Temporal dynamics of novel affiliative relationship formation in monk parakeets
Date:
I shared preliminary findings related to my first chapter of my dissertation on affiliative relatinoship formation during the Social Competency symposium organized by Dr. Liz Hobson and Dr. Marcela E. Benitez.
We know that the presence, context, and strength of social relationships are often fundamental to the formation and maintenance of social groups and can have a substantial effect on individual fitness and group stability.
However, there are inherent risks to forming relationships. It requires that individuals invest time and energy into another and, if the affiliation is not reciprocated or if it occurs too suddenly, an individual risks injury due to aggression or losing rank in a dominance hierarchy.
As we’ve seen in Gerry Carter’s phenomenal work on cooperative relationship formation in vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) socially competent individuals should raise the stakes of their affiliation by making small, low-cost investments then gradually escalating to larger, costlier investments. Similarly, individuals should test the waters by gradually affiliating with unfamiliar individuals.
We tested thse hypothesis using use affiliative interaction data between familiar and unfamiliar individuals during the initial group formation period. 
We found:
- novel relationships can form quickly (in 1-3 weeks) between previous strangers,
- low-cost behaviors, like peaceful promximity, occured earlier and with more individuals compared to high-cost behaviors like allopreening (social grooming) and beak touching, and
- affiliative relationships with low-risk or familiar individuals formed earlier and were consistently stronger compared to relationships with high-risk, unfamiliar birds.
Understanding temporal patterns of affiliative relationship formation can provide insight into how and what social information is integrated into social decision-making, and how social competency can bolster an individual’s affiliative network.