selfish apes altruistic humans

8/14/2019 Selfish Apes Altruistic Humans

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If someone asked you, “Whatdistinguishes humans fromtheir nearest primitive relatives--apes?” you might be drawn to one of

the following distinctions: in comparison

to humans, apes are quadrupedal, they arehairier, and they have shorter legs. Aside

from these physical dif ferences, recent

research has found key differences in the

basic behaviors of the two species.

Last October, Dr. Michael Tomasello,

developmental psychologist and Co-

Director of the Max Planck Institute for

Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig,

Germany, delivered a lecture entitled

“Phylogenetic Origins of Human

Collaboration” at Stanford as part of the

Tanner Lectures on Human Values, a multi-

university lecture series in the humanities.

Tomasello found that while humans are

altruistic and subscribe to institutionalized

norms that support cooperation, apes do

not. Although apes appear to work in groups

just as humans do, they are mutualistic

rather than altruistic—individual apes will

work with others to benefit themselves

individually rather than due to some

inherent concern for the wellbeing of other

apes.

At the intersection of evolutionary

anthropology, psychology, and biology,

this groundbreaking research has large

implications concerning what it means to be

human.

It’s Mine, It’s Mine Tomasello focused his research on three

sets of processes involved in collaboration:

coordination and communication, tolerance

and trust, and norms and institutions.

In humans he studied collaborative

activities in which there were joint goals,

mutual knowledge, and inter-dependent,

coordinated roles. He and his colleagues

also studied large amounts of video footage

comparing the behaviors of young children

and apes in potentially collaborative

activities in order to determine whether

apes cooperate in the same way as humans

do.

Tomasello presented a video from a study

by Warneken et al. in which a ping-pong

ball was thrown down a tube from an adult

to a young child. When the ping-pong ball

was dropped by the adult, the child went

out of the way to put the ball back in the

hand of the adult. The child also displayed

immediate role reversal, leaving his side of

ETHICS + POLICY

44 www.stanordscientifc.org

by ELIZABETH BURSTEIN

Selfsh Apes,Altruistic

HumansThe origins of human cooperation

Credit: sxc.hu

Credit: sxc.hu



ETHICS + POLICY

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in social and cultural scenarios, but that

the groups are roughly equal for physical

scenarios.

Distinguishing theHuman Way o LieWhile altruism is an important humancharacteristic, Tomasello asserts that it

is not the main factor determining how

humans operate together. Collaboration, on

the other hand, has played a major role on

shaping many modern cultural institutions.

Consider people standing in line at a

store. Humans understand shopping and

are aware of the rights and obligations

that exist within the store: objects are

private property, money is a trusted form

of exchanged value, and standing in line

is the proper way to wait one’s turn. In

comparison, chimpanzees obtain their food

through foraging, and they do not follow

these institutionalized procedures.

Tomasello cites a study on what is known

to be one of the most complex activities of

chimpanzees—hunting in the Ivory Coast—

to contrast the potentially collaborative

activities in which chimps do engage. In

this scenario, there is one

driver chimpanzee

that chases the prey in

a certain direction while others

block the prey on the sides from changingdirections. Although this might seem to

indicate collaboration, Tomasello questions

whether this vocabulary is appropriate. Are

the chimps really collaborating, or is this

simply an example of humans imposing the

norms with which we are familiar on our

nearest phylogenetic relatives?

While altruism is an important humancharacteristic, it is not the main factor

determining how humans operate together.

Tomasello says, “I believe that what

is happening is the following: the

chimpanzees are actually finding optimal

positions from which to hunt and the prey

ends up being surrounded.” He explains

that they are engaged in a group activity

in “I” mode, not “we” mode as humans

are. Because collaboration establishes

institutionalized norms in humans but does

not exist for chimps, it explains, in par t,

why the human way of life is so much more

complex than that of chimps.

Overall, Tomasello reasons that collaborative

activities that involve mutual knowledge,

conformism, and symbolism have helped

create our institutional culture. Thus, while

apes and humans possess almost identical

intelligences in regards to space, quantities,

and causalities, chimpanzees show less

cultural and social intelligence, explainingthe differences in collaboration, role reversal,

and institutionalized norms.

Credit: sxc.hu

Collaboration, on

the other hand, has

played a major role

on shaping many

modern cultural

institutions.

selfish apes altruistic humans

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