Other-regarding preferences in a non-human primate: common marmosets provision food altruistically
Open accessAbstract
Human cooperation is unparalleled in the animal world and rests on an altruistic concern for the welfare of genetically unrelated strangers. The evolutionary roots of human altruism, however, remain poorly understood. Recent evidence suggests a discontinuity between humans and other primates because individual chimpanzees do not spontaneously provide food to other group members, indicating a lack of concern for their welfare. Here, we demonstrate that common marmoset monkeys (Callithrix jacchus) do spontaneously provide food to nonreciprocating and genetically unrelated individuals, indicating that other-regarding preferences are not unique to humans and that their evolution did not require advanced cognitive abilities such as theory of mind. Because humans and marmosets are cooperative breeders and the only two primate taxa in which such unsolicited prosociality has been found, we conclude that these prosocial predispositions may emanate from cooperative breeding.
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Untreated marmosets, tamarins, and capuchins have each demonstrated some form of spontaneous other-regarding preferences toward familiar partners.
“Untreated marmosets (Burkart et al., 2007), tamarins (Cronin et al., 2010), and capuchins (Lakshminarayanan and Santos, 2008) have each demonstrated some form of spontaneous other-regarding preferences toward familiar partners”
From Neuropeptide diversity and the regulation of social behavior in New World primates (2016) · cites this paper as Burkart et al., 2007
In captive marmosets, there is a clear willingness or tolerance to reward others in a low-cost task without the expectation to receive an immediate reward for themselves.
“In captive marmosets, there is a clear willingness or tolerance to reward others in a low-cost task without the expectation to receive an immediate reward for themselves (Burkart et al., 2007; Mustoe et al., 2015)”
From Inequity aversion strategies between marmosets are influenced by partner familiarity and sex but not by oxytocin (2016) · cites this paper as Burkart et al., 2007
The key social distinction that may account for the differences in prosociality and inequity aversion strategies in marmosets in the current study and Mustoe et al., 2015, compared to others, is that our marmosets lived in exclusive male-female pairs with no offspring while other studies have investigated marmosets that live in larger family groups.
“Overall, the key social distinction that may account for the differences in prosociality and inequity aversion strategies in marmosets in the current study and Mustoe et al., 2015, compared to others (Burkart et al., 2007; Freeman et al., 2013), is that our marmosets lived in exclusive male-female pairs with no offspring while other studies have investigated marmosets that live in larger family”
From Inequity aversion strategies between marmosets are influenced by partner familiarity and sex but not by oxytocin (2016) · cites this paper as Burkart et al., 2007
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- Authors
- Burkart, J. M., Fehr, E., Efferson, C., & van Schaik, C. P.
- Affiliations
- University of Zurich (CH)
- Santa Fe Institute (US)
- *Anthropological Institute, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland;
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2007-12-11
- Volume
- 104
- Issue
- 50
- Pages
- 19762-19766
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC2148372
- OpenAlex
- W2117308887
- Cited by
- 359
- References
- 52
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 24 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 31 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 24
- FWCI
- 27.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (acceptedVersion)
- IRIS (submittedVersion)
- SERVAL (Université de Lausanne) (submittedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation
- Keywords
- altruism, social preferences, Callithrix jacchus, food provisioning, cooperative breeding, theory of mind, chimpanzees
- MeSH terms
- Altruism, Animals, Behavior, Animal, Breeding, Callithrix, Cooperative Behavior, Female, Food, Humans, Male
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