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I’m looking for some evidence to prove (or disprove) that primates are genetically predisposed to dominance hierarchies. I would appreciate any pointers/references to scientific literature.

PS: The reason I am interested in this is as follows: primates (unlike many other less sophisticated animals) have a very little number of instincts. And yet certain types of behavior (for instance strong dominance hierarchies) seem to be a common case for some species; baboons, for example. And yet there are known cases of baboons (Sapolsky’s example) of a radical shift in social behavior towards less agressive and less dominance-based. This nevertheless looks rather as an exception and if so, raises the question if there indeed is a genetic predisposition to a certain behavior type.

UnrealVillager
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  • This is one of those questions, where depending on how a person interprets the terms you use, one may give one answer or another. Hence it is difficult to answer. You say that primates have very little number of instincts. And I react by: huh? Why would you say that? Then I realize it may depend on what you mean by instinct. To the question on genetic predisposition. My reaction is: of course. Were you thinking of any other explanation? Which? But then I realize that it might depend on exactly what you mean by genetic predisposition. – Eff Feb 18 '19 at 08:22
  • And what kind of evidence might satisfy you? I very much doubt that know which primate alleles that affect dominance behavior. At least I doubt we know sufficiently much that it may be difficult to answer. – Eff Feb 18 '19 at 08:25
  • Eff, as an example: primates cannot swim (although as we know, humans can master it) while dogs, horses and plenty of other species have it encoded in them. So is a large number of other instincts. It regulates much less of primates behavior compared to other species. In terms of “what other explanation” could there be? Environment, as opposed to genetics. This also dictates the test criteria: genetically predisposed means validated across a broad array of environemntal conditions. – UnrealVillager Feb 19 '19 at 12:58
  • When something is 'genetic' and when something is 'environmental' is a difficult philosophical question. Do birds make nests because of the environment (availability of twigs etc) or because of their genes? What I would dare to say is that if the baboons had totally different genetics, then their behavior would most likely also be different. And for certain genomes, they most likely wouldn't engage in dominance behavior. – Eff Feb 19 '19 at 13:08
  • Also, just because something only happens in certain environments, that doesn't mean it wasn't genetic. You can easily imagine two species A and B, and two environments M and N. Species A might engage in dominance behavior in environment M, but not N. Species B does not engage in dominance behavior in either environment. This difference could be due to genetic differences, and yet the behavioral difference only manifests in environment M. – Eff Feb 19 '19 at 13:10

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