Mediación, simios y resolución de conflictos (2011)

Summary

El guion explora la moralidad en la naturaleza humana y animal, destacando la cooperación, la empatía y la reciprocidad como pilares fundamentales. Se menciona la obra del pintor del siglo XV y se compara con el comportamiento de chimpancés y elefantes en experimentos de cooperación. También se abordan temas como la empatía, la consolación y la justicia social, con estudios que sugieren que los chimpancés pueden mostrar altruismo y un sentido de la equidad, desafiando la noción de que la moralidad es exclusiva del ser humano.

Takeaways

• 🎨 El pintor del siglo XV, que influye en el discurso, reflexiona sobre la sociedad si la religión tuviera menos influencia, con obras como 'El Jardín de las Delicias'.
• 🐒 En el zoológico de Arnhem, se observa que los chimpancés son ambiciosos y a la vez capaces de reconciliación después de conflictos, lo que sugiere complejidad en el comportamiento.
• 📚 Se escribió un libro acerca de la ambición de los chimpancés y se descubrió que, a diferencia de la visión de la naturaleza humana como puramente competitiva y agresiva, la empatía y la cooperación son fundamentales.
• 🤝 La reconciliación después de peleas en chimpancés y bonobos, a través del contacto físico o el sexo respectivamente, demuestra la importancia de las relaciones valiosas y la necesidad de repararlas.
• 🐺 La imagen de la humanidad como 'hombre lobo para el hombre' es desafiada, argumentando que la humanidad es más cooperativa y empática de lo que comúnmente se cree.
• 🤝 Los pilares de la moralidad identificados son la reciprocidad y la empatía, siendo fundamentales para la construcción de una moralidad evolutiva.
• 🐘 Experimentos con chimpancés y elefantes muestran una comprensión de la cooperación y la reciprocidad, con elefantes demostrando inteligencia al esperar a sus compañeros en tareas colaborativas.
• 😪 La contagio de bostezos en humanos y chimpancés está relacionado con la empatía, y su ausencia en ciertos trastornos del espectro autista refuerza esta conexión.
• 🤔 La empatía también se estudia a través de comportamientos de consuelo, donde se observa a chimpancés calmar a compañeros derrotados, similar al consuelo humano.
• 🍇 Experimentos de altruismo en chimpancés sugieren que estos se preocupan por el bienestar de otros, incluso cuando no hay una recompensa inmediata para ellos.
• 🍉 Un estudio famoso con monos capuchinos muestra una reacción negativa ante la inequidad en recompensas, lo que indica una percepción de justicia social entre ellos.

Q & A

¿Quién es el pintor mencionado al principio y por qué es importante para el orador?

El pintor mencionado es conocido por su obra 'El jardín de las delicias', que algunos interpretan como una representación de la humanidad antes o sin el pecado original. Es importante para el orador porque cuestiona cómo sería la moralidad si no existiera la religión.

¿Qué descubrió el orador sobre los chimpancés durante su investigación inicial?

El orador descubrió que los chimpancés son muy competitivos y centrados en el poder, lo que lo llevó a escribir un libro sobre el tema. En ese momento, la investigación animal se enfocaba principalmente en la agresión y la competencia.

¿Qué comportamiento reconciliador observó el orador en los chimpancés?

Observó que los chimpancés se reconcilian después de pelear. Dos machos que habían peleado se subieron a un árbol y uno extendió su mano hacia el otro. Poco después, se abrazaron y besaron, demostrando un comportamiento de reconciliación.

¿Cómo se diferencian los bonobos de los chimpancés en términos de reconciliación?

Los bonobos utilizan el sexo como una forma de reconciliación. Aunque el principio es el mismo —restaurar una relación dañada por el conflicto—, los bonobos lo hacen a través de comportamientos sexuales.

¿Cuáles son los dos pilares esenciales de la moralidad según el orador?

Los dos pilares esenciales de la moralidad son la reciprocidad (asociada con un sentido de justicia y equidad) y la empatía (la capacidad de compartir y entender los sentimientos de los demás).

¿Cómo demostraron los chimpancés su capacidad de cooperación en los experimentos realizados?

