| Concept/Content |
intent / cooperation test for task requiring joint effort by two chimps
See VIDEO. |
| Information caption |
Chimpanzees in a laboratory setting that enables them to work together to secure food, sometimes collaborate—and sometimes not. Here, they must both pull a rope to bring a board carrying food within reach. Given a choice, chimps recruit peers with the best history of cooperation, indicating their understanding of cooperative behavior (Melis, Hare & Tomasello 2006).
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| Inquiry caption |
Here, a laboratory setting enables chimpanzees to work together to secure food: they must both pull a rope to bring a board carrying the food within reach. Sometimes they collaborate, sometimes not. Given a choice, the chimps recruit peers with the best history of cooperation. Do you think this indicates that the chimps understand cooperative behavior, and that their actions are intentional? Given that we cannot read another person's — or another organism's — mind, how do we make conclusions about intention?
How might the ability to learn, or intention, be relevant to the problem of defection or cheating in a system of reciprocity?
Target Concept: Cooperation and helping behavior may be intentional. |
| Credit |
Courtesy of the "3 Chimps" Hominoid Psychology Research Group (Brian Hare, Director). |
| SIZE in pixels [file size] |
363x272 |
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