Apes Get Emotional Over Games of Chance

          

              Researchers say that, like humans, chimpanzees and bonobos throw angry tantrums and pout whenever a risk-taking strategy doesn't go their way. It is known that emotions play a critical role to humans in making complex decisions, but researchers wanted to know if the processes are shared with other animals when making decisions.The experiment started with the apes having to make a choice on whether they wanted to obtain a large reward or take a chance to get a high-quality treat. If they take the chance for the high-quality treat, they risk receiving a non-preferred food item if their gamble does not go how they want it to. When making these decisions, chimpanzees were more patient and likely to take risks than bonobos. Anger, pouting, scratching, and tantrums were all responses when their choice showed the less preferred outcome. A few of the responses that were displayed were species-specific but others were unique differences to the animal. Overall, the researchers stated that the apes did show emotional responses to decision making.
Themes of Nature of Science:
Science is based on evidence: The researchers had to perform the tests to get their evidence that apes did show the emotional responses.
Role of motivation and curiosity: If someone wasn't curious about the apes, we would never know that they had emotional responses to decision making.
Importance of repeatability: The tests about the apes were probably done many times to make sure that that their responses were not a one-time thing.
Link to article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130529190933.htm