Chimpanzees tried to appear more intelligent in the eyes of humans.

In psychology, the concept of reputation management is actively studied: the desire to create a positive image of oneself or, for example, a brand in the eyes of others. This phenomenon is typically considered to be unique to humans; however, recent observations of animals have led to unexpected results that may be of interest to evolutionary psychologists.

Researchers from Japan summarized six years of experimental results with chimpanzees living at the Primate Research Institute of Kyoto University. The scientists observed how the animals performed the same three tasks on a computer.

All three tasks were related to the chimpanzee's ability to visually memorize numbers from 1 to 19 and their sequence in ascending order. The animal had to touch the touchscreen at the location where the required number was displayed. In the first task, the numbers appeared on the screen in the correct order and next to each other; in the second, they were not adjacent, and the third was the most challenging: after "pressing" the smallest number, all subsequent numbers disappeared from the screen, requiring the chimpanzee to recall their order from memory.

The researchers decided to compare how many observers were present during each session and discovered intriguing trends. It turned out that the most difficult task was performed significantly better by the primates when there were more people around. However, for the simplest task, they performed less attentively in front of a larger audience.

In their article for iScience, the researchers emphasized that the opposite is true for humans: people tend to perform more poorly on complex tasks in public. It is suggested that they experience some form of social pressure, feeling that high results are expected of them, which causes anxiety, and in combination with the task's complexity, this leads to less successful performance. Conversely, with relatively simple tasks, individuals tend to perform noticeably better under observation.

Why the presence of spectators produces a different effect on primates remains unclear, but the main conclusion from the researchers is that this effect exists: chimpanzees seem to also strive to impress those around them.