Reactions to daily events as a function of familiarity with an environment

Rank acquisition in rhesus macaque yearlings following permanent maternal separation: The importance of the social and physical environment

Rank acquisition is a developmental milestone for young primates, but the processes by which primate yearlings attain social rank in the absence of the mother remain unclear. We studied 18 maternally reared yearling rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) that differed in their social and physical rearing environments. We found that early social experience and maternal rank, but not individual traits (weight, sex, age), predicted dominance acquisition in the new peer-only social group. Yearlings also used coalitions to reinforce the hierarchy, and social affiliation (play and grooming) was likely a product, rather than a determinant, of rank acquisition. Following relocation to a familiar environment, significant rank changes occurred indicating that familiarity with a physical environment was salient in rank acquisition. Our results add to the growing body of literature emphasizing the role of the social and physical environment on behavioral development, namely social asymmetries among peers.

It’s Simple and I Know It!

When negative events occur (e.g., a mass shooting, product failure, breakup), individuals naturally ask themselves why such things happen. Indeed, the search for explanations appears to be a fundamental aspect of humanity. The present research explores the role that more abstract, higher level construals play in individuals’ feelings of causal uncertainty. Specifically, we demonstrate that participants who were led to construe a negative event in a more abstract manner felt less uncertain about why that event happened (Experiments 1 and 2). Further, we demonstrate that participants who were led to construe a negative event more abstractly exhibited a more simplified understanding of the event (Experiment 3a) and that adopting a more simplified understanding of an event decreased participants’ causal uncertainty about the event (Experiment 3b). Finally, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.