Abstract
In his letter (1), the author argues against prosocial tendencies in chimpanzees because the chimpanzees in our study (2) failed to select the prosocial option all of the time. Instead, he suggests that they show evidence for “mean-spirited” motivations, because any deviation from a perfectly prosocial score must indicate purposeful withholding of benefits for the partner. However, behavioral studies are not conducted in a vacuum, informed by hypothetical analogies. Our study involved real participants in a social environment in which they express myriad conflicting motivations, inhibitions, distractions, emotions, and preexisting social “baggage” brought with them into an experimental setting. Before discussing the potential influence of these factors, let us review some human prosocial choice tests (PCTs) because they yield results that do not substantially differ from our chimpanzee study.
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