Altruism is crap. It doesn't exist. Self interest at some level guides everything we do.
-- Tim Heald [EMAIL PROTECTED] 703-300-3911 -----Original Message----- From: Larry C. Lyons [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, March 03, 2006 4:29 PM To: CF-Community Subject: FW: Human infants and chimps share altruistic behaviors, but humans moreso At the risk of having those who are against evolution getting upset again, I found this evolutionary psychology study quite interesting. http://www.antiwrap.com/?917 Have we come a long way, baby? Study suggests humans and chimps share ancient urge to be helpful, but humans more so BY BRYN NELSON STAFF WRITER March 3, 2006 As young role models of human altruism, 18-month-old toddlers will readily help a needy stranger, according to new research. But these diaper-clad Good Samaritans may share a few traits with young chimpanzees, scientists say, offering new hints that our common ancestors possessed the early underpinnings of human courtesy and cooperation. In separate experiments, toddlers and chimps both returned an object dropped "accidentally," such as a clothespin, marker or lid, but not if a researcher let go of it on purpose. "It is definitely more surprising that we found this in chimpanzees," said Felix Warneken, a study co-author and doctoral student in developmental psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. Scientists have long puzzled over the evolutionary basis of our altruism, while our closest primate relatives have received a bad rap for their supposedly selfish ways. But Warneken said past research on altruism with the notoriously competitive chimpanzees has involved both food and fellow chimps. By eliminating food as a goal or reward in his group's research, published today in the journal Science, perhaps the chimps would be in the right mindset for any natural helpfulness to appear spontaneously. To the group's surprise, the three young chimps in the study were indeed willing to help their caretaker when she was clearly reaching for something. Most of the 24 human toddlers in their study were far more altruistic, however, assisting a stranger struggling with more complicated tasks such as stacking books or opening a door. "Children and chimpanzees are both willing to help," Warneken and his co-authors write, "but they appear to differ in their ability to interpret the other's need for help in different situations." In a companion study, Alicia Melis and colleagues at the same institute in Leipzig found that chimpanzees will pick a partner best suited to help them pull two ends of a rope to slide trays of food within reach. Although cooperation in the animal kingdom is nothing new, "we've never seen this level of understanding during cooperation in any other animals except humans," Melis said in an accompanying news release. In the experiments, chimps opened the adjoining cage door of an unrelated chimp only when they couldn't reach both rope ends on their own. Furthermore, they tended to choose the more cooperative chimp, based on experience. Both studies suggest the precursors for altruism and collaboration were in place well before our evolutionary split with chimpanzees some 6 million years ago. But chimp charity apparently only goes so far. "Human altruism is thought to be based, in part, on empathy," said UCLA anthropologist Joan Silk in an e-mail. "To be empathetic, you need to understand the thoughts and desires of others." Silk's own studies suggest that chimp empathy is in short supply when it comes to food-based altruistic acts, even if they entail no sacrifice. Somewhere along the line, humans became considerably more helpful than other primates, Silk said, but understanding that divergence will only come with more research. Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc. -- Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion. Edmond Burke ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:198836 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
