Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Assessment of Social Cognition in Non-human Primates Using a Network of Computerized Automated Learning Device (ALDM) Test Systems
08:42

Assessment of Social Cognition in Non-human Primates Using a Network of Computerized Automated Learning Device (ALDM) Test Systems

Published on: May 5, 2015

Cooperative activities in young children and chimpanzees

Felix Warneken1, Frances Chen, Michael Tomasello

  • 1Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. warneken@eva.mpg.de

Child Development
|May 12, 2006
PubMed

Insights

Human children aged 18-24 months demonstrate early cooperative skills and shared intentionality. Unlike chimpanzees, children actively re-engaged partners in collaborative tasks, highlighting unique human social development.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Comparative Psychology
  • Primatology

Background:

  • Cooperative activities are fundamental to human social development.
  • Understanding the origins of human cooperation and shared intentionality is crucial.
  • Previous research suggests differences in social cognition between humans and non-human primates.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the development of cooperative skills and shared intentionality in human children.
  • To compare the cooperative behaviors of human children and young chimpanzees.
  • To identify uniquely human characteristics in early social interaction.

Main Methods:

  • Human children (18-24 months) and young chimpanzees participated in 4 cooperative tasks with a human adult.
  • Researchers observed engagement in problem-solving and social games.
  • The adult partner intermittently ceased participation to elicit re-engagement behaviors.

Main Results:

  • Human children successfully engaged in cooperative problem-solving and social games.
  • Chimpanzees showed disinterest in social games.
  • All human children attempted to re-engage the adult partner, unlike the chimpanzees.

Conclusions:

  • Human children exhibit early forms of shared intentionality and cooperative activity.
  • The findings suggest a uniquely human capacity for collaborative engagement emerges in infancy.
  • Differences in social motivation and intentionality are evident between human children and chimpanzees at this age.

More Related Videos

A Novel Experimental and Analytical Approach to the Multimodal Neural Decoding of Intent During Social Interaction in Freely-behaving Human Infants11:14

A Novel Experimental and Analytical Approach to the Multimodal Neural Decoding of Intent During Social Interaction in Freely-behaving Human Infants

Published on: October 4, 2015

Related Concept Videos

Nonconscious Mimicry01:13

Nonconscious Mimicry

Nonconscious mimicry occurs when individuals alter their mannerisms to match the behaviors and expressions of those nearby, without intention.
Socioemotional Development during Infancy01:30

Socioemotional Development during Infancy

Socio-emotional development in infancy is primarily shaped by early emotional responses and social connections, with temperament playing a central role. Temperament refers to the consistent patterns in an individual's emotional and behavioral responses, observable even in infancy. By examining temperament, researchers can better understand an infant's unique ways of interacting with the world, influencing subsequent personality and socio-emotional growth.
Primary Temperament Types
Stella Chess...
Piaget's Stage 2 of Cognitive Development01:14

Piaget's Stage 2 of Cognitive Development

The preoperational stage, the second of Jean Piaget's four stages of cognitive development, spans approximately ages 2 to 7 and is characterized by the emergence of symbolic thinking. During this stage, children use language, images, and symbols to represent objects and concepts, enabling them to engage in imaginative and pretend play. This symbolic thinking supports children's ability to perform make-believe actions, such as imagining a broom as a horse or their hand as a phone, blending...
Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development01:14

Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development

The sensorimotor stage, the initial phase of Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, spans the first two years of a child's life. During this period, infants actively engage with their surroundings, building cognitive awareness through direct interaction with the world. This interaction is primarily based on sensory perception and motor actions, allowing infants to gradually understand basic physical properties and predict how objects interact within their environment.
Exploration...
Robbers Cave04:49

Robbers Cave

During the 1950s, the landmark Robbers Cave experiment demonstrated that when groups must compete with one another, intergroup conflict, hostility, and even violence may result. At the Oklahoman summer camp, two troops of boys—termed the Rattlers and the Eagles—took part in a week-long tournament. During this time, their negativity culminated in derogatory name-calling, fistfights, and even vandalism and destruction of property. However, this work also revealed that such tension could be...
Microbial Interactions: Cooperation01:26

Microbial Interactions: Cooperation

Microbial cooperation involves beneficial interactions in which different species work together for individual or mutual advantage. These interactions can profoundly influence ecological dynamics and evolutionary processes, and they are essential to many pathogenic and symbiotic relationships.Nematode–Bacteria CooperationA striking example is the relationship between the Gram-negative bacterium Xenorhabdus nematophila and the parasitic nematode Steinernema carpocapsae. Juvenile nematodes...