ADAPTIVE PERSPECTIVES ON CONFLICT REMEDIATION IN MONKEYS, APES, AND HUMANS

Conflict is an integral, and potentially disruptive, element in the li ves of humans and other group-living animals. But conflicts are often settled, sometimes within minutes after the altercation has ended. The goal of this paper is to understand why primates, including humans, m ake amends. Primatologists have gathered an impressive body of evidenc e which demonstrates that monkeys and apes use a variety of behavioral mechanisms to resolve conflicts. Peaceful post-conflict interactions in nonhuman primates, sometimes labeled ''reconciliation,'' have clear and immediate effects upon former adversaries, relieving uncertainty about whether aggression will continue, reducing stress, increasing to lerance, and reducing anxiety about whether aggressors will resume agg ression toward former victims. However, the long-term effects of these interactions are less clearly established, leaving room to debate the adaptive function of conflict resolution strategies among primates. I t is possible that reconciliatory behavior enhances the quality of val ued, long-term social relationships or that reconciliatory interaction s an signals that the conflict has ended and the actor's intentions ar e now benign. Both of these hypotheses may hi lp us to understand how and why monkeys, apes, and humans make amends.