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Published on: January 7, 2019
Chimpanzees are vengeful but not spiteful
Keith Jensen1, Josep Call, Michael Tomasello
1Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany. jensen@eva.mpg.de
Summary
Chimpanzees retaliate against harmful actions, like stealing, but not merely unfair outcomes. This suggests their punishment is not spiteful, differing from humans who dislike unfairness.
Area of Science:
- Primate behavior
- Evolutionary psychology
- Comparative cognition
Background:
- Human punishment of non-cooperators stabilizes cooperation.
- Human motivation for punishment involves aversion to unfair outcomes and intentions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the motivations behind chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) punishment.
- To compare chimpanzee punishment strategies with those of humans.
Main Methods:
- Two studies were conducted with captive chimpanzees.
- Chimpanzees' responses to personally disadvantageous outcomes and direct theft were observed.
Main Results:
- Chimpanzees did not punish conspecifics for merely disadvantageous outcomes.
- Chimpanzees did retaliate when food was directly stolen from them.
Conclusions:
- Chimpanzees retaliate against harmful actions, not just unfair outcomes.
- Unlike humans, chimpanzees do not appear to be spiteful, indicating different punishment motivations.
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