Great apes distinguish true from false beliefs in an interactive helping task.
Published
Journal Article
Understanding the behavior of others in a wide variety of circumstances requires an understanding of their psychological states. Humans' nearest primate relatives, the great apes, understand many psychological states of others, for example, perceptions, goals, and desires. However, so far there is little evidence that they possess the key marker of advanced human social cognition: an understanding of false beliefs. Here we demonstrate that in a nonverbal (implicit) false-belief test which is passed by human 1-year-old infants, great apes as a group, including chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), bonobos (Pan paniscus), and orangutans (Pongo abelii), distinguish between true and false beliefs in their helping behavior. Great apes thus may possess at least some basic understanding that an agent's actions are based on her beliefs about reality. Hence, such understanding might not be the exclusive province of the human species.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Buttelmann, D; Buttelmann, F; Carpenter, M; Call, J; Tomasello, M
Published Date
- January 2017
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 12 / 4
Start / End Page
- e0173793 -
PubMed ID
- 28379987
Pubmed Central ID
- 28379987
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1932-6203
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 1932-6203
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1371/journal.pone.0173793
Language
- eng