavior in rats.

Article Details

How to Cite
Prosocial behavior in rats. (2017). Argentinean Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 9(1), 74-80. https://doi.org/10.32348/1852.4206.v9.n1.15135
Issue
Vol. 9 No. 1 (2017): Revista Argentina de Ciencias del Comportamiento
Section
Reviews

La RACC aplicará la licencia internacional de atribuciones comunes creativas (Reconocimiento 4.0 Internacional: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Bajo esta licencia, se permite cualquier explotación de la obra, incluyendo la explotación con fines comerciales y la creación de obras derivadas, la distribución de las cuales también está permitida sin ninguna restricción. Esta licencia es una licencia libre según la Freedom Defined. La única condición es que siempre y en todos los casos se cite a los autores y a la fuente original de publicación (i.e., RACC). Esta licencia fue desarrollada para facilitar el acceso abierto, gratuito y libre a trabajos originales científicos y artísticos.

Author Biography

Rodolfo Bernal-Gamboa, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Facultad de Psicología

Profesor Asociado, Cabeza del Laboratorio de Cognición Comparada.

How to Cite

Prosocial behavior in rats. (2017). Argentinean Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 9(1), 74-80. https://doi.org/10.32348/1852.4206.v9.n1.15135

References

Ben-Ami Bartal, I., Decety, J., & Mason, P. (2011). Empathy and pro-social behavior in rats. Science, 344, 1427-1430. doi: 10.1126/science.1210789.

Ben-Ami Bartal, I., Rodgers, D. A., Bernardez Sarria, M. S., Decety, J. & Mason, P. (2014). Pro-social behavior in rats is modulated by social experience. eLife, 3, 1-16. doi: 01385.10.7554/eLife.01385.

Bernal-Gamboa, R., & Mason, T. A. (2016). En las patas del otro. ¿Cómo ves? Revista de Divulgación de la Ciencia de la UNAM, 211, 30-33.

Campbell, M. W., & de Waal, F. B. M. (2011). Ingroup-Outgroup Bias in Contagious Yawning by Chimpanzees Supports Link to Empathy. PLoS ONE, 6(4), e18283. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0018283.

Church, R. M. (1959). Emotional reactions of rats to the pain of others. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 52, 132-134. doi: 10.1037/h0043531.

Darwin, C. (1871). The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Dawkins, R. (1976). The Selfish Gene. London: Oxford University Press.

de Waal, F. B. (2008). Putting the altruism back into altruism: the evolution of empathy. Annual Reviews of Psychology, 59, 279-300. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.59.103006.093625.

de Waal, F. B. (2013). The bonobo and the atheist. In search of humanins among the primates. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

de Witt, S., & Dickinson, A. (2009). Associative theories of goal-directed behaviour: a case for animal–human translational models. Pyschologichal Research, 73, 463-476. doi: 10.1007/s00426-009-0230-6.

Decety, J. (2011). The neuroevolution of empathy. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1231, 35–45. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06027.x.

Decety, J., Norma, G. J., Bernston, G. G., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2012). A neurobehavioral evolutionary perspective on the mechanisms underlying empathy. Progress in Neurobiology, 98, 38-48. doi: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2012.05.001.

Fehr, E., & Fischbacher, U. (2003). The nature of human altruism. Nature, 425, 785-791. doi: 10.1038/nature02043.

Galef, B. G. J., & Wigmore, S. W. (1983). Transfer of information concerning distant foods: A laboratory investigation of the 'information-centre' hypothesis. Animal Behaviour, 31, 748-758.

Hamilton, W. D. (1964). The genetical evolution of social behavior, I. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 7, 1–16.

Hernandez-Lallement, J., van Wingerden, M., Marx, C., Srejic, M., & Kalenscher, T. (2015). Rats prefer mutual rewards in a prosocial choice task. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 8, 1-9. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2014.00443.

Heyes, C. M., & Dawson, G. R. (1990). A demonstration of observational learning in rats using a bidirectional control. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 42(1), 59–71.

Heyes, C. M., Dawson, G. R., & Nokes, T. (1992). Imitation in rats: Initial responding and transfer evidence. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 45(3), 81–92.

Horner, V., Carter, J. D., Suchak, M., & de Waal, F. B. M. (2011). Spontaneous prosocial choice by chimpanzees. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108, 13847–13851. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1111088108

House, B. R., Silk, J. B., Lambeth, S. P., & Schapiro, S. J. (2014). Task design influences prosociality in captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Plos One, 9(9), e103422. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0103422.

Lopuch, S., & Popik, P. (2011). Cooperative behavior of laboratory rats (Rattus norvegicus) in an instrumental task. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 125, 250-253. doi: 10.1037/a0021532.

Márquez, C., Rennie, S. M., Costa, D. F., & Moita, M. A. (2015). Prosocial choice in rats depends on food-seeking behavior displayed by recipients. Current Biology, 25, 1736-1745. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2015.05.018.

Mason, P. (2014). With a little help from our friends: How the brain processes empathy. Cerebrum, 1-12.

Miller, P. A., Bernzweig, J., Eisenberg, N., & Fabes, R. A. (1991). The development and socialization of prosocial behavior. In R. A. Hinde, & J. Groebel (Eds), Cooperation and Prosocial Behavior (pp. 54–77). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Mogil, J. S. (2012). The surprising empathic abilities of rodents. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16, 143-144. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2011.12.012.

Morris, R. G. M. (1981). Spatial localization does not require the presence of local cues. Learning and Motivation, 12, 239-260.

Nowbahari, E., Scohier, A., Durand, J. L., & Hollis, K. L. (2009). Ants, Cataglyphis cursor, Use Precisely Directed Rescue Behavior to Free Entrapped Relatives. PLoS ONE, 4, e6573. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0006573.

Pankseep, J., & Pankseep, J. B. (2013). Toward a cross-species understanding of empathy. Trends in Neuroscience, 36, 489-496. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2013.04.009.

Pankseep, J. B., & Lahvis, G. P. (2011). Rodent empathy and affective neuroscience. Neurosciences and Biobehavioral Reviews, 35, 1864-1875. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2011.05.013.

Posadas-Andrews, A., & Roper, T. J. (1983). Social transmission of food preferences in adult rats. Animal Behaviour, 31, 265-271.

Preston, S., D., & de Waal, F. B. M. (2002). Empathy: Its ultimate and proximate basis. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 25, 1-72.

Rice, G. R., & Gainer, P. (1962). “Altruism” in the albino rat. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychoology, 55, 123-125.

Sato, N., Tan, L., Tate, K., & Okada, M. (2015). Rats demonstrate helping behavior toward a soaked conspecific. Animal Cognition, 18, 1039-1047. doi: 10.1007/s10071-015-0872-2.

Silberberg, A., Allouch, C., Sandfort, S., Kearns, D., Karpel, H., & Slotnik, B. (2014). Desire for social contact, not empathy, may explain “rescue” behavior in rats. Animal Cognition, 17, 609-618. doi: 10.1007/s10071-013-0692-1.

Silk, J. B., Brosnan, S. F., Vonk, J., Henrich, J., & Povinelli, D. (2005). Chimpanzees are indifferent to the welfare of unrelated group members. Nature, 437, 1357-1359. doi: 10.1038/nature04243.

Vasconcelos, M., Hollis, K., Nowbahari, E., & Kacelnik, A. (2012). Pro-sociality without empathy. Biology Letters, 8, 910-912. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2012.0554.

Yamamoto, S., Humle, T., & Tanaka, M. (2009). Chimpanzees help each other upon request. Plos One, 4, e7416. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007416.