To no one escapes that the human being is a primate, suborder haplorrinos, to be exact... well, I hope that doesn't leak to anyone... the point is that, following this study published in the journal Science, it's quite clear that great primates are able to detect false beliefs and even help others to discard them. The study also shows that they are capable of complex abstraction.
Obviously they're our cousins, but this study brings them much closer to what we understand as complex reasoning and empathy.
The question is, if our cousins are able to detect false beliefs, Why do human beings culturally find it so hard to question beliefs that, of course, are false?
What do you think about?
P.S.
At first I linked the article directly to the source...
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/354/6308/110
... but as @Truett kindly pointed out to me, need to sign up, so I've taken the liberty of converting the article to PDF and this is the link, if somebody want read it...
https://mega.nz/#!TEMijCCD!loirKDwQRym8aYvBNYEtUZcZT_x6E1fL6ghRSwR2tQs
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Hey, SBMontero, any idea which three species of great apes were studied?
I've been fascinated by this type of study due to what they tell us about the evolution of morality and the cognitive development of humanity. I've seen chimpanzees become astonished at simple magic tricks. Such simple demonstrations indicate that they anticipate a certain outcome then fully recognize that the outcome defied their perception of reality. This study apparently goes a lot further than those experiments.
To your quesiton: Why humans are so susceptible to false beliefs is unknown to me. One reason seems to be associated with our assumption of external agency. We see intent and purpose where it doesn't exist. That is tied to another strength/weakness of ours, which is our pattern recognition proficiency. We excel at it, but we identify deceptive patterns, like rain after a bit of dancing around a fire might lead to a perception of cause and effect. Coupled together, assumption of agency and misidentified patterns might contribute to the rise of false beliefs about nature. And those two working in a climate of ignorance and fear might have led to the early forms of superstition. But like I say, I don't know the answer to the question, but I'm curious...
@Truett: Yes, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans.
One time I was eating with a friend in the middle of the country and, in my peripheral vision, I saw something move, don't know exactly what, and I was scared, almost spilled the wine over. She told me "That's why we believe in god and goblins, fairies... at first it served to escape from predators, but when the predators stopped chasing us and we became predators our brain has used it to fill the gap of what scares us without knowing well what's".
P.S.
That's the point, never lose curiosity... if possible without pouring the wine over.
P.S.S.
Doesn't the editor allow you to see the link to the article?
I had access to the abstract of the study via the link you provided, but to read the study itself I needed to sign up. It was free to sign up, but I just didn't pursue it that far.
Someone who has written a lot about these topics is Michael Shermer, who is editor of Skeptic Magazine and contributing author to publications like Scientific American. He describes Type 1 and Type 2 mistakes that beings make regarding threats, with Type 1 meaning that we overreact to potential threats and Type 2 meaning that we do not react sufficiently to potential threats. He posits that species tend to weed out those that make Type 2 mistakes, so what is left are all the beings who tend to overcompensate when we fear a threat might exist. That tendency leads to reacting to our baseless fears out of simple caution. That would explain why we find ourselves with so many enshrined superstitions and stupid trinkets like rabbit's feet to ward off the supposed dangers that never actually existed in the first place. We're making the same mistake that every species makes; Type 1 mistakes.
[Edit: Changed 'Type A' and 'Type B' to 'Type 1' and 'Type 2'.]
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Attach Image/Video?:
@Truett: I'm sorry, I took it for granted. I'm going to extract the full text in PDF and upload it somewhere.
I have read him... not that particular article, but The Myth Is the Message, and, of course, The Captain Kirk Principle. I promise to look for it and read it.
Sounds like our ape cousins have good bullshit detectors.
I believe I read this story in a Jane Goodall book (could be wrong). An alpha male chimp was guarding closely his access to a female. A subordinate male created a ruse. He acted as if a male chimp from another clan was entering their territory. He charged out into the bush screaming and beating. The alpha male was not to be outperformed and went screaming and beating even further out into the bush. The subordinate male slinked back and mated with the female. It seems not only are chimps aware of the false beliefs of others but are also capable of instilling false beliefs.
I don't know if that would enter into the ability of great apes to detect false beliefs, but it's clear that primates have the ability to create tricks and ruses.
It would have been interesting to know what the reaction of the rest was, whether they reacted by trying to get the alpha out of error, or if they didn't do anything.
The main point is that apes have a theory of mind.
@chimp3: That really is the point, my friend. of course.
Thank so much.
I believe I read in a psychology class about an experiment with chimpanzees. 12 were placed in a large cage and one corner of the floor was electrified so a chimp got a shock if he walked on it. Within a very short time all the chimps were avoiding the corner. The shocking mechanism was removed. Over the next 12 days, one chimp was removed from the cage and a new one placed in. After 12 days there was an entirely new population of chimps who were totally unaware of the shock, but all apes were still avoiding the corner. I believe this relates directly to our continued false belief in a deity. A superstitious belief is handed down and we believe it.
@DancingFool: Sorry, it's a variant of the so-called stair and shower chimpanzees experiment. It's false, but the point of transmitting beliefs about a certain prior experience has its danger. Imagine for a moment that the human being believes in God for a certain previous experience... we know that isn't true, we even know quite well what are the psychological and anthropological mechanisms that lead humans to build false beliefs and, over these , Religions.
I know, as chimp3 say, the point is apes have a theory of mind, as complex as human, but, at the same time, and as the experiment proves, quite different, from my point of view.
I stand corrected.
If all the great apes have a theory of mind then we share a common ancestor with a theory of mind.