Dominance Testing in Rhesus Monkeys: Comparison of Competitive Food-Getting, Competitive Avoidance, and Competitive Drinking Procedures

Abstract

Three general laboratory methods of dominance testing in rhesus monkeys (competitive food-getting, competitive avoidance, and competitive drinking) were compared to determine their respective reliabilities and their equivalence in terms of measuring the same attribute. The basic competitive food-getting procedure was modified into three additional procedures: (1) experimenter out of view; (2) experimenter out of view and 48-hr. deprivation; and (3) experimenter out of view, 48-hr. deprivation, and automated delivery of food items. All procedures, with the exception of the competitive shock avoidance, were reliable as reflected by significant intratest rank correlations and intratest mean variance measures. All procedures, with the exception of the competitive shock avoidance, were essentially equivalent in measuring the same attribute as reflected by interrank correlations. The competitive water drinking method, a group testing procedure, offered a practical advantage in reduced testing time, and the dominance hierarchies obtained were highly correlated with those obtained by the other methods in which all possible pairs of animals were tested in a round-robin fashion.