No evidence that grooming is exchanged for coalitionary support in the short- or long-term via direct or generalized reciprocity in unrelated rhesus macaques
William O'Hearn, Angelina Ruiz-Lambides, Michael Platt & Lauren Brent
Reciprocity is a prominent explanation for cooperation between non-kin. Studies seeking to demonstrate reciprocity often focus on direct reciprocity in the timescale of minutes to hours, whereas alternative mechanisms like generalised reciprocity and the possibility of reciprocation over longer timescales of months and years are less often explored. Using a playback experiment, we tested for evidence of direct and generalised reciprocity, across short and longer timescales. We examined the exchange of grooming for coalitionary support...