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Preschool children and chimpanzees incur costs to watch punishment of antisocial others

Author

Listed:
  • Natacha Mendes

    (Research Group Neuroanatomy and Connectivity)

  • Nikolaus Steinbeis

    (Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
    Leiden University
    University College London)

  • Nereida Bueno-Guerra

    (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
    University of Barcelona)

  • Josep Call

    (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
    University of St Andrews)

  • Tania Singer

    (Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences)

Abstract

When misfortune befalls another, humans may feel distress, leading to a motivation to escape. When such misfortune is perceived as justified, however, it may be experienced as rewarding and lead to motivation to witness the misfortune. We explored when in human ontogeny such a motivation emerges and whether the motivation is shared by chimpanzees. Chimpanzees and four- to six-year-old children learned through direct interaction that an agent was either prosocial or antisocial and later saw each agent’s punishment. They were given the option to invest physical effort (chimpanzees) or monetary units (children) to continue watching. Chimpanzees and six-year-olds showed a preference for watching punishment of the antisocial agent. An additional control experiment in chimpanzees suggests that these results cannot be attributed to more generic factors such as scene coherence or informational value seeking. This indicates that both six-year-olds and chimpanzees have a motivation to watch deserved punishment enacted.

Suggested Citation

  • Natacha Mendes & Nikolaus Steinbeis & Nereida Bueno-Guerra & Josep Call & Tania Singer, 2018. "Preschool children and chimpanzees incur costs to watch punishment of antisocial others," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 2(1), pages 45-51, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:2:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41562-017-0264-5
    DOI: 10.1038/s41562-017-0264-5
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    Cited by:

    1. Yasuhiro Kanakogi & Michiko Miyazaki & Hideyuki Takahashi & Hiroki Yamamoto & Tessei Kobayashi & Kazuo Hiraki, 2022. "Third-party punishment by preverbal infants," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(9), pages 1234-1242, September.
    2. Sueur, Cédric & Piermattéo, Anthony & Pelé, Marie, 2021. "Eye image effect in the context of pedestrian safety: a French questionnaire study," OSF Preprints d6w7v, Center for Open Science.

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