Christine E. Webb, PhD

"Believe in the simple magic of life, in service in the universe, and it will dawn on you what this waiting, peering, 'stretching of the neck' of the creature means. Every word must falsify; but look, these beings live around you, and no matter which one you approach you always reach Being." — Martin Buber, I and Thou

  • About

    There is growing consensus that the environmental crisis demands a radical shift in our relationship with nature, including how we understand other animals and our place among them. Guided by this insight, my work is grounded in two intersecting lines of inquiry.

    First, my research seeks to elucidate the complex dynamics of animal social life, and to apply this knowledge to foundational questions in animal ethics and conservation. Specifically, I investigate how animals manage and mitigate social disruptions (e.g., conflicts), the emotional and motivational states that underlie those processes, and the cultural influences shaping them, with a focus on nonhuman primates. The results of my studies facilitate rehabilitation and reintroduction efforts in forested great ape sanctuaries, applications which I am now extending to urban wildlife rescue settings.

    Second, I am interested in how prevailing societal norms, values, and institutions shape contemporary scientific knowledge of other animals and the environment more generally. In particular, my recent work engages critically with human exceptionalism, and how this pervasive ideology—oftentimes hidden—biases scientific exploration of the more-than-human world. My work is highly interdisciplinary, spanning the natural and social sciences and humanities to challenge (and ultimately change) the normative assumptions guiding the scientific endeavor. To this end, I am collaborating with philosophers to reconceptualize the ethical landscape of animal research and its corresponding benefits to science. I am also developing novel arguments about animal emotions, sentience, and consciousness—most recently in the context of birth.

  • PositionS
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    Starting Fall 2025, I will be an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at New York University, where I am part of the Animal Studies program.

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    📍 I am currently a Lecturer and Researcher in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University.

  • Research

    My 3 main lines of research:

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    Post-conflict behavior

    My doctoral research focused on underlying individual motivations for conflict and post-conflict behavior in chimpanzees and humans. I believe that patterns of reconciliation provide unique information concerning individuals and relationships that traditional measures (e.g., of social personality and social bond strength) do not capture. One overarching question is whether the rarity of conflict, or the strategic management and resolution of conflict once it has occurred, is more predictive of successful relationships and thereby (individual) fitness. Currently my work in this area focuses on wild chacma baboons in collaboration with the Tsaobis Baboon Project in Namibia.

     

    Photo of L-troop (and me) on baboon hill, courtesy of Elise Huchard

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    Empathy

    For many organisms, empathy is a key component of what it means to be 'social.' I employ comparative developmental approaches to study empathy's behavioral manifestations towards other group members, which can help address broader theoretical and philosophical questions about empathy's role in building better societies. At present, my main research assesses sex, age, and individual differences in consolation and other empathy-driven behaviors, including a large-scale species comparison between chimpanzees at Chimfunshi wildlife orphanage in Zambia and bonobos at Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary in DRC.

     

    Photo of Little Jane and Little Joey, courtesy of Jake Brooker

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    Animal ethics

    Animal behavior science generates evidence on which animal ethical argumentation rests. However, rarely do scientists engage actively with debates concerning animal moral status. My growing interest in animal ethics and philosophy continually challenges aspects of my 'traditional' scientific training—which favored mechanistic accounts of animals' lives, thereby downplaying their rich mental and emotional worlds. Rethinking divides between subjective vs. objective, human vs. animal, and the "two cultures," I aim to counter notions of human exceptionalism and contribute to an interdisciplinary de-centering of humans' position in the natural order.

     

    Oil rendition of 'Lucas the Leopard,' courtesy of Mom

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    The arrogant ape COMES OUT september 2, 2025 with avery (penguin random house)

    UK edition (Little, Brown) can be found here; forthcoming in 14 additional languages

  • PAPERS

    Link to Google Scholar profile

    PDFs available via Research Gate

    *equal contribution

    2025

    Brooker, J.S., Webb, C.E., van Leeuwen, E.J.C., Kordon, S., de Waal, F.B.M., & Clay, Z. (2025). Bonobos and chimpanzees overlap in sexual behaviour patterns during social tension. Royal Society Open Science, 12(3): 242031.

    2024

    Jacquet, J., Franks, B., Godfrey-Smith, P., Sanchez-Suarez, W...Webb, C., et al. (2024). Support U.S. Octopus Act to keep octopuses wild. Science, 385(6710): 721-722.

    Kordon, S., Webb, C.E., Brooker, J.S., de Waal, F.B.M., & Clay, Z. (2024). Factors shaping socio-emotional trajectories in sanctuary-living bonobos: A longitudinal approach. Royal Society Open Science, 11(12): 240435.

    Smuts, B., Franks, B., Gagliano, M., & Webb, C. (2024). The connection we share: Animal spirituality and the science of sacred encounters. In Animals and Religion (eds. D. Aftandilian, B. Ambros, & A. Gross), pp. 277-288. Routledge.

    Aguilar, L. & Webb, C.E. (2024). Keystones for conservation: Diversity, well-being, coexistence. Biological Conservation, 291: 110464.

    Brooker, J.S., Webb, C.E., de Waal, F.B.M., & Clay, Z. (2024). The expression of empathy in human’s closest relatives, bonobos and chimpanzees: Current and future directions. Biological Reviews, 99(4): 1556-1575.

    2023

    Franks, B., Webb, C., Gagliano, M., & Smuts, B. (2023). Looking up to animals and other beings: What the fishes taught us. In Animal Dignity: Philosophical Reflections on Non-Human Existence (ed. M. Challenger), pp. 229-238. Bloomsbury.

