Have you ever wondered how we’ve grown to effectively communicate and cooperate with each other in society? According to the study by anthropologist Tomasello and his team, it’s not just because we’re smart, but because we’re unique in our ability to understand each other’s perspective.
Tomasello and his colleagues came up with a study to test how well we can put ourselves in another person’s shoes. They experimented with our closest relatives — chimpanzees — and compared them to human children. They found out that while chimps were good at understanding the goal or objective of their partner, human children were superior in understanding intentions, beliefs and desires behind their partner’s actions.
To demonstrate, let’s imagine two bowls, one of which has a piece of food. While both chimps and kids could understand the goal of their partner reaching for the bowl, only the kids could comprehend if their partner was mistaken about which bowl had the food. They were able to understand that their partner believed the food was in a certain bowl, even when it was not.
This ability of humans, to understand the perspective of others, is very helpful in our day-to-day lives. For instance, let’s say you’re helping a friend look for their lost keys. You understand their belief that the keys are in the room, which changes how you go about helping them. Thanks to this special skill, we can cooperate and help each other in a way that other animals may not be able to do.
Furthermore, Tomasello found that children developed this understanding of perspectives by the time they turned one. This implies that we, as humans, start developing this crucial skill from an early age.
In a nutshell, Yes, intelligence plays a role, but it’s actually our ability to comprehend one another’s beliefs and intentions that sets us apart. It’s like a secret tool in our toolbox that enables us to navigate the complex social world in which we live. So, next time when you help a friend or understand someone else’s view, remember how special this makes us as humans.
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