Charles
Wed, Jul-11-07, 06:15
This is a significant reversal of previous research discussed
here on sap in 2005. regards, charles article follows:
Science News Online Week of June 30, 2007; Vol. 171, No. 26
Ape Aid: Chimps share altruistic capacity with people
Bruce Bower
Many researchers have asserted that only people will assist
strangers without receiving anything in return, sometimes at
great personal cost. However, a new study suggests that
chimpanzees also belong to the Good Samaritan club, as do
children as young as 18 months of age.
Without any prospect of immediate benefit, chimps helped both
people and other chimps that they didn't know, and the
18-month-olds spontaneously assisted adults they'd never seen
before, say
psychologist Felix Warneken of the Max Planck Institute for
Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and his
colleagues.
The roots of human altruism reach back roughly 6 million years
to a common ancestor of people and chimps, the researchers
propose in the July PLoS Biology.
"Learning and experience are involved in altruistic helping,
but our claim is that there is a predisposition [in chimps and
people] to develop such behavior without explicit training,"
Warneken says.
His team conducted three experiments with adult chimps living
on an island sanctuary in Uganda and two experiments with
18-month-old German children. In the chimp version of the
first experiment, 36 animals watched one at a time from a
barred enclosure as an experimenter in an adjacent room-who
had had virtually no prior contacts with the animals-reached
through the bars for a stick on the other side. The stick was
within reach of only the observing chimp.
Most chimps snatched the stick and gave it to the
experimenter, whether or not the experimenter offered a piece
of banana as a reward. No assistance came if the experimenter
didn't first reach in vain for the stick.
A similar trial with 36 youngsters yielded comparable
altruistic behavior, regardless of whether the experimenter
offered toys as a reward.
The second round of experiments included 18 chimps and 22
infants who had helped at least once in the first experiment.
The chimps still retrieved a stick for an experimenter,
although they now had to climb a 2.5-meter-high platform to
reach the item. The children navigated barriers and hurdles to
get a pencil for an experimenter. No reward was offered in
either case.
The third experiment tested nine chimps' willingness to aid
other chimps that they neither knew nor were related to. One
chimp watched another in a separate room try to enter an
adjacent space through a chained door in order to obtain food.
Only the observing chimp could remove a peg in its enclosure
to release the chain, allowing the other chimp to nab a snack.
All but one observing chimp did just that in numerous trials.
"These are wonderful experiments and present a real
challenge to previous findings," remarks anthropologist Joan
B. Silk of the University of California, Los Angeles. Silk
and other investigators have reported that chimps don't give
food rewards to their comrades, even at no cost to the
potential donor.
Chimps may help others who fail to achieve observable goals,
as in the new experiments, Warneken suggests. Further studies
need to compare individuals' reactions to different types of
cooperative tasks, Silk says.
The results "come as no surprise to any field worker who has
spent lots of time close to wild chimpanzees," comments
anthropologist William C. McGrew of the University of
Cambridge in England.
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References:
Warneken, F., et al. 2007. Spontaneous altruism by chimpanzees
and young children. PLoS Biology 5(July):e184. Available at
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0050184.
Further Readings:
Silk, J.B. 2006. Who are more helpful, humans or chimpanzees?
Science 311(March 3):1248-1249. Summary available at
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/311/5765/1248.
Warneken, F., and M. Tomasello. 2006. Altruistic helping in
human infants and young chimpanzees. Science 311(March
3):1301-1303. Available at
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/311/5765/1301.
A version of this article written for younger readers is
available at Science News for Kids.
Sources:
William C. McGrew University of Cambridge Department of
Biological Anthropology Downing Street Cambridge CB2 3Dz
United Kingdom
Joan B. Silk Department of Anthropology University of
California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 90095
Felix Warneken Department of Developmental and Comparative
Psychology Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6 D-04103 Leipzig Germany
here on sap in 2005. regards, charles article follows:
Science News Online Week of June 30, 2007; Vol. 171, No. 26
Ape Aid: Chimps share altruistic capacity with people
Bruce Bower
Many researchers have asserted that only people will assist
strangers without receiving anything in return, sometimes at
great personal cost. However, a new study suggests that
chimpanzees also belong to the Good Samaritan club, as do
children as young as 18 months of age.
