Capuchin monkeys judge third-party reciprocity

Abstract

Increasing interest is being shown in how children develop an understanding of reciprocity in social exchanges and fairness in resource distribution, including social exchanges between third parties. Although there are descriptions of reciprocity on a one-to-one basis in other species, whether nonhumans detect reciprocity and violations of reciprocity between third parties is unknown. Here we show that capuchin monkeys discriminate between humans who reciprocate in a social exchange with others and those who do not. Monkeys more readily accepted food from reciprocators than non-reciprocators or partial reciprocators. However, when exchange asymmetry was due to one partner starting out with fewer goods, the initially impoverished reciprocator was not discriminated against. These results indicate that the cognitive or emotional prerequisites for judging reciprocity in third-party social exchanges exist in at least one other primate species.