Not too long ago, anthropologists and other scholars looked to primate behavior to gain insights into human nature. Chimpanzees, assorted other apes and even monkeys, after all, are closely related to human beings and so it was assumed that common behaviors between them and us are probably hard wired into our genes. Feminists soon showed how the selection of species for study was used to justify theories concerning the sexual division of labor. Later, especially as scholars began to merge insights from evolutionary theory and genetics, claiming causal connections between behaviors and "human nature" came to be seen as simplistic at best. Recent studies of capuchin monkeys--whatever intention of researchers--have served to justify the current dominant economic system. Now come 2 chimpanzee studies published in Science (journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science) suggest that a propensity for altruistic behavior and cooperation may help explain human evolutionary success!
