Positive Recipocation

The golden term “do onto others” is a phrase that echoes in all cultures worldwide. Even when translated the meaning means the same thing. In Chimpanzees it was so interesting to find this one writing that I thought I would share it. For these Chimps empathy is alive and well.

After one Chimpanzee has attacked another it is very common for an on looking chimp to go over and embrace the victim. Now the screaming, yelping, and other signals of distress stop. When one chimp’s lives alongside each other there are many things that take place within their social structure. Such as, if one is chased into a tree or upon onto a rooftop - the only way to entice them down is for another chimp to sit and sob as if one was in pain, to entice the other chimp in distress to come down. The chimp will automatically recognize this and rush down to put an arm around the other - fascinating. Amongst groups of chimpanzees in captivity, reciprocity is very apparent. Researching shows that when one chimp shared food with others, the sharer is more likely to be generous toward the other chimps that have previously groomed it. Positive cause and effect I would think.

It’s obvious to see that the reciprocating ensemble of remarkable empathy done by way of these chimps. An astounding example done was learning to pull a chain to received food. This was a study done by scientist in Russia. One part of the study was a small shock when there was a refusal to pull on the chain. The scientists were studying behavior much in the same manner that Dr. Pavlov did with dogs. However this was not about conditioning, this was a study to see if empathy and consideration exists with Chimpanzees.If one refused to pull the chain to gain food there was a small electrical shock that took place in the area of the compound. In this study, one monkey stopped pulling the chain entirely for five days, and for another chimp within the group twelve days passed without receiving food after witnessing the shock that the one fellow chimpanzee went through. The entire community of monkeys were literally starving themselves to avoid pain upon each other. They were working in a unity. The study part is not the most interesting part to me as I am not much for testing of animals. Within science we would not be were we are today unless there was some manner in which there were humane tests done, but the manner in with there was a empathy that was very prevalent indicates that empathy is not restricted to only we as human beings. The March Issue of National Geographic most interesting subject. It was on the minds of "Inside Animal's Minds". It was a most interesting read as I never knew how many words a dog understands. Not to say dolphins and what I think to myself is how we as civil people make things so complicated in comparision.