Category | Arts & Living

We’re a lot like apes

Published on February 13, 2007 by The Sentinel

    Last week Frans de Waal, the director of Living Links at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center Emory University, presented a lecture entitled “Our Inner Ape: Human Nature as Seen by a Primatologist,” sponsored by the Philosophy Student Association and the biology department. De Waal’s lecture was based on his book, “Our Inner Ape.” “Atlanta has more primatologists than anywhere in the world,” de Waal said before explaining a bit about his background and field of work.  De Waal used a DNA graphic to show how humans are basically apes. He then showed a restructured categorizing of the hominoid family in the animal kingdom classification.

    He spoke about different aspects of life that clearly show the similarity between humans and apes. Revolving around social behavior, the topics ranged from peacemaking to power, and also included sex, empathy and reciprocity.

    “We are basically slow animals due to information processing,” de Waal said. “Aggression is what brings individuals together.”

    Aggression leads to reconciliation, which leads to peace; therefore one cannot have peace without aggression. This makes conflict and reconciliation inevitable, according to de Waal.     He showed this in modern day society by using politics as an example. After a primary election for an office, one will see those in the same party reconcile to unite once again as a whole, in order to bring peace to the party. He led this idea toward the idea of power.

    “Power and hierarchy are the most ignored topics in social science,” de Waal said.
    He discussed how many psychology textbooks leave this important subject out and how he considers power the key to understanding social behavior.

    He also touched on the different ways that apes communicate power and dominance in social groups. Chimpanzees stand their hair up, use bipedal swagger and grunts to verbally communicate [the bipedal swagger is an upright stance with the arms extended outward].
    The most exciting part of the lecture was the discussion of sex involving primates. In reproduction, success is the most important factor, according to de Waal.

    Reproduction is what creates the differences between the sexes, in that males are out to have as many mates as possible for better odds of reproducing while females seek the best quality to reproduce with. This explains why males compete over control of females and why females seek out the best quality of mates.

    He then showed us how bonobos, a type of primate, are more similar to our last common ancestor due to their attitude toward sex. They use sex to reconcile, make friends, and to encourage sharing within their groups. Bonobo females are the dominant sex, the most empathetic, and posses a social gene that is more human than primate.

    This led to the topic of empathy, and de Waal explained how the concept of consolation exists solely within the primate species, separating us from others in the animal kingdom.

    “Two principles are essential to human morality: empathy and reciprocity,” de Waal said.

    The reciprocity theory states that there are time delays between giving and receiving and that there is a contingency between giving and receiving. In order to be capable of reciprocity, a well-developed memory is required. Reciprocity is associated with positivity and gratitude.

    “Humans are the most bipolar ape. When we are negative, we are more negative than other species,” said de Waal. “An example of this is genocide. But we can be more positive than any other species as well.”

    De Waal’s speech concluded with a question and answer session followed by a book signing.