Without any prospect of immediate benefit, chimps helped both
people and other chimps that they didn't know, and the
18-month-olds spontaneously assisted adults they'd never seen
before, say
psychologist Felix Warneken of the Max Planck Institute for
Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and his
colleagues.
The roots of human altruism reach back roughly 6 million years
to a common ancestor of people and chimps, the researchers
propose in the July PLoS Biology.
"Learning and experience are involved in altruistic helping,
but our claim is that there is a predisposition [in chimps and
people] to develop such behavior without explicit training,"
Warneken says.
His team conducted three experiments with adult chimps living
on an island sanctuary in Uganda and two experiments with
18-month-old German children. In the chimp version of the
first experiment, 36 animals watched one at a time from a
barred enclosure as an experimenter in an adjacent room-who
had had virtually no prior contacts with the animals-reached
through the bars for a stick on the other side. The stick was
within reach of only the observing chimp.
Most chimps snatched the stick and gave it to the
experimenter, whether or not the experimenter offered a piece
of banana as a reward. No assistance came if the experimenter
didn't first reach in vain for the stick.
A similar trial with 36 youngsters yielded comparable
altruistic behavior, regardless of whether the experimenter
offered toys as a reward.
The second round of experiments included 18 chimps and 22
infants who had helped at least once in the first experiment.
The chimps still retrieved a stick for an experimenter,
although they now had to climb a 2.5-meter-high platform to
reach the item. The children navigated barriers and hurdles to
get a pencil for an experimenter. No reward was offered in
either case.
The third experiment tested nine chimps' willingness to aid
other chimps that they neither knew nor were related to. One
chimp watched another in a separate room try to enter an
adjacent space through a chained door in order to obtain food.
Only the observing chimp could remove a peg in its enclosure
to release the chain, allowing the other chimp to nab a snack.
All but one observing chimp did just that in numerous trials.
"These are wonderful experiments and present a real
challenge to previous findings," remarks anthropologist Joan
B. Silk of the University of California, Los Angeles. Silk
and other investigators have reported that chimps don't give
food rewards to their comrades, even at no cost to the
potential donor.
Chimps may help others who fail to achieve observable goals,
as in the new experiments, Warneken suggests. Further studies
need to compare individuals' reactions to different types of
cooperative tasks, Silk says.
The results "come as no surprise to any field worker who has
spent lots of time close to wild chimpanzees," comments
anthropologist William C. McGrew of the University of
Cambridge in England.
--------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------
If you have a comment on this article that you would like
considered for publication in Science News, send it to
editors@sciencenews.org. Please include your name and
location.
ScienceNews.org needs your input Take our quick, 1-minute
survey, and tell us how to improve our Web site. You might win
a free iPod! .
--------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------
To subscribe to Science News (print), go to
https://www.kable.com/pub/scnw/ subServices.asp.
To sign up for the free weekly e-LETTER from Science News, go
to http://www.sciencenews.org/pages/subscribe_form.asp.
References:
Warneken, F., et al. 2007. Spontaneous altruism by chimpanzees
and young children. PLoS Biology 5(July):e184. Available at
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0050184.
Further Readings:
Silk, J.B. 2006. Who are more helpful, humans or chimpanzees?
Science 311(March 3):1248-1249. Summary available at
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/311/5765/1248.
Warneken, F., and M. Tomasello. 2006. Altruistic helping in
human infants and young chimpanzees. Science 311(March
3):1301-1303. Available at
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/311/5765/1301.
A version of this article written for younger readers is
available at Science News for Kids.
Sources:
William C. McGrew University of Cambridge Department of
Biological Anthropology Downing Street Cambridge CB2 3Dz
United Kingdom
Joan B. Silk Department of Anthropology University of
California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 90095
Felix Warneken Department of Developmental and Comparative
Psychology Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6 D-04103 Leipzig Germany