Secret of human success is working together, scientists conclude

Researchers have worked out the unique secret to human success - the ability to work together.

The new study outlines the critical social and cognitive capabilities possessed by humans, but not other animals, that explain our success as a species.

It suggests that working as a team and sharing rewards is rare in nature but a key characteristic of humans.The work was carried out by University of St Andrews researcher Dr Lewis Dean and a team of biologists and psychologists from Texas, Strasbourg and the University of Durham.

Dr Dean explained, "Humans can fashion ever more efficient, complex and diverse solutions to life's challenges, building on the knowledge and technology of previous generations.However, other animals, despite being able to learn from one another, never seem to build on that knowledge.

"Our study proves that it is our social skills and, in particular, the human ability to cooperate that explains our successes and achievements in a fast-moving technological age."

In the five year study , the researchers set the same series of puzzles for groups of capuchin monkeys, chimpanzees, and nursery school children – each puzzle built upon the previous one, to retrieve rewards of increasing desirability – better and better foods for the animals and more and more desirable stickers for the children.The children, but not the chimpanzees or capuchins, were able to reach higher-level solutions, largely because they helped each other.

While the chimpanzees and monkeys tried to solve the task alone, the children worked as teams, teaching others how to retrieve the rewards, giving advice, copying each other, and sharing their coveted rewards.The researchers found that the more a child was taught, received spontaneous gifts of retrieved stickers from other children, or imitated others, the better they did in the task.


Source: optimistworld.com