黑猩猩很擅长维持“社会”的凝聚/融洽，并有不同的策略以保证其群体的稳定。现在，人类学家揭示黑猩猩为了维护本集团内的和平，是通过调解群体其它成员之间的冲突而不是关注于自己的直接利益。它们在冲突中的公正干涉，即所谓的“治安”可视为道德行为的早期进化形式。
哪里有群居，哪里就有冲突，这一点是不可避免。在这一点上，我们的近亲——黑猩猩也不例外。健全的冲突管理措施是保证团队凝聚/融洽的关键。黑猩猩群落中的每个个体都确保这一群体中的和平与秩序稳定。这种形式的冲突管理措施被称为“治安”，即由第三方介入，公正解决冲突。到现在为止，有关黑猩猩的具有道德动机的行为只在老的文献资料中有所记载。
然而现在，瑞士苏黎世大学的灵长类动物学家可以确认：黑猩猩就是通过在冲突中进行公平公正地干预，以保证其群体的稳定。因此基于对群体中各方利益的关注，黑猩猩们表现出可一种亲社会行为。
参与冲突的争执方越多，“治安”干预进行的越多
如果有好几个争执方都参与了这种非常危及群体和平的冲突争端中的话，仲裁员公正干预的意愿是最大的。研究人员观察和比较被圈养地四个不同的黑猩猩群体的行为，在Gossau Walter动物园，研究人员遇到了一种特殊情况。我们有幸能够观察到一旦新的雌性黑猩猩刚被接溶入到黑猩猩群落中后，雄性黑猩猩的排名也会被重新定义，黑猩猩群落的稳定性开始动摇了。这种情况在野外自然环境下也同样存在，研究的主要作者Claudia Rudolf von Rohr解释说。
排名前的黑猩猩才能当“仲裁员”
并不是每只黑猩猩都能成为合适的“仲裁员”。主要是由那些被尊重的群体中等级高（排名前）的雄性或雌性黑猩猩或是其它级别高的动物介入冲突，充当“仲裁员”。否则，“仲裁员”是无法成功终止冲突的。与人类一样，黑猩猩群体中也有部门。Rudolf von Rohr得出结论说：我们人类社会群体关注的利益是我们人类自身的快速发展，因为形成我们道德行为的基础是根深蒂固的，这一点也可以在我们的近亲黑猩猩群体中观察到。 (生物谷 Bioon.com)
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0032494
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PMID:
Impartial Third-Party Interventions in Captive Chimpanzees: A Reflection of Community Concern
Claudia Rudolf von Rohr, Sonja E. Koski, Judith M. Burkart, Clare Caws, Orlaith N. Fraser, Angela Ziltener, Carel P. van Schaik.
Because conflicts among social group members are inevitable, their management is crucial for group stability. The rarest and most interesting form of conflict management is policing, i.e., impartial interventions by bystanders, which is of considerable interest due to its potentially moral nature. Here, we provide descriptive and quantitative data on policing in captive chimpanzees. First, we report on a high rate of policing in one captive group characterized by recently introduced females and a rank reversal between two males. We explored the influence of various factors on the occurrence of policing. The results show that only the alpha and beta males acted as arbitrators using manifold tactics to control conflicts, and that their interventions strongly depended on conflict complexity. Secondly, we compared the policing patterns in three other captive chimpanzee groups. We found that although rare, policing was more prevalent at times of increased social instability, both high-ranking males and females performed policing, and conflicts of all sex-dyad combinations were policed. These results suggest that the primary function of policing is to increase group stability. It may thus reflect prosocial behaviour based upon “community concern.” However, policing remains a rare behaviour and more data are needed to test the generality of this hypothesis.
