Monkeys were found to have moral qualities
New experiments by American scientists have shown that monkeys have moral qualities. This is reported by The Times newspaper (Monkeys have a sense of morality, say scientists). The scientists presented their results at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Frans de Waal and his colleagues conducted a study of the behavior of monkeys. The animals were offered various simple tasks, for which the primates received a reward: food or praise. The size of the reward varied randomly.
The researchers were able to establish that the monkeys began to get angry, and sometimes refused to continue the tests if they saw that their "colleagues" received more food or better praise for the same work.
In addition, more recently, a group of researchers led by the same De Waal conducted a search for morality in capuchin monkeys. Then the researchers were able to establish that monkeys, all other things being equal, prefer to receive a reward together with family members rather than separately.
According to the researchers, all of the above indicates that morality arose in human society as a result of evolution quite a long time ago. In particular, man partially inherited the basic code of conduct from his ape-like ancestors.
Until now, many researchers believe that morality appeared much later. Between 800 and 50,000 years ago, the ancestors of modern man had to adapt to life and hunting in open spaces. In order to survive, a person had to develop rules of behavior in the tribe that would provide food for offspring, females, and also allow food to be distributed more evenly in hungry years. Those who did not follow the rules were expelled or killed. As a result, the predisposition to moral behavior was fixed genetically.