Melis, AP; (2018) The evolutionary roots of prosociality: the case of instrumental helping. Current Opinion in Psychology , 20 pp. 82-86. 10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.08.019.

Preview

Text Melis_The evolutionary roots of prosociality. The case of instrumental helping_AAM.pdf - Accepted Version Download (880kB) | Preview

Abstract

Comparative studies with closely related primate species are crucial to understand the origins of human prosociality. One type of prosocial behaviour that probably relies on evolutionary ancient skills and motivations is instrumental helping. Recent experimental studies have shown that bonobos and chimpanzees will help others achieve their action goals. Chimpanzees have shown to help others picking up and giving objects to a recipient, opening locked doors for conspecifics struggling to open them, and releasing stuck rewards that recipients were trying to reach. Recent studies have now replicated some of these results with bonobos. However, whereas chimpanzee's helping emerges mainly in response to recipients' signals of need, bonobos also help proactively. This difference could rely on bonobos' enhanced socio-cognitive skills.

Download activity - last month

Export as JSONXMLCSV

Download activity - last 12 months

Export as XMLCSVJSON

Downloads by country - last 12 months

Export as CSVXMLJSON

Archive Staff Only

View Item