Brilliant study: Chimps would rather cooperate than compete
A BRILLIANT study found that:
When given a choice between cooperating or competing, chimpanzees choose to cooperate five times more frequently.
And also that:
The chimpanzees used a variety of enforcement strategies to overcome competition, displacement and freeloading, which the researchers measured by attempted thefts of rewards.
These strategies included the chimpanzees directly protesting against others, refusing to work in the presence of a freeloader, which supports avoidance as an important component in managing competitive tendencies, and more dominant chimpanzees intervening to help others against freeloaders.
This indicates that cooperation is hardwired into humans on a biological level by evolution.
Which makes you wonder why so many workplaces heavily emphasize competition over cooperation.
Related posts
5 reasons why competitive team-building events are a waste of time.
No Contest by Alfie Kohn – an excellent book on why competition hurts performance.
We need more science in business.
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