The Evolutionary Origins of Altruistic Rewards:
A Comparative Behavioral Approach
Principal Investigator:
Laurie Santos, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology,
Director,
Comparative Cognition Laboratory, Yale University
One of most counter-intuitive findings in the field of positive
psychology is that observation that altruistic actions can increase
happiness more than selfish actions. A central goal of positive
neuroscience, then, is to explore how and why altruistic actions
increase subjective well-being. In order to do so, researchers
have begun exploring how altruistic actions are mediated by reward
circuitry in the brain. Unfortunately, current research on neural
basis of altruistic rewards suffers from a challenging methodological
drawback: to date, there are no existing animal models of altruistic
behavior. The proposed studies attempt to overcome this limitation
by developing a behavioral science of altruistic behavior in two
nonhuman primate species: rhesus macaques and capuchin monkeys.
In fifteen studies, we examine whether two of these model primate
species share human altruistic tendencies and whether they too
experience rosocial actions as inherently rewarding. These studies
will first provide important new insight into the evolutionary
origins of human altruistic behaviors. More importantly, however,
our studies will provide the behavioral insights needed to develop
a neuroscientific animal model of human altruism. In doing so,
the proposed studies will provide the behavioral insights needed
to shed light on the neural basis of altruistic rewards.
Biography
Laurie Santos, Ph.D., is an associate professor of psychology
at Yale University and the director of Yale University's Comparative
Cognition Laboratory. Laurie received her B.A. in Psychology and
Biology from Harvard University and her Ph.D. in Psychology from
Harvard. Her research explores the evolutionary origins of human
cognition by studying the cognitive capacities present in nonhuman
primates. She has investigated a number of topics in comparative
cognition, including primates' understanding of others' minds,
the origins of irrational decision-making, and the evolution of
prosocial behavior. Laurie's scientific research has been featured
in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Economist,
Forbes, The New Yorker, New Scientist, Smithsonian, and Discover. She has
also won numerous awards, both for her scientific achievements
and for her teaching and mentorship. She is the recipient of Harvard
University's George W. Goethals Award for Teaching Excellence,
Yale University's Arthur Greer Memorial Prize for Outstanding Junior
Faculty, and the Stanton Prize from the Society for Philosophy
and Psychology for outstanding contributions to interdisciplinary
research. She was recently voted one of Popular Science Magazine's "Brilliant
10" Young Minds.
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