Dominance Style and Communication in Primates

Dominance style (the strictness with which dominance is enforced, ranging from ‘despotic’ to ‘tolerant’) is a central feature of social relationships in many primate species, and may be an important predictor of variation in communication. However, the dominance style construct and its relationship with communication is poorly understood, particularly outside of the macaque genus. In three empirical studies, I explored the construct of dominance style and tested its relationship with communication in primates, with a special focus on chimpanzees and bonobos. In the first study, I measured dominance style and vocal communication in a wide range of primate species, and found a relationship between the two variables at both the individual and species level. In the second study I explored the construct of dominance style in five groups of chimpanzees and five groups of bonobos. I identified similarities and differences in aspects of dominance style between and within species. In the third study, I tested the relationship between dominance style and individual communicative strategies in a total of six captive groups of chimpanzees or bonobos, using a multimodal approach. I found that tolerance predicted aspects of communication differently in chimpanzees compared to bonobos. Overall, these studies provide a comprehensive assessment of dominance style in chimpanzee and bonobos and demonstrate that dominance style is an important predictor of communication at both the individual and phylogenetic level in primates, although this relationship may vary across species.