Reference no: EM133224448

One possible way to interpret Warneken's lecture and the Tomasello lecture is that altruism is innate - evolutionary shared and available to very young infants, and that types of aversion to inequity are built upon that innate knowledge.

Another possibility is that culture mediates altruism. This involves two separate arguments: (a) the evolutionary work on primates is the result of other, separate mechanisms (which is a common argument) in the primate literature) and (b) culture and social norms shape altruistic behavior - many of Warneken's findings are instances of more universal social norms. When one tests norms that differ across culture, one would see differences.

Warneken's lecture seems to ignore the cultural differences (although to be fair, he gave that lecture prior to some of the cultural work, which he was a part of, was done). But, it does seem to ignore (or minimize) cultural differences (e.g., the work by Rochat).

This dialog very much reflects an ongoing debate in the literature. My point here is to simply ask you what you think.

QUESTION: What do you think about this dialog. There is not a right or wrong answer here. Rather, there is a lot of possibility for discussion.