Sep 11 2009
Grooming as a Social Glue, Within and Without Religion
“A monkey or ape is most likely to select as a grooming partner an individual with who he (or she) already has a close, supportive relationship, or with whom a better relationship would be advantageous. And the chosen partner will reciprocate, or not, for similar reasons.”
- Jane Goodall (29)
Reassuring touch is a potent social tool. Physical touching of this type we call “grooming.” Humans, however, don’t do much of this; yet we do use words to reassure others. We assure them that they are loved, that help is near, that we care, that they are number one to us. Often it is not the actual words that count, but the delivery, the non-verbal elements. What do we call this sort of behavior?
“You look nice today.”
Gossip? Chit-chat?
Grooming, whether physical or vocal, forges and maintains relationships. Among chimpanzees, it is an essential social tool.(30) Primates in general forge and maintain important relationships with grooming. It is a preeminently social activity.(31) Of all the great apes (besides ourselves) chimpanzees and bonobos alone — our closest genetic kin — engage in mutual grooming.(32) An individual can please and reassure another while being pleased and reassured itself. Brilliant. Fear and anxiety is diminished; trust is built.
Jane Goodall, in The Chimpanzees of the Gombe: Patterns of Behavior, made a number of observations about chimpanzee social behavior, as it pertains to grooming.(33) These include:
1. Social grooming and the physical contact it provides is an important part of chimpanzee life. Pairs of individuals with “close friendly relations,” beyond mother and grown offspring, will engage in lengthy grooming sessions, particularly after re-uniting. When two males experience conflict, and stress enters their relationship, they will groom one another as a means to ease the tension. Significantly, the agitated alpha of a group will often be calmed by social grooming.
How many times, after you have experienced a stressor to a relationship, has silence eased the tension? What about comforting vocal behavior we call “aimless” chit-chat or “exchanging pleasantries”? Though we groom without fingers, we are primates through-and-through.
2. Grooming movements are often a part of greeting, submissive and reassurance behaviors. The are a token way of reducing anxiety in both the groomer and the groomee. A chimpanzee, for example, may engage in superficial grooming behavior while waiting on a share of food from a more dominant individual.
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread.
Lord, you are great. And I’d like a gift from you.
3. Higher ranking primates may ignore grooming attempts and invitations from lower-ranking, or even react with hostility. The most common response, however is for the dominant to reach out and touch the lesser. The subordinate is relaxed by such nonviolent contact. These type of gestures bring calm and harmony to primate social groups.
What about Homo religious? Does he/she ever feel the hand of their alpha, of “God,” upon them?
Notice the vocal grooming elements to these verses and the “social glue” implications:
I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you. (Psalms 2:22)
I will speak in ways that assures your dominance. Brothers and congregation are in-group terms.
You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! (Psalms 22:23)
Dominant individuals are too be feared. So revere and praise them. Vocally groom the in-groups alpha.
Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. (Psalms 72:18)
Of course, social glue is plastic. You don’t want to be forever bound to an ally that isn’t likewise loyal to you. The bond must be maintained, or it will weaken. Many forms of religion require that the followers make regular signs of loyalty: weekly attendance at their deities “house,” daily prayer sessions, etc. These behaviors can maintain and strengthen allegiances. Apparently even imaginary ones.
Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. (Daniel 6:10)
Social life is dynamic. Among primates there are regular changes to the group hierarchy. This “intuitive understanding” finds its way into beliefs about supernatural entities. No, a god is not above primate insecurities.
As a tangential thought, I wonder if prayer would fall under the category of a delusional form of mutual grooming. The person reaches out vocally to their invisible conversation-partner. And they feel listened-to, they feel touched. And they feel better. Their imaginary relationship to an important “greater” is harmonious. They can sleep easy.
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(29) Goodall, J. The Chimpanzees of the Gombe: Patterns of Behavior, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1986, p. 393
(30)Cheney, D. L., & Seyfarth, R. M. Baboon Metaphysics: The Evolution of a Social Mind, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2007, p. 63
(31) Dunbar, R. Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1996, p. 21
(32) McCrew, W. C., The Cultured Chimpanzee: Reflections on Cultural Primatology, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2004, p. 134
(33) Goodall, J., 1986
(34) Goodall, J., 1986, p. 387
