Human infants can override possessive tendencies to share valued items with others

Comparative physiological anthropogeny: exploring molecular underpinnings of distinctly human phenotypes

Anthropogeny is a classic term encompassing transdisciplinary investigations of the origins of the human species. Comparative anthropogeny is a systematic comparison of humans and other living nonhuman hominids (so-called "great apes"), aiming to identify distinctly human features in health and disease, with the overall goal of explaining human origins. We begin with a historical perspective, briefly describing how the field progressed from the earliest evolutionary insights to the current emphasis on in-depth molecular and genomic investigations of "human-specific" biology and an increased appreciation for cultural impacts on human biology. While many such genetic differences between humans and other hominids have been revealed over the last two decades, this information remains insufficient to explain the most distinctive phenotypic traits distinguishing humans from other living hominids. Here we undertake a complementary approach of "comparative physiological anthropogeny," along the lines of the preclinical medical curriculum, i.e., beginning with anatomy and considering each physiological system and in each case considering genetic and molecular components that are relevant. What is ultimately needed is a systematic comparative approach at all levels from molecular to physiological to sociocultural, building networks of related information, drawing inferences, and generating testable hypotheses. The concluding section will touch on distinctive considerations in the study of human evolution, including the importance of gene-culture interactions.

Prosociality and health: Identification with all humanity is a replicable predictor of prosocial motivation for health behaviors

The acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic may have passed, but the pandemic remains a major worldwide health concern that demands continued vigilance. Are there individual differences that predict the motivation to continue to wear masks and to create physical distance in public? Previous research conducted early in the pandemic had suggested that a particular social identity-identification with all humanity-is one underlying factor that contributes to people's cooperation with health behavior guidelines. This highlights that the pandemic is not only an issue to be tackled with the tools of immunology and epidemiology. It also requires the tools from psychology-to measure the representations people have about themselves and others and how these representations drive values and decisions related to health. Here we report work on U.S. respondents that examined whether individuals' level of identification with all humanity predicts their prosocial health behaviors aimed at mitigating the spread of COVID-19. In 3 convergent studies (total N = 1,580), we find that identification with all humanity predicted the prosocial motivation to wear masks and to engage in physical distancing when in public without a mask. The results were obtained while controlling for a host of covariates, including demographics, educational attainment, and Big Five personality dimensions. We find that some people have a marked drive to care for the health of strangers, which is significantly linked to their concern for all humanity rather than being restricted to their care for their community or country. Discussion focuses on this social identification with humanity and its enduring, replicable role in predicting the motivation to engage in prosocial health behaviors. We note key implications for theories in social and developmental psychology as well as for research that may lead to practical applications for lessening the human toll of the current and future pandemics.

Why help others? Insights from rodent to human early childhood research

Helping behavior are actions aiming at assisting another individual in need or to relieve their distress. The occurrence of this behavior not only depends on automated physiological mechanisms, such as imitation or emotional contagion, that is, the individual's emotion and physiological state matching with others, but also needs motivation to sustain. From a comparative and developmental perspective, we discover that the motivation for helping behavior has a deep foundation both phylogenetically and ontogenetically. For example, empathic concern for others, relieving personal distress and the desire for social contact are universal motivations across rodents, non-human primates and human early childhoods. Therefore, a circle-layered model integrating evidences for motivation for helping behavior from rodent to human early childhood research is proposed: the inner circle contains the emotional-behavioral system and the outer circle contains the affective-cognitive system. The application of this model has significance for both behavioral neuroscience research and cultivating prosocial behavior in human society.