Chimpanzees and children are curious about social interactions

Area of Science:

• Comparative Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Evolutionary Psychology

Background:

• Curiosity is adaptive, aiding learning and reducing uncertainty.
• Social curiosity is the motivation to acquire information about others' actions, relationships, and psychology.
• The developmental and evolutionary origins of social curiosity remain largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the developmental and evolutionary roots of social curiosity.
• To examine if chimpanzees and young children exhibit a preference for observing social interactions among third parties.
• To explore age and sex differences in social curiosity, particularly regarding positive versus negative social information.

Main Methods:

• Three comparative studies were conducted involving chimpanzees (n=27) and young children (4-6 years old, n=94).
• Participants viewed videos of social interactions versus single individuals.
• Material costs were assessed for acquiring social information, and preferences for positive versus negative social interactions were recorded.

Main Results:

• Both chimpanzees and children preferred watching videos of social interactions over single individuals.
• Young children and male chimpanzees incurred material costs to obtain social information.
• As children developed, boys showed increased curiosity about negative social interactions, while girls focused on positive ones; chimpanzees showed no such preference.

Conclusions:

• Social curiosity appears early in human development (ontogeny).
• This trait is shared with chimpanzees, one of humanity's closest living relatives.
• Findings suggest a common evolutionary origin for social curiosity in humans and chimpanzees.