Since 1960, considerable scientific researches have been done on chimps in their natural habitats. Astonishingly, scientists have found out that the social 1 of Chimps are very similar to humans. Chimps will 2 in certain ways, like gathering together to protect their land. But beyond the minimum requirements as social beings, they have little instinct (本能) to 3 one another. Chimps in the wild seek food for themselves. Even chimp mothers regularly 4 to share food with their children. Who are able from a young age to gather their own food?
In the laboratory, chimps don't 5 share food either. If a chimp is put in a cage where he can pull in one plate of food for himself or, with no greater effort, a plate that also provides food for a neighbor to the next cage, he will pull 6 -he just doesn't care whether his neighbor gets fed or not. Chimps are truly selfish.
Human children, 7 , are extremely cooperative. From the earliest ages, they desire to help others, to share information and to participate in achieving common goals. The psychologist Michael Tomasello has studied this 8 in a series of experiments with very young children. He finds that if babies aged 18 months see a worried adult with hands full trying to open a door, almost all will immediately try to help.
There are several reasons to believe that the urges to help, inform and share are not taught, but naturally 9 in young children. One is that these instincts appear at a very 10 age before most parents have started to train their children to behave 11 . Another is that the helping behaviors are not improved if the children are rewarded. A third reason is that social intelligence 12 in children before their general cognitive(认知的) skills, at least when compared with chimps. In tests conducted by Tomasello, the human children did no better than the chimps on the 13 world tests but were considerably better at understanding the social world.
The core (核心) of what children's minds have and chimps' don't is what Tomasello calls shared intentionality. Part of this ability is that they can 14 what others know or are thinking. But beyond that, even very young children want to be part of a shared purpose. They actively seek to be part of a "we", a group that intends to work toward a(n) 15 goal.