Journal Article

Collaboration encourages equal sharing in children but not in chimpanzees

Tomasello, Michael, Hamann, Katharina, Warneken, Felix, Greenberg, Julia R.

2011

Overview

Fair shares for some A striking feature of human societies, compared with those of other primates, is the egalitarian sharing of resources in many situations. However, both children and chimpanzees share resources less equitably after receiving a 'windfall'. A behavioural study of reactions to windfall payments, in which children received toys and chimps food, reveals a tendency for children as young as three to share windfalls more fairly if they were earned by a team member through a collaborative effort. This contradicts the common assumption that egalitarian tendencies emerge during the school years, at six or seven, when children learn social norms of equality. Chimps do not favour equity, whether or not windfalls were received through collaboration. The modern human tendency to distribute resources more equitably among the larger group may have roots in the sharing of spoils after joint efforts. Humans actively share resources with one another to a much greater degree than do other great apes, and much human sharing is governed by social norms of fairness and equity 1 , 2 , 3 . When in receipt of a windfall of resources, human children begin showing tendencies towards equitable distribution with others at five to seven years of age 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 . Arguably, however, the primordial situation for human sharing of resources is that which follows cooperative activities such as collaborative foraging, when several individuals must share the spoils of their joint efforts 8 , 9 , 10 . Here we show that children of around three years of age share with others much more equitably in collaborative activities than they do in either windfall or parallel-work situations. By contrast, one of humans’ two nearest primate relatives, chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ), ‘share’ (make food available to another individual) just as often whether they have collaborated with them or not. This species difference raises the possibility that humans’ tendency to distribute resources equitably may have its evolutionary roots in the sharing of spoils after collaborative efforts.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group
• Subject: 631/181 / 706/689/477 / Age Factors / Animals / Behavior, Animal / Biological and medical sciences / Biological Evolution / Child / Child development / Child, Preschool / Children & youth / Cooperative Behavior / Developmental psychology / Food / Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology / Group Processes / Humanities and Social Sciences / Humans / letter / Models, Psychological / multidisciplinary / Pan troglodytes - psychology / Play and Playthings / Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry / Psychology. Psychophysiology / Reward / Science / Science (multidisciplinary) / Social Justice / Studies / Toys