Lessons from helping behavior in rats
Abstract
Helping involves other-oriented actions that have the potential to benefit another. The last ten years has seen the introduction of several experimental paradigms to study helping in rats. In the best characterized of these, a free rat opens a door to release a rat trapped in an acrylic tube or pool of water. Helping is proffered independent of the opportunity to socially interact. Both an absence and an excess of affective arousal or anxiety antagonize helping whereas mild levels of distress facilitate helping. Helping is socially selective and highly sensitive to the social environment with non-helpers antagonizing and additional helpers facilitating another rat's propensity to help.
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Helping behaviors occur even when the effects of social interaction are excluded.
“Helping behaviors occur even when the effects of social interaction are excluded (Cox and Reichel, 2019; Mason, 2021).”
From Helping behavior in prairie voles: a model of empathy and the importance of oxytocin (2022) · cites this paper as Mason, 2021
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- Authors
- Mason, P.
- Affiliations
- University of Chicago (US)
- Corresponding author
- Mason, Peggy
- ORCID
- Mason, Peggy
- Venue
- Current Opinion in Neurobiology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-06
- Volume
- 68
- Pages
- 52-56
- ISSN
- 0959-4388 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3121571302
- Cited by
- 41
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 4
- FWCI
- 1.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Current Opinion in Neurobiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Keywords
- helping behavior, prosocial behavior, rats, social selection, emotional arousal, anxiety, distress, social environment, animal welfare
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Arousal, Helping Behavior, Social Behavior, Rats
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