Chimpanzees also exhibit flexibility in their empathy, just like humans, a new study finds.
It is a known fact that humans are capable of extending empathy not just friends and family but also strangers and other species. Up until now, it was not clear with non-human species possessed the same ability. Yerkes National Primate Research Center researchers conducted a study to find an answer to this question.
Matthew Campbell, a researcher from the center used contagious yawning as a measure of involuntary empathy. He found that chimpanzees showed contagious yawning to familiar chimpanzees, familiar humans, and unfamiliar humans, but not to unfamiliar chimpanzees or an unfamiliar species.
"That humans known and unknown elicited empathy similarly to group members, and more than unknown chimpanzees, shows flexibility in engagement," says Campbell. "We can use this information to try to influence this flexible response in order to increase empathy toward unfamiliar chimpanzees, and we hope we will be able to apply such knowledge to humans as well," Campbell said in a press statement.
The findings support a 2011 study that contagious sleeping in chimpanzees is not just a sign of boredom and sleepiness. It is also a sign of empathy and social connection between individuals. Researchers are hopeful that the findings of the new study may help explain the evolution of how and when humans engage with others and choose to offer flexibility, and how we can do so more.
The study was funded by the FIRST program, the National Center for Research Resources and is currently supported by the Office of Research Infrastructure and the Living Links Center at Yerkes. Findings were published online in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
