Academische Commu-
nicatie B-B2AS17
Result and discussion section
Primate social cognition: Triadic awareness
Determining the role and evolutionary benefits of triadic awareness in the social circles of nonhuman
primates
Maartje Koppies
Wordcount: 1618
1
Universiteit Utrecht, bachelor biologie
Abstract
The social brain hypothesis proposes that the brain of primates
evolved in order to navigate their complex social lives. For humans,
forming and maintaining relationships and understanding the
relationships between third parties comes naturally. In this review I
determine the role and the evolutionary benefits of triadic awareness
in the social circles of nonhuman primates. Broad evidence from
both observational and experimental studies indicates that
nonhuman primates are capable of recognizing third party
relationships and forming triangle relationships, also known as
triadic awareness. However, not all nonhuman primate species
possess this ability, which leads to unstable hierarchies and an
increased number of conflicts, as well as multiple drawbacks
regarding health, fitness, and dominance. Considering this, the
ability to recognize third-party relationships is a major factor in the
stability of hierarchies, but it remains unknown why only certain
species are capable of triadic awareness.
Introduction
Citation: Lastname, F.;
Humans are capable of forming and maintaining social relationships and can
Lastname, F.; Lastname, F.
understand relationships between third parties. But even though this is an
obvious understanding for people, this does not mean that it holds true for
Title. Biology 2022, 11, x.
all animals. Several studies have shown that chimpanzees and other
https://doi.org/10.3390/xxxxx
nonhuman primates are able to recognize themselves and other individuals.
Academic Editor: Firstname They can recognize faces, as well as the behinds of others (Kret &
Lastname
Tomonaga, 2016). This individual recognition is a fundamental trait for a
stable group-environment. Although animals who do not possess this trait
Received: date can form a hierarchy, they need to establish their place within the group
Accepted: date repeatedly when meeting each other. The ability to recognize each other
Published: date individually is crucial for tracking social relationships. When individual
recognition is limited, the ability to recognize social relationships is unable
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays to exist. The ability to recognize third-party relationships is known as ‘triadic
neutral with regard to awareness’, which is defined by the ability to recognize and understand the
jurisdictional claims in social relationships between third parties and being able to form triangle
published maps and relationships.
institutional affiliations.
Triadic awareness has a large share in keeping social relationships stable
and forming a close group structure. Similar to individual recognition being
a demand for a stable hierarchy, triadic awareness is a demand for a
Copyright: © 2022 by the au- hierarchy based on coalitions (De Waal, 2017). By being able to better
thors. Submitted for possible understand the social cognition of nonhuman primates and comparing it to
open access publication under human cognition, we could gain more insight into the evolutionary aspects of
the terms and conditions of the cognition.
Creative Commons Attribution
(CC BY) license (https://cre-
ativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).
Academic Communication 2022, 11, x. https://doi.org/10.3390/xxxxx
, Academische Communicatie 2022 2 of 6
In this review I will determine the role and evolutionary benefits of triadic
awareness in the social circles of nonhuman primates, by answering several
questions. First, what exactly is triadic awareness, which nonhuman
primates are capable of recognizing third-party relationships and how is this
determined? Second, what are the (evolutionary) benefits of triadic
awareness? And lastly, what happens in groups in which the primates do not
have the ability of recognizing third-party relationships.
Triadic awareness
The social brain hypothesis states that the evolution and the encephalization
of the primate brain is a consequence of their complex social lives (Dunbar,
1983) (Figure 1). A more complicated social life is cognitively demanding
and hence natural selection favors individuals with a more advanced
cognition and bigger brain (Holekamp, 2007). The more complex the social
life in the group is, the more information each group individual needs to
process and apply to successfully participate in the social circles. Since most
nonhuman primates live in relatively large groups, being able to recognize
third-party relationships is a highly important trait (Ostner, 2018).
Figure 1. Encephalization; The volume of the neocortex as a ratio of
medulla volume in different primate groups. The neocortex makes up
half of the volume of the brain and is thought to be involved in multiple
cognitive functions; thought, perception, and episodic memory.
To understand the forming of alliances, hierarchies or other relationships, a
primate must take a step out of his own social circles and recognize the
relationships that exist between other individuals. To obtain such knowledge
it is crucial to observe interactions in which one is not involved and with the
information conducted of these experiments one can make the appropriate
inferences (Cheney & Seyfarth, 1990). Accumulating evidence from different
studies indicates that certain primate species indeed keep track of the social
relationships between other individuals as well as their own rank, kin, and
their affiliative relationships with others and that this knowledge affects
their behavior (Kummer et al., 1974) (Sinha, 1998) (Verena Dasser, 1988).
When talking about social relationships or social bonds, I am referring to a
series of interactions between two or more individuals over time, where the
quality of each interaction predicts future interactions (Ostner, 2018).
The first primate studies to conduct that nonhuman primates recognize
third-party relationships were done on hamadryas baboons (Papio
cynochephalus hamadryas). The baboons are organized in groups with one
