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Dominance in Nonhuman Primates

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Power, Dominance, and Nonverbal Behavior

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Social Psychology ((SSSOC))

Abstract

As has been true for the material on power and dominance in the literature on nonverbal behavior in humans (Chapter 2), there also has been controversy or disagreement in the nonhuman primate literature regarding definitions of dominance or status. In general, this controversial nonhuman primate literature, too, has moved toward an understanding that dominance is not a simple phenomenon but rather a complex one involving interindividual social skills. An appreciation especially for species and situational differences has been developed in the last decade. While in the 1960s and early 1970s dominance was seen almost everywhere, in the late 1970s and 1980s it has become more and more appreciated that many species of primates do not show obvious dominance hierarchies. Dominance, it seems, is not as ubiquitous an explanatory mechanism as was once believed. It is certainly not viewed as the single linear social organizational principle transcending all individual relationships. As with the human nonverbal research discussed by Harper (Chapter 2), the “single-channel” approach linking specific behaviors to dominance has been replaced by a more complex subtle methodology recognizing behaviors across a variety of contexts.

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Authors
  1. G. Mitchell
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  2. Terry L. Maple
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of California at Davis, Davis, California, 95616, USA

    Steve L. Ellyson

  2. Department of Psychology, Colgate University, Hamilton, New York, 13346, USA

    John F. Dovidio

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© 1985 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

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Mitchell, G., Maple, T.L. (1985). Dominance in Nonhuman Primates. In: Ellyson, S.L., Dovidio, J.F. (eds) Power, Dominance, and Nonverbal Behavior. Springer Series in Social Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5106-4_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5106-4_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9566-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-5106-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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