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Abstract Allogrooming is a widespread, pervasive activity among non-human primates. Besides its hygienic function, it is thought to be instrumental in maintaining social bonds and establishing hierarchical structures within groups. However, the question arises as to whether the physiological and social benefits derived from social touch stem directly from body stimulation, or whether other mechanisms come into play. We address this question by analyzing an elaborate social behavior that we observed in two adult male macaques. This behavior demonstrates the existence of a persistent motivation to interact through a form of simulated grooming, as the animals were housed in adjacent enclosures separated by a glass panel preventing direct tactile contact. We find that such virtual grooming produces similar physiological sensations and social effects as allogrooming. We suggest that this behavior engages affective and reward brain circuits to the same extent as real social touch, and that this is probably achieved through high level processes similar to those involved in bodily illusions or synaesthetic phenomena previously described in humans. This observation reveals the unsuspected capacity of non-human primates to invent alternative, quasi-symbolic strategies to obtain effects similar to those provided by direct bodily interaction, which are so important for maintaining social bonds.

Despite the growing prevalence of social media usage among older adults, the impact for their well-being remains unclear. This study investigates the impact of social grooming on social media (SGSM) on the life satisfaction of a representative sample (N = 591) of older adults (aged 55 and above) in Taiwan. Using an indirect effects paradigm, the study examines the mediation mechanisms of bridging social capital and perceived social support in the relationship between SGSM and life satisfaction. Additionally, the moderating effect of social network size (SNS) is assessed. The results indicate that bridging social capital and social support fully and sequentially mediate the influence of SGSM on older adults' life satisfaction. Furthermore, SNS is identified as a significant moderator in this sequential mediating effect. These findings contribute to the existing literature on social media use and highlight the importance of understanding the impact of SGSM on life satisfaction and other psychological outcomes for older adults. The results also emphasize the need to consider the unique characteristics and specific needs of older adults, and to promote and assist them in effectively using social media to expand their social networks and acquire social support, which are crucial for their life satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proximity and interpersonal contact are prominent components of social connection. Giving affective touch to others is fundamental for human bonding. This brief report presents preliminary results from a pilot study. It explores if exposure to bonding scenes impacts the activity of specific muscles related to physical interaction. Fingers flexion is a very important component when performing most actions of affectionate contact. We explored the visuo-motor affective interplay by priming participants with bonding scenes and assessing the electromyographic activity of the fingers flexor muscle, in the absence of any overt movements. Photographs of dyads in social interaction and of the same dyads not interacting were employed. We examined the effects upon the electromyographical activity: (i) during the passive exposure to pictures, and (ii) during picture offset and when expecting the signal to perform a fingers flexion task. Interacting dyads compared to matched non-interacting dyads increased electromyographic activity of the fingers flexor muscle in both contexts. Specific capture of visual bonding cues at the level of visual cortex had been described in the literature. Here we showed that the neural processing of visual bonding cues reaches the fingers flexor muscle. Besides, previous visualization of bonding cues enhanced background electromyographic activity during motor preparation to perform the fingers flexion task, which might reflect a sustained leakage of central motor activity downstream leading to increase in firing of the respective motor neurons. These data suggest, at the effector level, an implicit visuo-motor connection in which social interaction cues evoke intrinsic dispositions toward affectionate social behavior.

The social grooming model (SGM), which theorizes social media users' social grooming behaviors based on invested costs, is robust, reflecting various and nuanced social grooming styles. However, its core assumptions have not been validated. Using a nationally representative sample of 1,001 Taiwanese social media users, we explored costs and privacy for each social grooming behavior via a survey. Our results supported the hypotheses of the SGM. Users reported greater costs and reputational concerns for private topics than public topics, and higher costs for emotional and controversial topics than for informational and trending topics. With the new five styles identified in this study, social butterflies and meformers reported significantly greater social capital and well-being than lurkers; however, social butterflies reported greater invested costs in social grooming than meformers, indicating that being strategic is most efficient when it comes to social grooming, considering invested costs and the social benefits. SGM is robust and can reflect rich social grooming patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human social strategies have evolved as an adaption to behave in complex societies. In such societies, humans intensively tend to cooperate with their closer friends, because they have to distribute their limited resources through cooperation (e.g., time, food, etc.). It also makes the situation difficult to have uniform social relationships (social grooming) with all friends. Thus, the social relationship strengths often show a much skewed distribution (a power law distribution). Here we aim to show adaptivity of such social grooming strategies in order to explore the evolution of human social intelligence. We use a model in the framework of evolutionary games where the social grooming strategies evolve via building social relationships with cooperators. Simulation results demonstrate four evolutionary trends. One of the trends is similar to the strategy that humans use. We find that these trends depend on three parameters; individuals' richness, group sizes, and the amount of social grooming. The human-like strategy evolves in large poor groups. Moreover, the increase of the amount of social grooming makes the group size larger. Conversely, this implies that the same strategy evolves when the amount of social grooming is properly adjusted even if the group sizes are different. Our results are important in the sense that, between human and non-human primates, the differences of the group size and the amount of social grooming are significant.

