Tuesday, December 1, 2009

NYTimes: We May Be Born With an Urge to Help

Toddler experiments are showing that humans are innately helpful and altruistic. The desire to cooperate with what others are doing ("shared intentionality") evolved as a necessity in gathering sufficient food.
"Shared intentionality evolved very early in the human lineage, he believes, and its probable purpose was for cooperation in gathering food... We evolved to be nice to each other because there was no alternative."
"Where do they get this idea of group rules, the sense of "we who do it this way"? Dr. Tomasello believes children develop what he calls "shared intentionality," a notion of what others expect to happen and hence a sense of a group "we.""
We May Be Born With an Urge to Help

Biologists are forming a better view of humankind than the traditional opinions of it as warlike and selfish.

http://s.nyt.com/u/iwJ

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