Los chimpancés cooperaron al mover una caja pesada que solo podían mover juntos. Incluso cuando uno de ellos ya estaba alimentado y no tenía interés en la comida, aún participaba, demostrando reciprocidad y cooperación futura.

¿Qué truco usaron los elefantes en los experimentos de cooperación mencionados?

Un elefante utilizó su pie para pisar la cuerda y esperar a que su compañero hiciera todo el trabajo. Este comportamiento mostró que los elefantes entienden la cooperación e incluso pueden encontrar formas creativas de 'freeloading'.

¿Cómo se relaciona el contagio del bostezo con la empatía?

El contagio del bostezo está relacionado con la empatía porque activa las mismas áreas del cerebro involucradas en la empatía. Las personas más empáticas tienen más probabilidades de contagiarse de un bostezo, y los animales como los chimpancés también muestran este comportamiento.

¿Qué experimentos sobre altruismo se mencionan en relación con los chimpancés?

Se realizó un experimento donde un chimpancé tenía que elegir entre una ficha que solo lo alimentaba a él o una que alimentaba a ambos. Los chimpancés demostraron preferir la ficha que beneficiaba a ambos, indicando una preocupación por el bienestar de los demás.

¿Qué reacción tuvieron los monos capuchinos ante la inequidad en la recompensa alimenticia?

Los monos capuchinos se molestaron cuando recibieron pepino en lugar de uvas, que son más deseadas. Uno de los monos rechazó el pepino y lo arrojó, mostrando un sentido de justicia y descontento ante la inequidad.

Outlines

00:00

🎨 La influencia de la religión en la moralidad

El primer párrafo explora la vida y obra del pintor del siglo XV, quien reflexionaba sobre cómo sería la sociedad si la influencia religiosa disminuía o desaparecía. Se menciona su obra 'El Jardín de las Delicias Terrenales', que algunos interpretan como una representación de la humanidad antes o sin la caída. Además, se relata la experiencia del narrador con chimpancés en un zoológico, donde descubre su naturaleza ambiciosa y competitiva, lo que contrasta con la visión común de la moralidad basada en la competencia y la agresión. Sin embargo, también observa cómo los chimpancés se reconcilian después de peleas, lo que sugiere una dimensión más compleja de su comportamiento social.

05:12

🐘 Cooperación y reciprocidad en los animales

El segundo párrafo se centra en el estudio de la cooperación y la reciprocidad en chimpancés y elefantes. Se describen experimentos donde estos animales deben trabajar juntos para obtener recompensas, mostrando su comprensión de la cooperación y su disposición a ayudar incluso cuando no hay una recompensa inmediata para ellos. Esto se relaciona con la idea de reciprocidad, donde los animales pueden estar dispuestos a colaborar esperando un favor a cambio en el futuro. Además, se discute la empatía y la compasión como pilares fundamentales de la moralidad, con ejemplos de comportamientos como la consolación y la sincronización emocional entre animales.

10:14

🤔 Empatía y comportamiento altruista en chimpancés

El tercer párrafo profundiza en la empatía y el comportamiento altruista en chimpancés. Se describen experimentos que muestran cómo estos animales pueden sentir y compartir las emociones de otros, como en el caso de la contagión de bostezos y la consolación después de una pelea. También se menciona un experimento donde los chimpancés eligen actuar de manera pro-social,优先选择有益于群体其他成员的选项， lo que sugiere que pueden preocuparse por el bienestar de otros. Esto desafía la noción de que solo los humanos pueden actuar por razones altruistas y apunta a la existencia de una moralidad evolutiva en los primates.

15:15

🍇 La sensación de justicia y la equidad en los animales

El cuarto y último párrafo aborda la sensación de justicia y equidad en animales, particularmente en monos capuchinos. Se relata un experimento donde estos animales rechazan hacer tareas si su compañero recibe una recompensa desproporcionadamente mayor, lo que indica una percepción de inequidad. Esto llevó a críticas de académicos que argumentaban que la equidad es un concepto demasiado complejo para los animales. Sin embargo, se menciona que en experimentos posteriores con chimpancés, estos animales han demostrado incluso rechazar recompensas inequitables, lo que sugiere una comprensión más avanzada de la justicia social. El narrador concluye sugiriendo que estos comportamientos en animales no humanos son fundamentales para comprender la moralidad evolucionada y pueden ayudar a construir una visión de la moralidad más allá de la religión.