The long-term effects of early life adversities on social capacities have been documented in humans and wild-caught former laboratory chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). However, former pet and entertainment chimpanzees have received little attention to date. This study aimed to investigate the long-term effects of early life experience on 18 former pet and entertainment chimpanzees, based on social grooming data collected at a primate rescue centre over a 12-year period. Moreover, we also focused on the possible short-term effects that alterations to group composition might have on grooming patterns. For this purpose, we compared stable and unstable periods (i.e. where alterations to group composition occurred). We used two individual social network measures to analyse the grooming activity and the distribution of grooming among group mates for each individual. We could show that wild-caught chimpanzees were significantly more selective regarding their grooming partners and spent less time grooming when compared to their captive born companions. We also found that individuals who were predominantly housed without conspecifics during infancy spent less time grooming compared to those who were predominantly housed with conspecifics during infancy. Furthermore, we found that alterations to the group composition had short-term effects on the distribution of social grooming from a more equal distribution during periods with a stable group composition towards a more unequal and selective distribution during unstable periods. Thus, we conclude that the social grooming networks of former pet and entertainment chimpanzees are shaped not only by long-term effects such as early life experience, but also by short-term effects such as alterations to group composition. Remarkably, we found not only captive born chimpanzees but also wild-caught individuals to adjust their grooming to socially challenging situations by modifying their grooming distribution in a similar way.

The golden snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana) is a typical arboreal group-living Old World primate. While limb preference has been extensively studied in this species, limb preference consistency has not yet been explored. Here, based on 26 R. roxellana adults, we investigated whether individuals exhibit consistent motor biases in manual- (e.g., unimanual feeding and social grooming) and foot-related (e.g., bipedal locomotion) tasks and whether limb preference consistency is influenced by increased social interactions during social grooming. Results showed no consistency in the direction or strength of limb preference among tasks, except for lateral strength in handedness for unimanual feeding and footedness in the initiation of locomotion. Population-level foot preference was only found among right-handers. Marked lateral bias was found in unimanual feeding, indicating that it may be a sensitive behavioural measure for assessing manual preference, especially for provisioned populations. This study not only improves our understanding of the relationship between hand and foot preference in R. roxellana but also reveals potential differential hemispheric regulation of limb preference and the influence of increased social interaction on handedness consistency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxytocin has attracted research attention due to its role in promoting social bonding. In bonobos and chimpanzees, the two species most closely related to humans, urinary oxytocin is known to correlate with key behaviours related to social bonding such as social grooming in chimpanzees and female-female sexual behaviour in bonobos. However, no study has demonstrated that the administration of oxytocin promotes real-life social interactions in Pan, leaving it unclear whether oxytocin is merely correlated with social behaviors or does affect them in these species. To test this, we administered nebulized oxytocin or saline placebo to a group of female bonobos and subsequently observed changes in their gross behavior during free interaction. We found an overall effect of more frequent grooming in the oxytocin condition. However, on the individual level this effect remained significant for only one participant in our follow-up models, suggesting future work should explore interindividual variation. Our results provide some experimental support for the biobehavioural feedback loop hypothesis, which posits that some functions of the oxytocin system support the formation and maintenance of social bonds through a positive feedback loop; however, further tests with a larger number of individuals are required. Our results, at a minimum, demonstrated that oxytocin affects spontaneous, naturalistic social interactions of at least some female bonobos, adding to accumulating evidence that oxytocin modulates complex social behaviors of Pan., (© 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Animals born with physical impairments may particularly require behavioural flexibility and innovation to survive and carry out social activities, such as grooming. Studies on free-ranging Japanese macaques on Awaji Island, Japan, have shown that individuals with congenital limb malformations exhibited compensatory behaviours while grooming, such as increased mouth and elbow use for removing ectoparasites. The aim of this study is to explore disabled and nondisabled grooming techniques to determine whether and to what extent disabled monkeys develop novel grooming techniques, and if there is disability-associated variation in grooming efficiency. We hypothesized that modified grooming techniques used by disabled monkeys fulfilled the social and relaxing functions of grooming, however, that grooming by manually impaired individuals may still carry a hygienic cost to the recipients. Grooming behavioural data were collected by video in 2007 on 27 adult females (11 with CLMs). With a detailed grooming-related ethogram, we transcribed 216 2-minute continuous grooming video samples. We analyzed the data using generalized linear mixed effects models in R. We found that monkeys with manual impairment were less efficient groomers, as measured by removal and movement efficiency during grooming. However, there were no significant differences associated with the number of grooming movements per sample among the focal animals. Additionally, with a behavioural sequential analysis, we isolated 8 distinct grooming techniques and 3 novel disability-specific movements. Our results indicate that innovation and modification of movement types does not entirely compensate for manual disability, and that manual impairment carries a cost to the hygienic function of grooming. However, for the grooming recipient, the experience of being groomed by a disabled or nondisabled groomer is likely similar, and through movement compensation, disabled monkeys are able to engage in the social aspect of grooming without incurring any disability-associated costs.

