Vulnerable Contact
Touch is a powerful tool of communication and regulation of human relationships. With physical contact we can soothe, harm, support, or distress. Studies have found that these effects manifest in many systems of the body, affecting health as well as emotion. Thus it is not surprising that the use of touch in social interactions is universal and that human cultures have developed healing traditions of touch such as the ‘laying on of hands’, massage, and pressure point therapy. But striking behaviors that follow a similar pattern have been observed in wild populations of another highly intelligent primate species capable of social learning. Particular groups of white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus) in Costa Rica engage in very vulnerable contact behaviors such as poking fingers in eye sockets, up noses and between teeth all while appearing quite relaxed, almost trance-like. Neither these behaviors nor vulnerable contacts such as kissing, hugging, or massage would be comfortable or pleasant unless the dyad has a trusting and reliable relationship. Thus it has been suggested that these behaviors can be used to test the bonds between the pair.
Photo by Dr. Susan Perry
These unusual behaviors have been observed in detail at Lomas Barbudal Biological Reserve by a research group led by Dr. Susan Perry. Colleen Gault, a former field assistant of that site and present graduate student of the lab, is investigating how the occurrence of these vulnerable contact behaviors relate to the stressors (e.g. predation, loss of habitat, inter and intra-group conflict) they experience. In collaboration with Dr. Patricia Whitten of the Department of Anthropology at Emory, she is examining the hormonal side of the stress response and participation in such contact behaviors.
