Chimps more sociable after watching movies together - study

[Judi Lynn]

Evolutionary roots of bonding through shared activity may be deeper than was thought

Anna Ploszajski
Tue 16 Jul 2019 19.01 EDT Last modified on Wed 17 Jul 2019 12.11 EDT

Chimpanzees enjoy watching movies together, scientists have discovered, in research that suggests social bonding through shared experience has deep evolutionary roots.

It is widely known that humans can bond over group activities such as watching a movie or playing board games. But it has been unclear whether the underlying psychology behind this effect is present in other species.

“Humans have an enormous variety of social bonding activities that we don’t see in other species because they’re somewhat cultural – for example listening to music or watching movies,” said Wouter Wolf, a graduate student at Duke University in North Carolina and an author on the study. “We thought that this kind of connecting through shared experiences was uniquely human”

In the research, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, chimpanzees were placed in pairs and shown a short video. The researchers then measured how long it took them to approach their partners, how close they got and how long they remained in proximity – two measures of social bonding. The effect was also measured for pairs of bonobos and for great apes paired with humans.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jul/17/chimps-more-sociable-after-watching-movies-together-study