Social touch is an essential component of communication. Little is known about the underlying pathways and mechanisms. Here, we discovered a novel neuronal pathway from the posterior intralaminar thalamic nucleus (PIL) to the medial preoptic area (MPOA) involved in the control of social grooming. We found that the neurons in the PIL and MPOA were naturally activated by physical contact between female rats and also by the chemogenetic stimulation of PIL neurons. The activity-dependent tagging of PIL neurons was performed in rats experiencing physical social contact. The chemogenetic activation of these neurons increased social grooming between familiar rats, as did the selective activation of the PIL-MPOA pathway. Neurons projecting from the PIL to the MPOA express the neuropeptide parathyroid hormone 2 (PTH2), and the central infusion of its receptor antagonist diminished social grooming. Finally, we showed a similarity in the anatomical organization of the PIL and the distribution of the PTH2 receptor in the MPOA between the rat and human brain. We propose that the discovered neuronal pathway facilitates physical contact with conspecifics., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The social grooming behaviors can be defined as the behavior of constructing social relationships by using different social grooming methods including primitive methods (face -to-face communication) and modern methods (email and social networking sites). Thus, the social grooming behaviors comprise behaviors of surfing the web, and social interaction for the purpose of maintaining social relationships. Also, they include web surfing, visiting websites and personal files check-up of users together with clicking on likes, and leaving out messages or comments in other personal files. The current study aims at identifying the social grooming behaviors among the social media users and the statistically significant differences in the social grooming behaviours according to gender (malefemale), field of specialization(scientific-literary). Results show that the sample of the study is described of having social grooming behavior towards others with high level. There are statistically significant differences in the social grooming according to the variable of gender in favor of female and there are statistical significant differences in the social grooming according to the variable of field of specialization in favor of scientific field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proximity and interpersonal contact are prominent components of social connection. Giving affective touch to others is fundamental for human bonding. This brief report presents preliminary results from a pilot study. It explores if exposure to bonding scenes impacts the activity of specific muscles related to physical interaction. Fingers flexion is a very important component when performing most actions of affectionate contact. We explored the visuo-motor affective interplay by priming participants with bonding scenes and assessing the electromyographic activity of the fingers flexor muscle, in the absence of any overt movements. Photographs of dyads in social interaction and of the same dyads not interacting were employed. We examined the effects upon the electromyographical activity: (i) during the passive exposure to pictures, and (ii) during picture offset and when expecting the signal to perform a fingers flexion task. Interacting dyads compared to matched non-interacting dyads increased electromyographic activity of the fingers flexor muscle in both contexts. Specific capture of visual bonding cues at the level of visual cortex had been described in the literature. Here we showed that the neural processing of visual bonding cues reaches the fingers flexor muscle. Besides, previous visualization of bonding cues enhanced background electromyographic activity during motor preparation to perform the fingers flexion task, which might reflect a sustained leakage of central motor activity downstream leading to increase in firing of the respective motor neurons. These data suggest, at the effector level, an implicit visuo-motor connection in which social interaction cues evoke intrinsic dispositions toward affectionate social behavior., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Grichtchouk, Oliveira, Campagnoli, Franklin, Correa, Pereira, Vargas, David, Souza, Gleiser, Keil, Rocha-Rego and Volchan.)