Keywords

💡Moralidad

La moralidad se refiere a los principios que distinguen el bien del mal en el comportamiento humano. En el video, se explora cómo los chimpancés y otros animales muestran principios básicos de moralidad como la cooperación y la empatía. La moralidad humana se presenta como algo basado en la reciprocidad y la compasión, conceptos observados también en el comportamiento de los primates.

💡Reciprocidad

La reciprocidad es la idea de devolver favores o actuar de manera justa en relación con los demás. En el video, se habla de cómo los chimpancés entienden la necesidad de cooperación y esperan que otros correspondan a sus acciones, como cuando un chimpancé ayuda a otro a obtener comida con la expectativa de ser ayudado en el futuro.

💡Empatía

La empatía es la capacidad de comprender y compartir los sentimientos de otros. Se muestra cómo los animales, incluidos los chimpancés y los elefantes, exhiben empatía, como en los actos de consuelo tras una pelea. La empatía es vista como uno de los pilares fundamentales de la moralidad en el video.

💡Chimpancés

Los chimpancés son utilizados en el video como un modelo para entender el comportamiento social y moral en animales. A través de estudios de cooperación y reconciliación, se muestra cómo estos primates exhiben comportamientos complejos relacionados con la moralidad, como la reconciliación después de un conflicto o la reciprocidad en las acciones cooperativas.

💡Bonobos

Los bonobos son otro tipo de primate que, al igual que los chimpancés, muestran comportamientos sociales complejos. Se destaca en el video que los bonobos resuelven conflictos a través de interacciones sexuales, lo cual subraya un enfoque único en la resolución de problemas y la restauración de relaciones dañadas por el conflicto.

💡Cooperación

La cooperación se refiere al trabajo conjunto para alcanzar un objetivo común. El video muestra experimentos en los que los chimpancés y los elefantes colaboran para obtener recompensas, y cómo los animales comprenden la importancia de trabajar en equipo para alcanzar el éxito.

💡Consolación

La consolación es un comportamiento observado en primates donde un individuo consuela a otro después de una pelea o situación estresante. Este acto es un ejemplo de empatía y de la capacidad de los animales de preocuparse por el bienestar emocional de los demás, lo que refuerza la idea de una moralidad evolutiva.

💡Justicia

La justicia, o el sentido de equidad, es un concepto importante en el video, donde se describe cómo los animales, en particular los primates, muestran sensibilidad hacia situaciones injustas. Un experimento con monos capuchinos ilustra cómo estos reaccionan de manera negativa cuando perciben una desigualdad en la recompensa alimentaria.

💡Religión

La religión es mencionada en el contexto de la reflexión moral en los humanos. Se sugiere que, aunque la moralidad humana a menudo está asociada con la religión, los comportamientos morales básicos como la cooperación y la empatía pueden estar presentes en otras especies y no necesariamente dependen de creencias religiosas.

💡Resolución de conflictos

La resolución de conflictos es un tema clave en el video, donde se muestra cómo los chimpancés y los bonobos manejan las tensiones después de peleas. Los chimpancés tienden a reconciliarse con gestos de paz, mientras que los bonobos recurren a interacciones sexuales para restaurar la armonía. Ambos comportamientos destacan la importancia de mantener relaciones positivas dentro del grupo.

Highlights

The painter of the 15th century explored societal implications without religion through 'The Garden of Earthly Delights'.

Chimpanzees display power dynamics and aggression, yet also exhibit reconciliation behaviors post-conflict.

Bonobos use sexual behaviors for reconciliation, highlighting alternative conflict resolution strategies in primates.

The concept 'Homo homini lupus' (man is a wolf to man) is critiqued as an unfair representation of human and animal nature.

Humanity and animals, particularly primates, are more cooperative and empathic than traditionally acknowledged.

Reciprocity and empathy are identified as the foundational pillars of morality across species.

Chimpanzees demonstrate an understanding of cooperation, as seen in century-old experiments.

