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Chimpanzees' (Pan troglodytes) internal arousal remains elevated if they cannot themselves help a conspecific.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Hepach, R; Vaish, A; Kano, F; Albiach-Serrano, A; Benziad, L; Call, J; Tomasello, M
Published in: Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983)
May 2021

Chimpanzees help conspecifics achieve their goals in instrumental situations, but neither their immediate motivation nor the evolutionary basis of their motivation is clear. In the current study, we gave chimpanzees the opportunity to instrumentally help a conspecific to obtain food. Following recent studies with human children, we measured their pupil diameter at various points in the process. Like young children, chimpanzees' pupil diameter decreased soon after they had helped. However, unlike children, chimpanzees' pupils remained more dilated upon watching a third party provide the needed help instead of them. Our interpretation is that chimpanzees are motivated to help others, and the evolutionary basis is direct or indirect reciprocity, as providing help oneself sets the conditions for a payback. This is in contrast to young children whose goal is to see others being helped-by whomever-presumably because their helping is not based on reciprocity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

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Published In

Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983)

DOI

EISSN

1939-2087

ISSN

0735-7036

Publication Date

May 2021

Volume

135

Issue

2

Start / End Page

196 / 207

Related Subject Headings

  • Pan troglodytes
  • Motivation
  • Humans
  • Food
  • Child, Preschool
  • Child
  • Biological Evolution
  • Behavioral Science & Comparative Psychology
  • Arousal
  • Animals
 

Citation

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ICMJE
MLA
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Hepach, R., Vaish, A., Kano, F., Albiach-Serrano, A., Benziad, L., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2021). Chimpanzees' (Pan troglodytes) internal arousal remains elevated if they cannot themselves help a conspecific. Journal of Comparative Psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983), 135(2), 196–207. https://doi.org/10.1037/com0000255
Hepach, Robert, Amrisha Vaish, Fumihiro Kano, Anna Albiach-Serrano, Leïla Benziad, Josep Call, and Michael Tomasello. “Chimpanzees' (Pan troglodytes) internal arousal remains elevated if they cannot themselves help a conspecific.Journal of Comparative Psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983) 135, no. 2 (May 2021): 196–207. https://doi.org/10.1037/com0000255.
Hepach R, Vaish A, Kano F, Albiach-Serrano A, Benziad L, Call J, et al. Chimpanzees' (Pan troglodytes) internal arousal remains elevated if they cannot themselves help a conspecific. Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, DC : 1983). 2021 May;135(2):196–207.
Hepach, Robert, et al. “Chimpanzees' (Pan troglodytes) internal arousal remains elevated if they cannot themselves help a conspecific.Journal of Comparative Psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983), vol. 135, no. 2, May 2021, pp. 196–207. Epmc, doi:10.1037/com0000255.
Hepach R, Vaish A, Kano F, Albiach-Serrano A, Benziad L, Call J, Tomasello M. Chimpanzees' (Pan troglodytes) internal arousal remains elevated if they cannot themselves help a conspecific. Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, DC : 1983). 2021 May;135(2):196–207.

Published In

Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983)

DOI

EISSN

1939-2087

ISSN

0735-7036

Publication Date

May 2021

Volume

135

Issue

2

Start / End Page

196 / 207

Related Subject Headings

  • Pan troglodytes
  • Motivation
  • Humans
  • Food
  • Child, Preschool
  • Child
  • Biological Evolution
  • Behavioral Science & Comparative Psychology
  • Arousal
  • Animals