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Human Dominance Signals: The Primate in Us

  • Chapter
Power, Dominance, and Nonverbal Behavior

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Social Psychology ((SSSOC))

Abstract

The primate facility for nonverbal expression is largely owed to the evolution of specialized, communicative features conspicuously clustered about the face (Darwin, 1872/1965; Gregory, 1929/1965; Huber, 1930a, 1930b; Rinn, 1984). Non-human primates use the expressive abilities of the face to communicate social dominance information. Among group-living species of monkey and ape, certain facial signals correspond to an animal’s position in a dominance hierarchy (Jolly, 1972; Mazur, 1973; Wilson, 1975). These facial signals help maintain dominance or “status” relationships by permitting species members to forecast probable success or failure during competitive interactions with conspecifics.

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Authors
  1. Caroline F. Keating
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of California at Davis, Davis, California, 95616, USA

    Steve L. Ellyson

  2. Department of Psychology, Colgate University, Hamilton, New York, 13346, USA

    John F. Dovidio

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Keating, C.F. (1985). Human Dominance Signals: The Primate in Us. In: Ellyson, S.L., Dovidio, J.F. (eds) Power, Dominance, and Nonverbal Behavior. Springer Series in Social Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5106-4_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5106-4_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9566-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-5106-4

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