Elephants showcase cooperation by pulling a rope simultaneously, indicating advanced cognitive abilities.

Elephants use innovative strategies, such as standing on a rope, to ensure cooperation in tasks.

Empathy is explored through body synchronization, such as yawn contagion, in both humans and chimpanzees.

Chimpanzees exhibit consolation behaviors, mirroring human empathy-driven responses to distress.

Altruism in chimpanzees is tested through token exchange, challenging the notion of human uniqueness in caring for others.

Chimpanzees' choices in pro-social token experiments are influenced by the behavior of their partners.

Capuchin monkeys react to inequity in a task, suggesting an innate sense of fairness.

Philosophers and scholars have been challenged by the findings of animal morality, prompting a reevaluation of traditional views.

The study concludes that morality has evolved with key ingredients like empathy, pro-social tendencies, and fairness present in primates.

Transcripts

I was born in them boss where the

painter here on him his boss named

himself after and so I've always been

very fond of this painter who lived and

worked in the 15th century and what is

interesting about him in relation to

morality is he lived at a time where

religions influence was waning and he

was sort of wandering I think what would

happen with society if there was no

religion or if there was less religion

and so he painted this famous painting

the Garden of Earthly Delights which

some have interpreted as being humanity

before the fall or being humanity

without any fall at all and so it makes

you wonder what would happen if we

hadn't tasted the fruit of knowledge so

to speak and what kind of morality we

would have much later as a student I

went to a very different guard in a

zoological garden in in Arnhem where we

keep chimpanzees this is me at an early

age with a baby chimpanzee and I

discovered there that the chimpanzee is

a very power hungry and wrote a book

about it and at that time the focus in a

lot of animal research was on aggression

and competition and I could the whole

picture of the animal kingdom and

humanity included was the deep down we

are competitors we are aggressive we all

out for our own profit basically this is

the launch of my book I'm not sure how

well the chimpanzees read it but they

surely seemed interested in the book now

in the process of doing all this work on

power and dominance and aggression and

so on

I discovered that chimpanzees reconcile

after fights and so what you see here is

two males who have had a fight they

ended up in a tree and one of them holds

out a hand to the other hand about a

second after I took the picture they

came together in the fork of the tree

and they kissed and embrace each other

now this is very interesting because at

the time everything was about

competition and aggression and so it

wouldn't make any sense the only thing

that matters is that you win or that you

lose but why would you reconcile after a

fight that doesn't make any sense

this is the way bonobos do it bonobos do

everything with sex and so they also

reconcile with sex but the principle is

exactly the same the principle is that

you have a valuable relationship that

damaged by conflict so you need to do

something about it and so my whole

picture of the animal kingdom and

including humans also started to change

at that time so we have this image in

political science economics the

humanities philosophy for that matter

that man is a wolf to man and so deep

down our nature is actually nasty I

think it's a very unfair image for the

wolf the wolf is is after all a very

cooperative animal and that's why many

of you have a dog at home which has all

these characteristics also and it's very

unfair to humanity because Humanity is

actually much more cooperative and

empathic than you then they're given

credit for and so I started getting

interested in those issues and studying

that in other animals so these are the

pillars of morality if you ask anyone

what is morality based on these are the

two factors that always come out one is

reciprocity and associated with it as a

sense of justice in the sense of

fairness and the other one is empathy

and compassion and human morality is

more than this but if you would remove

these two pillars there would be not

much remaining I think and so they're

absolutely essential so let me give you

a few examples here this is a very old

video from the Yerkes primate Center

where they trained chimpanzees to

cooperate so this is already about a

hundred years ago that we were doing

experiments on cooperation and what you

have here is two young chimpanzees who

have a box and the box is too heavy for

one chimp to pull in and of course it's

fruit on the box otherwise they wouldn't

be pulling so hard and so they're

bringing in the box and you can see that

are synchronized you can see that they

work together they pull at the same

moment it's already a big advance over

over many other animals who wouldn't be

able to do that and now you're going to

get a more interesting picture because

now one of the two chimps has been fed

so one of the two is not really

interested in the task anymore

now look at what happens at the very end

of this he thinks basically everything

so they're two interesting parts about

this one is that the chimp on the right

has a full understanding he needs to

partner so full understanding of the

