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Children, but not chimpanzees, prefer to collaborate
Yvonne Rekers1, Daniel B M Haun, Michael Tomasello
1Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany. yvonne_rekers@eva.mpg.de
Current Biology : CB
|October 18, 2011
Summary
Human children readily collaborate for food, unlike chimpanzees. This study reveals a key motivational difference in cooperation, potentially explaining human social evolution.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary psychology
- Comparative cognition
- Primatology
Background:
- Human societies depend on collaboration, with children adept at seeking help and partners.
- Primate societies, including chimpanzees, exhibit cooperative behaviors like group hunting and defense.
- While chimpanzees share cognitive prerequisites for collaboration, motivational differences may exist.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if a preference for collaboration over solitary action for food acquisition differentiates humans and chimpanzees.
- To explore the role of motivation in the evolution of human cooperation.
Main Methods:
- Comparative study design contrasting human children and chimpanzees.
- Experimental setup assessing individual preferences for collaborative versus solitary food acquisition.
Main Results:
- Human children demonstrated a strong preference for collaborative food gathering.
- Chimpanzees did not show a significant preference for collaborating over acting alone to obtain food.
Conclusions:
- A key distinction between human and chimpanzee collaboration lies in the motivation to cooperate for resources.
- This motivational difference may be a crucial factor in the evolutionary development of human cooperation.
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