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The results support the idea that a tendency to avoid individuals who mistreat others is one of the things that make humans different from other species. What'

The results support the idea that a tendency to avoid individuals who mistreat others is one of the things that make humans different from other species. What's the evidence for that? Humans love people who mistreat others. We'll die for them and canonize them, for similar reasons as bonobos: they exude power, confidence, strength, certainty. A cursory overview of history and a lot of relationships will support that. Happy to be wrong. What studies are they referring to?

tome 9y ago
Presumably the claim is that what makes humans different from other species is that some humans have a tendency to avoid individuals who mistreat others.
- aaron-lebo 9y ago
  I could see that, but then the article reiterates: The fact that bonobos prefer bullies and humans don’t suggests that an aversion to jerks is a fundamental aspect of human behavior that may be unique to our branch of the primate family tree. In humans, the thinking goes, shunning wrongdoers not only helps people avoid bad partners, but also discourages wrongdoers from behaving badly in the first place. The threat of social rejection keeps them in check. There are a lot of claims in a science article without much support. I don't imagine they are stating that without basis, but not familiar with the research.
empthought 9y ago
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature06288 https://www.nature.com/articles/nature06288 I believe this bonobo study is considered salient precisely because it is trying to be an analogue to studies of humans that have found the opposite result.
- fjfaase 9y ago
  This is a study of preverbal infants. Maybe infants do also discriminate between dominant and less dominant individuals, but at their age, being very care dependent, have a much stronger preference for kind individuals. Maybe infant bonobo's react in the same manner. I am also getting the impression that with adult humans dominance often plays a strong role over kindness.
lumberjack 9y ago
Humans feel the need to justify their evil, though. When a populists rises to power and decides to target a minority, he does not openly say, "let us go bully those people". He justifies himself as the one standing on sound moral ground and he comes up with a reason for why that minority are evil people. So for you, an outsider, you see a guy being a jerk and his followers loving him for it. But his followers are not seeing him as a jerk. They see him as their champion who is leading them in a war of good against evil. It is all relative.

tome 9y ago

Presumably the claim is that what makes humans different from other species is that some humans have a tendency to avoid individuals who mistreat others.

aaron-lebo 9y ago
I could see that, but then the article reiterates: The fact that bonobos prefer bullies and humans don’t suggests that an aversion to jerks is a fundamental aspect of human behavior that may be unique to our branch of the primate family tree. In humans, the thinking goes, shunning wrongdoers not only helps people avoid bad partners, but also discourages wrongdoers from behaving badly in the first place. The threat of social rejection keeps them in check. There are a lot of claims in a science article without much support. I don't imagine they are stating that without basis, but not familiar with the research.

empthought 9y ago

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature06288 https://www.nature.com/articles/nature06288 I believe this bonobo study is considered salient precisely because it is trying to be an analogue to studies of humans that have found the opposite result.

fjfaase 9y ago
This is a study of preverbal infants. Maybe infants do also discriminate between dominant and less dominant individuals, but at their age, being very care dependent, have a much stronger preference for kind individuals. Maybe infant bonobo's react in the same manner. I am also getting the impression that with adult humans dominance often plays a strong role over kindness.

lumberjack 9y ago

Humans feel the need to justify their evil, though. When a populists rises to power and decides to target a minority, he does not openly say, "let us go bully those people". He justifies himself as the one standing on sound moral ground and he comes up with a reason for why that minority are evil people. So for you, an outsider, you see a guy being a jerk and his followers loving him for it. But his followers are not seeing him as a jerk. They see him as their champion who is leading them in a war of good against evil. It is all relative.