need for cooperation the second one is

that the partner is willing to work even

though it's not invested in the food why

would that be well that probably has to

do with reciprocity is actually a lot of

evidence in primates and other animals

that they return favors and so he'll

will get a return favor at some point in

the future and so that's how this all

operates we do the same tasks with

elephants now as elephants is very

dangerous to work with elephants and

another problem is elephants is that you

cannot make an apparatus that is too

heavy for a single elephant now you can

probably make it but it's going to be

pretty clumsy apparatus I think and so

what we did in their case it is we do

these studies in Thailand which just

plot makes is we have an apparatus

around of which there's a rope a single

rope and if you pull on this side of the

Rope the Rope disappears on the other

side so two elephants need to pick it up

at exactly the same time and pull

otherwise nothing is going to happen and

the Rope disappears so the first tape

you're going to see is two elephants who

are released together arrived at the

apparatus the apparatus is on the left

with food on it and so they come

together they arrive together they pick

it up together and they pull together so

it's actually fairly simple for them

there they are

I said that's how they bring it in but

now we're going to make it more

difficult because the whole purpose of

this experiment is to see how well they

understand cooperation do they

understand it as well as the tips for

example so what we do in the next step

is we release one elephant before the

other and that elephant needs to be

smart enough to stay there and wait and

not pull at the rope because if he pulls

at the rope and disappears and the whole

test is over

now this elephant does something illegal

that we did not teach it but it shows

the understanding that he has because he

puts his big foot on the rope stands on

the rope and waits there for the other

end and the other is going to do all the

work for him so if it's what we call

freeloading but but it shows the

intelligence that the elephants had they

they develop several of these

alternative techniques that we did not

approve of necessarily so the other

elephant is now coming and it's going to

pull it in

now look at the other the other doesn't

forget to eat of course this was the

cooperation reciprocity part now

something on empathy empathy is my main

topic at the moment of research and

empathy has sort of two qualities one is

the understanding part of it this is

just a regular definition the ability to

understand and share the feelings of

another and the emotional part and so

empathy has basically two channels one

is the body channel if you talk with a

sad person you're going to adopt a sad

expression and a sad posture and before

you know what you feel sad and that's

sort of the the body channel of amount

of emotional empathy which many animals

have your average dog has that also

that's actually why people keep mammals

in the home and not turtles or snakes or

something like that

who don't have that kind of empathy and

then there's a cognitive channel which

is more that you can take the

perspective of somebody else and that's

more limited as few animals I think

elephants and Apes can do that kind of

thing with the very few animals who can

do that so synchronization which is part

of that whole empathy mechanism is a

very old one in the animal kingdom and

in humans of course we can study that

with yawn contagion humans yawn when

others yawn and it's related to empathy

it it activates the same areas in the

brain it also we know that people who

have a lot of yarn contagion are highly

empathic people who have problems with

empathy such as autistic children they

don't have your own contagion so it is

connected and we studied that in our

chimpanzees by presenting them as an

animated head so that's what you see on

the upper left and animated head that

yawns and there's a chimpanzee watching

an actual real chimpanzee watching a

computer screen on which we play these

animations

so yawn contagion that you probably all

familiar with and maybe you're going to

start yawning soon now is something that

we share with other animals and that's

related to that whole body channel of

synchronization that underlies empathy

and that is Universal in the mammals

basically now we also study more complex

expressions as consolation this is a

male chimpanzee who has lost a fight and

he's screaming and a juvenile comes over

and puts an arm around him and calms him

down that consolation is very similar to

human consolation and consolation

behavior it's it's empathy it's empathy

driven that's actually the way they

study empathy and human children is to

instruct a family member to act distress

and then they see what young children do

and so it is related to empathy and

that's the kind of expressions we look

at we also recently published an

experiment you may have heard about it

on on altruism in chimpanzees where the

question is do chimpanzees care about

the welfare of somebody else and effort

for decades it had been assumed that

only humans can do that the only humans

worry about the welfare of somebody else

now we did a very simple experiment we

do that on chimpanzees that live in

Lawrenceville in in the field station of

York East and so that's how they live