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between Facebook use, appearance comparison with peers, and body image concerns among young Korean women. Focusing on two major types of social media activities (i.e., profile maintenance, social grooming), this study investigated whether these specific types of user activities would be significantly related to greater appearance comparison with peers, and in turn, would be linked to increased levels of body image concerns. An online survey ( N = 305) was conducted among young Korean women (aged 18–29) in Korea. Results indicated that the frequency with which Korean female participants engaged in profile maintenance and social grooming activities on Facebook was positively associated with appearance comparison with peers, and the mediation analysis revealed that appearance comparison mediated the relationship between Facebook use variables and body image concerns, such as lower weight satisfaction and greater drive for thinness. Theoretical and practical implications for these findings are further discussed.

Humans use various social bonding methods known as social grooming, e.g. face to face communication, greetings, phone and social networking sites (SNS). SNS have drastically decreased time and distance constraints of social grooming. In this paper, I show that two types of social grooming (elaborate social grooming and lightweight social grooming) were discovered in a model constructed by 13 communication datasets including face to face, SNS and Chacma baboons. The separation of social grooming methods is caused by a difference in the trade-off between the number and strength of social relationships. The trade-off of elaborate social grooming is weaker than the trade-off of lightweight social grooming. On the other hand, the time and effort of elaborate methods are higher than those of lightweight methods. Additionally, my model connects social grooming behaviour and social relationship forms with these trade-offs. By analysing the model, I show that individuals tend to use elaborate social grooming to reinforce a few close relationships (e.g. face to face and Chacma baboons). By contrast, people tend to use lightweight social grooming to maintain many weak relationships (e.g. SNS). Humans with lightweight methods who live in significantly complex societies use various types of social grooming to effectively construct social relationships.

The present study examined the emergence of flattery behavior in young children and factors that might affect whether and how it is displayed. Preschool children between the ages of 3 and 6 years were asked to rate drawings produced by either a present or absent adult stranger (Experiments 1 and 2), child stranger (Experiments 2 and 3), classmate, or the children's own teacher (Experiment 3). Young preschoolers gave consistent ratings to the same drawing by the person regardless of whether the person was absent or present. In contrast, many older preschoolers gave more flattering ratings to the drawing when the person was present than in the person's absence. Also, older preschoolers displayed flattery regardless of whether the recipient was an adult or a child. However, they displayed flattery to a greater extent towards familiar individuals than unfamiliar ones, demonstrating an emerging sensitivity to social contexts in which flattery is used. These findings suggest that preschoolers have already learned not to articulate bluntly their true feelings and thoughts about others. Rather, they are able to manipulate their communications according to social context.

The longitudinal associations between Facebook use and well-being have received limited exploration with mixed results. We argue that the transition pattern of an individual's social grooming style based on five social grooming behaviors at different times—referred to as the social grooming transition pattern—is the key to exploring this issue. Based on the social grooming style framework, we employed latent transition analysis through a nationally representative, three-year panel survey (N = 710) in Taiwan. We found that active users remained active in social grooming behavior and had options to shift, and inactive users largely remained inactive in terms of Facebook social grooming style. The results indicated that persistent social image managers gained the most social capital and well-being, greater than persistent social butterflies and those who transitioned from image managers to social butterflies, indicating that adopting strategic social grooming styles in the long-term delivered the best social outcomes. Lay Summary The long-term interaction between Facebook use and well-being has received limited attention with mixed results. One way to examine this is to study changes in the way that we "groom" one another in Facebook. That is, how we socially interact with others by discussing different topics with various styles and strategies. Based on the social grooming framework, we provide the first study employing latent transition analysis (i.e. to track how people change or maintain their social grooming style across time) to examine this issue using a nationally representative, three-year panel survey from Taiwan. Our study shows that most people maintain a stable user style over time. However, some become less active (e.g. they become "maintainers" or "lurkers"). Thus, the majority of Taiwanese users often do not create their own postings, but rather comment on, or simply view, the content of other Facebook users. By contrast, users who actively groom (e.g. those who are persistent "social butterflies" or "image managers") continue to create online posts. Our analysis shows that users who are highly social benefit from greater bridging social capital. However, the strategically active social groomer is the winner as they benefit by gaining greater bridging social capital, social connectedness, and social life satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]