Ontogenetic and Phylogenetic Roots of Strategic Help-seeking

Project Information

HelpSeeking

Grant agreement ID: 841021

DOI

10.3030/841021

Project closed

EC signature date 29 March 2019

Start date 1 September 2020

End date 30 April 2024

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 246 669,12

EU contribution

€ 246 669,12

Coordinated by

DEUTSCHES PRIMATENZENTRUM GMBH
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - HelpSeeking (Ontogenetic and Phylogenetic Roots of Strategic Help-seeking)

Reporting period: 2022-09-01 to 2023-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

What drives our decisions when we seek help? How do we determine whom to turn to in times of need? The EU-funded HelpSeeking project delves into the development and evolution of human strategic help-seeking, comparing behaviors in human children from diverse cultures and our closest non-human relatives, chimpanzees. The main objective is to unravel the phylogenetic and ontogenetic roots of these behaviors, focusing on two types of help-seeking: instrumental (requesting action) and epistemic (seeking information). While previous research has predominantly focused on the helper—the individual providing assistance—this project shifts the spotlight to the helpee. The helpee is not a passive recipient but an active participant who can strategically increase the likelihood of receiving help. To successfully obtain help, one must address three key questions: Do I need help? Who is able to help? Who is willing to help? Recognizing the need for help requires self-awareness of one's abilities and environmental constraints. Identifying who can help necessitates an understanding of others' skills and limitations. Lastly, determining who is willing to help involves assessing the potential helper's motivation and the effort required.

Despite the significant impact of strategic help-seeking on an individual's fitness, this project has pioneered in systematically studying the evolution and development of human help-seeking behaviors. It has revealed profound insights into the complexity and sophistication of help-seeking behaviors in both human children and chimpanzees. Both species demonstrate the ability to discern when help is necessary, indicating an evolutionary depth to strategic help-seeking behaviors. Human children exhibit an advanced level of social intelligence by considering not only the helper's ability but also their willingness, potentially balancing the need for support with maintaining social harmony. Furthermore, the project's cross-cultural studies show that children from diverse cultures employ similar strategies in epistemic help-seeking, particularly in recognizing the need for additional information during disagreements. Additionally, children's adaptability in help-seeking—whether seeking independent solutions for future utility or immediate resolutions—demonstrates remarkable cognitive flexibility.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Work Performed and Main Results Achieved:

Instrumental Help-Seeking:
From the beginning of the project, our research has focused on understanding instrumental help-seeking behaviors in both human children and chimpanzees. Our findings indicate that both species can distinguish between situations where help is needed and where it is not, selectively seeking assistance only when necessary (Figure 1). They also consider the helper's ability, preferring to seek help from someone positioned near a functional tool over someone near a non-functional one. A significant distinction emerged: only children, not chimpanzees, consider the helper's willingness. Children prefer helpers for whom assisting requires less effort. These results highlight the sophisticated nature of help-seeking behaviors, revealing that while both species exhibit strategic help-seeking, children demonstrate a more nuanced understanding of social dynamics by factoring in both ability and willingness of potential helpers.

Epistemic Help-Seeking:
Our cross-cultural investigations into epistemic help-seeking have yielded equally compelling results. Children from Kenya, China, and the US exhibit a higher tendency to seek and give help in form of asking for and giving reasons in situations of disagreement than agreement, even as young as five years old (Figure 2). These children understand that disagreements often require additional information and thus request information and provide reasons to build consensus. Furthermore, starting from age 3, children employ reliable strategies to differentiate capable from incapable helpers, favoring those who provide strong justifications (Figure 3) and use rational methods (Figure 4). Furthermore, children adapt their help-seeking strategies based on the context: for tasks with future utility, they seek to learn how to solve problems independently, while for tasks without future utility, they prefer immediate solutions (Figure 5). These findings demonstrate that children strategically adjust their help-seeking behavior to maximize benefits and minimize costs, showcasing a high level of cognitive flexibility.

Overall, the work performed during this period has provided deep insights into the evolutionary and developmental roots of help-seeking behaviors. The results underscore the complexity and adaptability of these behaviors, contributing significantly to our understanding of social interactions and cognitive development in both human children and chimpanzees.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

This MSCA has pushed the frontiers in developmental and comparative psychology in numerous ways:

Advancing the Understanding of Help-Seeking Development:
This action has significantly enhanced our understanding of the development and evolution of strategic help-seeking. Our findings reveal that while chimpanzees do seek help, they do not consider the effort required by potential helpers, suggesting that socially considerate help-seeking strategies may be unique to humans. Additionally, our research has provided new insights into the ontogeny of children’s epistemic help-seeking, highlighting sociocultural similarities differences. These significant results have been presented at major conferences such as the biennial meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development, the Budapest CEU Conference on Cognitive Development, and the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, among others. The action has also facilitated inter-lab exchanges, with presentations at Lab Meetings at institutions such as the University of Michigan, Stanford University, and the University of Vienna.

Contributing to the Open Science Movement:
The action has made substantial contributions to the open science movement. All anonymized data and statistical code produced in these studies have been published on the Open Science Framework (OSF), ensuring full transparency, fostering innovation, and accelerating collaboration. Furthermore, this action has pioneered the development of online study paradigms to investigate help-seeking behaviors. All stimuli for these online studies have been published, allowing for reuse and adaptation in future research.

Promoting Career Development:
The MSCA has significantly contributed to the Fellow securing an assistant professorship position. Additionally, the action has supported the careers of other young researchers. Two students at the University of California, Berkeley, expanded the research questions of the action and investigated the adaptiveness of children’s help-seeking in their honors thesis projects.

Raising Public Awareness:
The action has also created public awareness of the research conducted. To disseminate findings to a broader audience, results were presented at the European Science Night, local kindergartens and schools, and shared in newsletters sent to the parents of participating children. Study insights were also posted on Twitter. To ensure accessibility, all publications from this research are available online with open access.

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Figure 4

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Figure 5