and we call them into a room and do

experiments with them in this case we

put two chimpanzee side-by-side and one

has a bucket full of tokens and the

tokens have different meanings one kind

of token fits only the partner who

chooses the other one feeds both of them

so this is a study we did with Vicky

Horner and here you have the two color

tokens so they have a whole bucket full

of them and they have to pick one one of

the two colors you will see how that

goes so if this chimp makes the selfish

choice which is the red token in this

case need to give it to us we pick it up

we put it on the table where there's two

food rewards but in this case only the

one on the right gets foods and the one

on the Left walks away because she knows

already that

and a good test for her then the next

one is the pro-social token so the one

who makes the choices that's the

interesting part here for the one who

makes the choices it doesn't really

matter so she gives us now a pro-social

token and both chimps could fit so the

one who makes the choices always get a

reward so it doesn't matter whatsoever

and she should actually be choosing

blindly but what we find is that they

prefer the pro-social token so this is

the 50% line that's the random

expectation and especially if the

partner draws attention to itself they

choose more and if the partner puts

pressure on them so if the partner

starts spitting water and intimidating

them then this choices go down and they

actually don't want to it's as if

they're saying if you're not behaving

I'm not going to be pro-social today and

this is what happens without a partner

when there's no partner sitting there

and so we found that the chimpanzees do

care about the well-being of somebody

else especially these are other members

of their own group so a final experiment

that I want to mention to you is our

fairness study and so this this became a

very famous study under snow many more

because after we did this about 10 years

ago it became very well-known and we did

that originally with capuchin monkeys

and I'm going to show you the first

experiment that we did it has now been

done with dogs and with birds and with

chimpanzees but Becerra blossom we

started out with capuchin monkeys so

what we did is we put two capuchin

monkeys side-by-side again these animals

they live in a group they know each

other we take them out of the group put

them in a test chamber and there's a

very simple task that they need to do

and if you give both of them cucumber

for the task the two monkeys

side-by-side they're perfectly willing

to do this 25 times in a row so cucumber

even though it's really only water in my

opinion with cucumber is perfectly fine

for them now if you give the partner

grapes the food preferences of my

capuchin monkeys correspond exactly with

the prices in the supermarket and so if

you give them grapes it's a far better

food then you create inequity between

them so that's the experiment we did

recently we videotaped it with new

monkeys we've never done the task is

thinking that maybe they would have a

stronger reaction and that turned out to

be right the one on the left is a monkey

who gets cucumber the one on the right

is the one who gets grapes the one who

gets cucumber note that the first piece

of cucumber is perfectly fine the first

piece see eats then sees the other one

getting grape and you will see what

happens so he gives a rock to us that's

the task and we give her a piece of

cucumber and she eats it the other one

needs to give a rock to us and that's

what she does and she gets a grape and

CT the other one sees that she gives a

rock to us now gets again cucumber

she tests our rock now against the wall

she needs to give it to us and she gets

cucumber again so this is basically the

Wall Street protest that you see here

let me tell you I still have two minutes

left let me tell you a funny story about

is this the study became very famous and

we got a lot of comments especially

anthropologists economists philosophers

they didn't like this at all because

they had decided in their mind I believe

that that fairness is a very complex

issue and that animals cannot have it

and so one philosopher even wrote us

that it was impossible that monkeys had

a sense of fairness because fairness was

invented during the French Revolution so

now and another one wrote a whole

chapter saying that he would believe it

had something to do with fairness if the

one who got grapes would refuse the

grapes now the funny thing is that Sarah

Brosnan who's been doing this with

chimpanzees had a couple of combinations

of chimpanzees where indeed the one who

would get the grape would refuse the

grape until the other guy also got a

grape so we're getting very close to the

human sense of fairness and I think

philosophers need to rethink their

philosophy for a while so let me

summarize I believe there's an evolved

morality I think morality is much more

than what I've been talking about but it

would be impossible without these

ingredients that we find in other

primates which are empathy and

consolation pro-social tendencies and

reciprocity and a sense of fairness and

so we work on these particular issues to

see if we can create a morality from the

bottom up so to speak without

necessarily God and religion involved

and to see how we can get to an evolved

morality and I thank you for your

attention

you