Universal Study Reveals Human Tendency to Assist Others

April 20, 2023

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by University of Sydney

A recent study published in Scientific Reports offers new insights into the human capacity for cooperation. The study concludes that people from diverse cultures are more similar than previously thought, and that they tend to exhibit similar behaviors when it comes to helping others. Researchers found that people from towns and villages around the world, from England and Italy to Ecuador and Aboriginal Australia, all tended to help others when needed.

The study also found that people signal a need for assistance, such as passing utensils, once every 2 minutes and 17 seconds on average, and that these small requests for help are complied with seven times more often than they are declined.

The study's findings help to solve a puzzle generated by prior anthropological and economic research, which found variations in how resources are shared among different cultures. For example, whale hunters in Indonesia share out large catches according to specific distributional norms, while Hadza foragers in Tanzania share food more for fear of generating negative gossip. Wealthier villagers in Kenya are expected to pay for public goods like road projects, while such offers are typically rejected by the Gnau of Papua New Guinea as they may create an awkward obligation to reciprocate.

The study suggests that while special occasions and high-cost exchange may reveal cultural diversity, when examined at the micro-level of social interaction, cultural differences disappear, and our universal tendency to help others becomes clear.

Journal information: Scientific Reports

Provided by University of Sydney