研究：黑猩猩也用擁抱親吻表達安慰

For most folks, a nice hug and some sympathy can help a bit after we get pushed around. Turns out, chimpanzees use hugs and kisses the same way. And it works.

Researchers studying people's closest genetic relatives found that stress was reduced in chimps that were victims of aggression if a third chimp stepped in to offer consolation.

"Consolation usually took the form of a kiss or embrace," said Dr. Orlaith N. Fraser of the Research Center in Evolutionary Anthropology and Paleoecology at Liverpool John Moores University in England.

"This is particularly interesting," she said, because this behavior is rarely seen other than after a conflict.

"If a kiss was used, the consoler would press his or her open mouth against the recipient's body, usually on the top of the head or their back. An embrace consisted of the consoler wrapping one or both arms around the recipient."

The result was a reduction of stress behavior such as scratching or self-grooming by the victim of aggression, Fraser and colleagues report in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Consolation was most likely to occur between chimpanzees who already had valuable relationships, Fraser added.

Dr. Frans de Waal of the Yerkes Primate Center at Emory University in Atlanta said the study is important because it shows the relationship between consolation and stress reduction. Previous researchers have claimed that consolation had no effect on stress, said de Waal.

"This study removes doubt that consolation really does what the term suggests: provide relief to distressed parties after conflict. The evidence is compelling and makes it likely that consolation behavior is an expression of empathy," de Waal said.

De Waal suggested that this evidence of empathy in apes is "perhaps equivalent to what in human children is called 'sympathetic concern.'"

That behavior in children includes touching and hugging of distressed family members and "is in fact identical to that of apes, and so the comparison is not far-fetched," he said.

對於大多數人來說，受委屈後得到一個擁抱或一些同情會感到一絲安慰。而研究發現，黑猩猩遇到這種情況時也會用擁抱和親吻來安慰對方。而且的確有用。

研究人員通過研究與人類親緣關係最近的黑猩猩發現，如果它們在受到傷害後得到另一隻黑猩猩的安慰，緊張情緒會減小一些。

英國利物浦約翰•摩爾斯大學進化人類學與古生態學研究中心的奧賴斯•N•弗雷澤博士說：“黑猩猩通常用親吻或擁抱來表達安慰。”

她說：“這實在很有趣”，因爲這種行爲只有在衝突後纔會發生。

“用親吻表示安慰時，表達安慰的黑猩猩會張開嘴靠近對方的身體，通常是頭頂或後背。而用擁抱表示安慰時，安慰一方一般會用單臂或雙臂環抱對方。”

弗雷澤和同事在本週二的《國家自然科學院學報》中指出，受到攻擊的黑猩猩在得到安慰後，抓撓和給自己理毛等體現緊張情緒的行爲會減少。

弗雷澤說，這種安慰行爲多發生在關係較親密的黑猩猩之間。

亞特蘭大埃默裏大學耶克斯靈長類研究中心的弗朗•德•瓦爾博士稱，這項研究很重要，因爲它揭示了安慰與減壓之間的關係。他說，之前的研究都認爲安慰對壓力沒有什麼影響。

瓦爾說：“該研究中消除了‘安慰是否真的能減輕衝突中受害方的壓力”這一疑問。這一證據很有說服力，而且還能說明安慰行爲可能是感情相通的表現。”

瓦爾稱，類人猿中的這一共情現象“可能與兒童的‘同情心’差不多”。

他說，兒童表示同情的行爲包括觸摸和擁抱不開心的家人等，“其實這與類人猿的安慰行爲很相似，所以做這一類比並不牽強。”