1974/02/01 by FRANK E. POIRIER, Frank E. Poirier, Euclid O. Smith +1 · 183 citations
Neuroscience · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Aggression #Artificial intelligence #Biology #Cognitive psychology #Computer science #Demography #Developmental psychology #Dominance (genetics) #Dominance hierarchy #Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation #Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior #Evolutionary biology #Hierarchy #Neuroscience #Nonhuman primate #Perspective (graphical) #Population #Primate #Primate Behavior and Ecology #Psychology #Social group #Social psychology #Sociology
paper · doi:10.1093/icb/14.1.275
published in American Zoologist 14(1), 275-287 (Oxford University Press)
openalex publication_date 1974/02/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
The socializing functions of nonhuman primate play behavior are discussed. An evolutionary perspective of play behavior is presented to provide a concise view of its importance in primate phylogeny. Some of the major variables influencing play behavior's socializing functions, i.e., gender, age, group structure and population dynamics, and the econiche, are reviewed. It is concluded that the major socializing functions of play behavior include proper social development, setting the basis for the adult dominance hierarchy, social integration of individuals into the group structure, and learning the social communicatory matrix.