"The results, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, show that both groups preferred watching social interactions over scenes involving solitary individualseven forgoing small rewards to see the former. These findings demonstrate that social information is important, rewarding and valuable for humans and other primate species, Lewis says. It suggests that social information was also important for our shared primate ancestors who lived around 25 million years ago and that for millions of years it has been adaptive for primates to gain social information about those around them."
"Among the children (but not the chimps), the researchers noticed another pattern: as they grew older, boys became increasingly interested in watching scenes of social conflict, such as a tug-of-war over toys or one child crying while another yelled, whereas girls developed a stronger preference for positive interactions, such as play or hair grooming. The researchers hypothesize this result could reflect differing socialization patterns and evolutionary pressures particular to humans."
A study measured responses of human children (ages four to six) from the San Francisco Bay Area and adult chimpanzees to videos of conspecifics. Both children and chimpanzees showed a preference for social interactions over solitary individuals and sometimes forfeited small rewards to view social scenes. Within children, older boys increasingly preferred scenes of social conflict while girls preferred positive interactions like play or grooming. The pattern indicates that social information is important, rewarding and was likely adaptive for shared primate ancestors around 25 million years ago. Sex-differentiated preferences may reflect human-specific socialization and evolutionary pressures.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
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