Helping
Humans are remarkably prosocial, often willing to help others altruistically — even strangers they will never encounter again — by sharing valuable resources or assisting others in achieving their goals. This behaviour is frequently motivated by a genuine concern for the welfare of others. But is this trait uniquely human?
Our research suggests that chimpanzees possess the basic skills and motivations to engage in low-cost helping behaviour. In situations where selfish benefits can be ruled out, chimpanzees will provide instrumental help to others struggling to reach an out-of-reach goal. However, an important factor limiting chimpanzees' helping behaviour is that recipients need to provide clear signals about their goals or needs for help to be forthcoming (Warneken et al., 2007; Melis et al., 2008; 2011; 2018).
Helping paradigm from Melis et al. (2011)
Chimpanzees helped only when the recipients communicated their goal/need (Recipient active) from Melis et al. (2011)