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8/14/2019 Selfish Apes Altruistic Humans
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/selfish-apes-altruistic-humans 1/3
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
8/14/2019 Selfish Apes Altruistic Humans
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/selfish-apes-altruistic-humans 2/3
8/14/2019 Selfish Apes Altruistic Humans
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/selfish-apes-altruistic-humans 3/3
ETHICS + POLICY
46 www.stanordscientifc.org
To Learn More
For a list of upcoming events in ethics andsociety visit http://ethicsinsociety.stanford.edu/ethics-events/overview/
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.