There are several traits we share with other animals and a fascination with watching violence (at least with some people) is an example of a common connection. Scientists have demonstrated how long-tailed macaques share such preoccupations.
When the monkeys were given short videos were glued to scenes of fighting—especially when the combatants were monkeys they knew—mirroring the human draw to drama and familiar faces. Low-ranking individuals watched most intently, perhaps for self-protection, while high-strung ones averted their gaze.
“Humans and macaques are both social animals who have a fundamental need to belong,” explains Brad Bushman, co-author of the study and professor of communication at The Ohio State University.
Bushman adds: “It’s not surprising that they both would be most interested in the video content that may help them navigate relationships in their groups.”
For the study, researchers showed two-minute videos to 28 macaques that lived at a primate research centre in The Netherlands. Each macaque saw multiple videos over time featuring monkeys in their group or strangers. Each individual video showed monkeys in one of four types of activities: conflict, grooming of each other, running, or sitting.
The research involved two separate groups of macaques that live at the Biomedical Primate Research Centre in Rijswijk, The Netherlands.
The researchers calculated how much time the monkeys spent looking directly at the screen and their reactions while watching.
These findings showed the macaques paid the most attention to videos featuring conflicts between monkeys. Running was the next most popular type of video. Grooming and sitting attracted the least attention.
It is notable that both macaques and humans seem to be attracted to videos featuring similar content, Bushman clarifies: “We have plenty of research showing the popularity of violent media with humans. Now we have some evidence that other primates might also be attracted to conflict and aggression in videos.”
The other significant finding of the study was that the macaques watched videos featuring members of their own group more closely than those involving strangers.
The research also showed that low-ranking and less aggressive macaques paid more attention than others to the videos.
The researchers concluded by noting how these findings showed that humans share tendencies with our monkey relatives, including the attraction to videos with conflict.
The research features in the journal Animal Cognition, titled “Reactions to social videos in long-tailed macaques.”
