5.4 Collaborative problem-solving: the role of emotions
Now watch this video, where the
Activity 9 Exploring cooperation and emotion in animals
Based on the video you’ve just watched, answer the following questions (go back and watch the video again if it helps).
1. Why have (some) animals evolved to cooperate with each other, rather than just to compete?
Answer
Many species, including higher primates such as humans, chimpanzees and bonobos, live in social groups. The members of such groups depend on each other for survival, so the relationships between individuals within the group are valuable and must be protected, or repaired if damaged.
Furthermore, some tasks cannot easily be completed by an individual working alone; for example, in the wild, many species hunt or drive away predators together. The same cooperative drive causes animals in the artificial situation of a laboratory experiment to collaborate to obtain food rewards.
2. What role might emotions have in motivating cooperation?
Answer
Frans de Waal argues that empathy, which he defines as ‘the ability to understand and share the feelings of another’, may play a role in motivating an animal to cooperate with another animal. The chimpanzees in his research tended to select responses (handing tokens to the human researcher) that would result in a partner chimpanzee also receiving a food reward, rather than responding either randomly or selfishly. He argues that this is because the chimpanzees ‘care’ about each other (remember that ‘care’ is also one of Panksepp’s primal emotions). There is also evidence that some species (capuchin monkeys were featured in the video) have a sense of fairness, which may be involved in cooperation, and experience anger when treated unfairly.
Further reading
Brosnan and de Waal’s (2003) findings that capuchin monkeys had a sense of fairness − or, rather, unfairness − attracted a lot of attention when it was published in the journal Nature in 2003. You may find it interesting to read the article Monkeys reject unequal pay [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] for yourself.