    Webb, C.E., Franks, B., Gagliano, M., & Smuts, B. (2023). Un-tabooing empathy: The benefits of empathic science with nonhuman research participants. In Conversations on Empathy: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Imagination and Radical Othering (eds. F. Mezzenzana & D. Peluso), pp. 216-234. Routledge.

    2022

    Brooker, J.S., Webb, C.E., & Clay, Z (2022). Primate empathy: A flexible and multi-componential phenomenon. In Primate Cognitive Studies (eds. B. Schwarz & M. Beran), pp. 505-531. Cambridge University Press.

    Benenson, J.F., Webb, C.E., & Wrangham, R.W. (2022). Females undergo selection too. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 45(e151): 1-10.

    Goldsborough, Z., Sterck, E.H.M., de Waal, F.B.M. & Webb, C.E. (2022). Chimpanzees exhibit individual variation in abnormal behavior repertoires. Animal Welfare, 31(1): 125-135.

    Benenson, J.F., Webb, C.E., & Wrangham, R.W. (2022). Self-protection as an adaptive female strategy. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 45(e128): 1-65.

    2021

    Clay, Z., Webb, C.E., Romero, T. & de Waal, F.B.M. (2021). Comparative perspectives of empathy development: Insights from chimpanzees and bonobos. In The Oxford Handbook of Emotion Development (eds. D. Dukes, E.A. Walle, & A.C. Samson), pp 277-290. Oxford University Press.

    Baniel, A.*, Webb, C.E.*, Cowlishaw, G., & Huchard, E. (2021). The submissive pattern of post-conflict affiliation in asymmetric relationships: A test in male and sexually coerced female baboons. Animal Behaviour, 175: 87-97.

    Goldsborough, Z., Webb, C.E., de Waal, F.B.M., & van Leeuwen, E.J.C. (2021). Female chimpanzee adopts local female-specific tradition upon immigrating into a new group. Behaviour, 158(6): 547-564.

    2020

    Brooker, J.S., Webb, C.E., & Clay, Z. (2020). Fellatio among male sanctuary-living chimpanzees during a period of social tension. Behaviour, 158(1): 77-87.

    Webb, C.E., Kolff, K., Du, X., & de Waal, F.B.M. (2020). Jealous behavior in chimpanzees elicited by social intruders. Affective Science, 1(4): 199–207.

    Webb, C.E., Woodford, P., & Huchard, E. (2020). The study that made rats jump for joy, and then killed them. BioEssays, 42(6): 2000030.

    Franks, B., Webb, C., Gagliano, M., & Smuts, B. (2020). Conventional science will not do justice to nonhuman interests: A fresh approach is required. Commentary on Treves et al. on 'Just Preservation.' Animal Sentience, 27(17): 1-5.

    2019

    Goldsborough, Z., van Leeuwen, E.J.C., Kolff, K., de Waal., F.B.M., & Webb, C.E. (2019). Do chimpanzees console a bereaved mother? Primates, 61(1): 93-102. [Social Impact Award]

    Webb, C.E., Woodford, P., & Huchard, E. (2019). Animal ethics and behavioral science: An overdue discussion? BioScience, 69(10): 778-788. [Editor's Choice]

    Webb, C.E.*, Baniel, A.*, Cowlishaw, G., & Huchard, E. (2019). Friend or foe: Reconciliation between males and females in wild chacma baboons. Animal Behaviour, 151: 145-155.

    2018

    Webb, C.E. & de Waal, F.B.M. (2018). Situating the study of jealousy within a relational context. Commentary on Cook et al. on 'Dog Jealousy.' Animal Sentience, 22(22): 1-5.

    2017

    Webb, C.E., Romero, T., Franks, B. & de Waal, F.B.M. (2017). Long-term consistency in chimpanzee consolation behaviour reflects empathetic personalities. Nature Communications, 8(292): 1-8.

     

    Webb, C.E., Rossignac-Milon, M. & Higgins, E.T. (2017). Stepping forward together: Could walking facilitate interpersonal conflict resolution? American Psychologist, 72(4): 374-385.

     

    Webb, C.E., Coleman, P.T., Rossignac-Milon, M., Tomasulo, S.J. & Higgins, E.T. (2017). Moving on or digging deeper: Regulatory mode and interpersonal conflict resolution. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 112(4): 621-641.

    2016 & earlier

    Webb, C.E. & Verbeek, P. (2016). Individual differences in aggressive and peaceful behavior: New insights and future directions. Behaviour, 153: 1139-1169.

    Webb, C.E., Franks, B., Romero, T., Higgins, E.T. & de Waal, F.B.M. (2014). Individual differences in chimpanzee reconciliation relate to social switching behaviour. Animal Behaviour, 90: 57-63.

    Plotnik, J.M., Pokorny, J.J., Keratimanochaya, T., Webb, C.E. et al. (2013). Visual cues given by humans are not sufficient for Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) to find hidden food. PLoS One, 8(4): e61174.

    Pokorny, J.J., Webb, C.E., & de Waal, F.B.M. (2011). Capuchin monkeys show specialized face processing with an inversion effect modified by expertise. Animal Cognition, 14(6): 839-846.

  • Teaching

    Upcoming / past courses

    The Arrogant Ape

    Fall 2019-23

    Harvard University

    Coexistence in Crisis

    Spring 2020-22

    Harvard University

    Primate Social Behavior

    Spring 2019

    Harvard University

    syllabus

    Introduction to Psychology

    Spring 2018

    University College Utrecht

    Primate Behavior & Conservation

    Fall 2014

    NYU

    syllabus

    Primate Social Psychology

    Fall 2014

    Columbia University

    syllabus

  • News

    Press and other updates

  • CV

    Download a copy of my CV or contact me for more information

  • Contact

    Representation: Michelle Tessler, Tessler Literary Agency

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