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Scooby
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- Oct 17, 2015
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Chimps and children as young as six will try to witness antisocial behavior being punished
First, they showed a group of 4-6 year-olds a puppet theatre performance involving two characters, which would at one point ask one of the children for their toy. One of them was a friendly character who gave the children their toy back, another was uncooperative and would keep it for itself. After the act, a third puppet would come in to play the role of a punisher and pretend to hit the first two with a stick. Children in the audience could, at this point, decide if they wanted to watch the hits by paying with a coin, or if they would rather exchange it for stickers.
While the group largely refused to watch the friendly puppet being hit, the six-year-olds seemed to have no such qualms about the uncooperative one. A majority of them chose to forgo the stickers and spend their coins to witness the punishment. Perhaps more chillingly, the authors also concluded from their facial expressions that the six-year-olds were actually enjoying the show. Four- and five-year-old children did not show signs of this even when they chose to witness justice being served.
The team reports that chimpanzees showed a similar response. Members from the MPI EVA at Leipzig Zoo recruited two zookeepers for their study, which was designed very similarly to the puppet show. One would regularly feed the chimps, and another took their food away. Later in the experiment, another person would pretend to beat both of these zookeepers with a stick. The chimps could witness the scene, if they so desired, by opening a heavy door and passing to a neighboring room.
A significant number of chimpanzees put in the effort just so they could see the keeper they so disliked being punished. However, when it was the friendly zookeeper’s turn, they refused to watch and even protested vehemently as he was being ‘beaten’.
First, they showed a group of 4-6 year-olds a puppet theatre performance involving two characters, which would at one point ask one of the children for their toy. One of them was a friendly character who gave the children their toy back, another was uncooperative and would keep it for itself. After the act, a third puppet would come in to play the role of a punisher and pretend to hit the first two with a stick. Children in the audience could, at this point, decide if they wanted to watch the hits by paying with a coin, or if they would rather exchange it for stickers.
While the group largely refused to watch the friendly puppet being hit, the six-year-olds seemed to have no such qualms about the uncooperative one. A majority of them chose to forgo the stickers and spend their coins to witness the punishment. Perhaps more chillingly, the authors also concluded from their facial expressions that the six-year-olds were actually enjoying the show. Four- and five-year-old children did not show signs of this even when they chose to witness justice being served.
The team reports that chimpanzees showed a similar response. Members from the MPI EVA at Leipzig Zoo recruited two zookeepers for their study, which was designed very similarly to the puppet show. One would regularly feed the chimps, and another took their food away. Later in the experiment, another person would pretend to beat both of these zookeepers with a stick. The chimps could witness the scene, if they so desired, by opening a heavy door and passing to a neighboring room.
A significant number of chimpanzees put in the effort just so they could see the keeper they so disliked being punished. However, when it was the friendly zookeeper’s turn, they refused to watch and even protested vehemently as he was being ‘beaten’.
