Frans de Waal: Moral Behavior In Animals

[DeSwiss]

Published on Apr 10, 2012 by TEDtalksDirector

http://www.ted.com Empathy, cooperation, fairness and reciprocity -- caring about the well-being of others seems like a very human trait. But Frans de Waal shares some surprising videos of behavioral tests, on primates and other mammals, that show how many of these moral traits all of us share.

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- So it's true. Nature does have a liberal bias......

[pacalo]

1. That was AWESOME -- thanks for posting it!

The chimps in the rope-pulling video were adorable, & the capuchins (near the 13:45 mark) were hilarious!

I could listen to Mr. DeWaal talk about his work for hours.

[DeSwiss]

2. De nada

[rhiannon55]

3. Like wise people have always known

We (mammals) are born with an intrinsic goodness (defined as the ability and inclination to care about others) that needs no commandments, laws, or dogma to activate and control it. This may be simply a way to insure the survival of the species, but it works most of the time. Of course, there are psychopaths in the world, and this doesn't describe them. But I tend to think that something in them is broken, but that's another discussion.

[DeSwiss]

4. Exactly!