REMINDER:
The CEU Department of Cognitive Science cordially invites you to its talk
as part of the Departmental Colloquium series
by
Keith Jensen, (University of Manchester)
Date: Wednesday, February 8, 2017 - 17:00-18:30
Host: Christophe Heintz
The (sometimes) prosocial primate
That humans cooperate with unrelated individuals on a scale not seen in other species
pretty much goes without saying (although it is said a lot). The fact that you will be
sitting together with other members of your species just to listen to someone say so is
already quite remarkable. However, in addition to cooperating and behaving prosocially in
ways that might be fundamentally different to what we see in other species, humans are
also remarkably antisocial. We compare ourselves to others, we are averse to inequity to
the point of behaving irrationally (at least as far as standard economic models are
concerned), we punish noncooperators, we compete spitefully and we take pleasure in them
misfortunes of others. The claim that humans are unique in our social behaviour has been
challenged on several fronts, with some people suggesting that nonhuman primates (and
possibly other animals) help others, share resources, show a sensitivity to unfairness,
punish noncooperative behaviour and so on. Here, I will present work on chimpanzees and
children that challenges these challenges. In particular, I will look at whether
chimpanzees help others, as has sometimes been claimed, and whether they punish
uncooperative behaviour. I hope to suggest that a key factor underlying differences in
social behaviour between our closest living relatives and humans is motivational, namely
other-regarding concerns.
Location: Department of Cognitive Science, CEU, Oktober 6 street 7, room 101.
See more at:
https://cognitivescience.ceu.edu/events/2017-02-08/departmental-colloquium-…
We are looking forward to see you there!
Cognitive Science Events at CEU:
http://cognitivescience.ceu.edu/events
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