13 October 2024

New Results Science Research: Monkeys Predict US Elections

Significance Statement We report that monkeys and humans alike respond spontaneously to evolutionarily conserved facial masculinity cues in political candidates, and this innate sensitivity partly shapes voting behavior, highlighting the imperative for voters to overcome this ancient heuristic by becoming more informed on candidates and their policies.




Monkeys Predict US Elections

Yaoguang Jiang, Annamarie Huttunen, Naz Belkaya, Michael L Platt
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.09.17.613526
This article is a preprint and has not been certified by peer review [what does this mean?].


Abstract How people vote often defies rational explanation. 

Physical traits sometimes sway voters more than policies do ------ but why? 

Here we show that rhesus macaques, who have no knowledge about political candidates or their policies, implicitly predict the outcomes of U.S. gubernatorial and senatorial elections based solely on visual features. 
  • Given a pair of candidate photos, monkeys spent more time looking at the loser than the winner, and this gaze bias predicted not only binary election outcomes but also the candidates' vote share. 
  • Analysis of facial features revealed candidates with more masculine faces were more likely to win an election, and vote share was a linear function of jaw prominence. 
Our findings endorse the idea that voters spontaneously respond to evolutionarily conserved visual cues to physical prowess and that voting behavior is shaped, in part, by ancestral adaptations shared with nonhuman primates.

Keywords: Biological sciences - Neuroscience; Social sciences - Psychological and Cognitive Sciences; ecological rationality; election; facial masculinity; gaze; non-human primate.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interest Statement The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Move over political pundits; monkeys are now in the game of predicting US election results.

Monkeys Pick a Winner: Will Donald Trump or Kamala Harris Win?

By Marc Menendez-Roche • Updated: 26 Sep 2024 • 15:04 • 2 minutes read


Euro Weekly News
Monkeys Make Their Pick « Euro Weekly News

Bizarre Study Says Monkeys Know the Answer.

LINK >> EuroNews


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New Results Science Research: Monkeys Predict US Elections

Significance Statement  We report that monkeys and humans alike respond spontaneously to evolutionarily conserved facial masculinity cues in...