What are the differences betweeen small children and chimpanzees (which are, as is known, closely related to us) regarding the subject of helpfullness? An interesting question, which was studied by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
For that purpose the interaction of human children at the age of 18 to 24 months as well as 3 young chimpanzees performing four cooperative activities with a human adult partner has been researched.
The research project was thereby subdivided into two studies. In Study 1 they aimed to assess the children's skills in coordinating their actions with those of an adult partner in cooperative activities, including their attempts to regulate the partner's actions during interruptions.
During the second study, similar tasks where assigned to two female chimpanzees (Annet and Alexandra, both 51 months old) as well as one male chimpanzee (Alex, 33 months old). (All three are pups from the zoo in Leipzig).
The video recordings that resulted from the two studies where evaluated with the software INTERACT (multiple licenses are available in Leipzig).
A detailed description of the project can be found here...
Cooperative Activities in Young Children and Chimpanzees
If desired, we willingly make contact with the involved researchers Felix Warneken, Frances Chen and Michale Tomasello at the Max Planck Institute.
