A Natural History of Human Morality

“It is no accident that ideals of the good human life often emphasize relationship with others: an evolutionary adaptation enabling human beings to cooperate may be the disposition to fi nd relationship with others satisfying for their own sake (Moll et al. 2006; Tomasello 2016).”

“Humans are an exceptionally cooperative species able to collaborate for the creation of common benefit9,11–13.”

“How can we make sense of this developmental transition? Theoretical accounts of reputation single out processes of partner choice as key to the emergence of concern for reputation [11,12 ,33 ,34].”

“Whatever standards prevail, quests to demonstrate mental and behavioural responses conforming to others’ preferences pave the way for internalizing group norms [129] and for behaviour that others consider ‘moral’ [89,130].”

“But, as Tomasello (2016) has argued, it is not just that children of this age are being controlled by “them,” but rather they have internalized the collaborative role standards used by everyone as coming from “us,” and so they develop a genuine sense of cooperative identity that guides everything…”

“The capacity to notice others’ traits is a necessary feature of successfully evaluating others as potential partners for collaborative enterprises (Engelmann, Herrmann, & Tomasello, 2012; McAdams & Pals, 2006; Tomasello, 2016, 2019).”

“Many evolutionary-oriented scholars argue that this new capacity for lying was a major obstacle to the emergence and stabilization of language itself (Boyd et al., 2003; Knight, 2007; Mercier and Sperber, 2011; Tomasello, 2016).”

“The broader framework is that the distinctively human traits are adaptations to make culture possible (Baumeister, 2005; Suddendorf, 2013; Tomasello, 1999, 2014, 2016), and culture only works insofar as people follow rules.”

“The we-mode assumes a mutual recognition of the subjectivity and humanity of the other: “recognition of the other persons as agents or persons just as real as oneself…the recognition of an inescapable fact that characterizes the human condition” (Tomasello, 2016, p. 56).”

“Moral responsibility is one of the foundations of human society and culture (e.g., Tomasello, 2016), and so granting some individuals an exemption from such responsibility, especially for socially destructive behavior, is a socially risky strategy.”

“The ability to conduct planned executions means that the killers must share explicit intentions with each other, a capacity that is unique to humans (Tomasello, 2016).”

“Accordingly traits associated with fairness such as senses of responsibility, obligation, duty, guilt and shame appear to be restricted to humans, making their evolution a particularly interesting puzzle (Tomasello, 2016).”

“Future cooperation is a key driver of moral evolution (Tomasello, 2016; Tomasello et al., 2012).”

“Humans actively choose collaborative partners on the basis of characteristics relevant to cooperation, such as prosociality, trustworthiness, and fairness (Nowak & Sigmund, 1998; Sterelny, 2012; Tomasello, 2016).”

“Thus, Vaish, Carpenter, and Tomasello (2016) found that when 3-year-old children thought that they had caused harm, they went to extensive efforts to repair it (and much more than if they had broken the toy when it caused no harm to anyone).”

“The ability to foster a large variety of cooperative social relationships has played a central role in human evolution, spurring collaborative subsistence strategies and cooperative childcare to norms, institutions, and politics (Dunbar, 2012; Henrich, 2015; Tomasello, 2016).”

“This interpretation is bolstered by the observation that young children also intervene against individuals who violate mere conventions [albeit with less emotion; Hardecker, Schmidt, Roden, & Tomasello, 2016].”

“Although scholars debate the degree of self-awareness and moral sensitivity in non-human animals (e.g., de Waal, 2001; Gallup, 1970; Tomasello, 2016), human selfhood has many features and processes that go far beyond those of other creatures.”

“Compared to non-human great apes, every domain of our lives is built on high levels of interdependence (van Schaik and Burkart, 2010; Tomasello, 2016), from subsistence (foraging) and institutionalized activities to rearing children.”

“In general, great apes do not seem to be specifically adapted – beyond other mammals – for “cooperative ventures for mutual gain” (Tomasello, 2016, p. 143–144).”

“…rather by food comparison: Dubreuil, Gentile, and Visalberghi (2006), Fontenot, Watson, Roberts, and Miller (2007), McAuliffe and colleagues (2015), Roma, Silberberg, Ruggiero, and Suomi (2006), and Sheskin, Ashayeri, Skerry, and Santos (2014). was excluded from analysis due to experimenter error.”

“Moral and evolutionary psychologists argue that human morality—people’s beliefs about “right” and “wrong”—partly evolved to solve social dilemma problems (e.g., Haidt 2012; Greene 2014; Tomasello 2016).”

“It has been assumed that children learn about social norms through interacting with the other members of their culture (Piaget, 1932; Tomasello, 2016).”

“It is likely in the larger group context—where relationships with nonkin are based on mutually beneficial, reciprocal interactions guided by principles of fairness and where we must be more vigilant about finding and keeping trustworthy partners—that we rely more heavily on complex prosocial emotions such as gratitude…”

“According to Michael Tomasello’s theory of moral origins, collaborative activity of this sort is the basis for our modern moral psychology (Tomasello 2016).”

“Group affiliation is necessary for human survival (Tomasello, 2016).”

“According to several theories of the psychological and cultural origins of morality, practices of responsibility and punishment have played a central role in the emergence of the human moral conscience (Boehm 2012; Tomasello 2016; Wrangham 2019).”

“The result is a form of social cognition known as "we-mode" or "we-ness" which is processed within the therapeutic relationship as "us" rather than "self" and "other" (Gallotti & Frith, 2013; O’Madagain & Tomasello, 2019; M. Tomasello, 2016) (see Fig.”

“On this hypothesis, normative cognition evolved, as Tomasello (2016, 2020) and Baumard (2010) have also suggested, in the context of skilful mutualistic cooperation.”

“Tomasello (2016) reviewed evidence of cooperative prosociality among nonhuman primates and concluded that early cooperation is mainly for purposes of physical combat, and therefore males tend to be more social than females.”

“Considering the importance of social norm learning to human social development, such as children’s psychological well-being and social interaction in the future (Killen and Smetana, 2015; Tomasello, 2016), it is suggested that future studies may collect longitudinal data at different stages of childhood development to…”

“I will not pretend to tell it (see Jablonka 2017; Tomasello 2014, 2016).”

“The same may be true of the related capacity to treat in-group members as equals (Tomasello, 2016).”

“…is egoistic or altruistic according to the group identification interpretation 10 Alternatively, Reynie’s stance toward Elaine is second-personal (Darwall, 2009; Tomasello, 2016); for Reynie, Elaine’s welfare is something second-personal (your welfare) rather than third-personal (her welfare).”

“What leads children to start perceiving actions in terms of right and wrong based on moral concerns with welfare and rights? Few theoretical proposals and little research have sought to explain this major transformation in early moral development [Dahl et al., 2018b; Piaget, 1965; Schmidt & Rakoczy, in press; Tomasell…”

“Tomasello (2016) proposed that morality began with dyadic concern and mutual obligation and only gradually superimposed cultural morals based on abstract principles on top of what he calls “second-person morality”.”

“…to constrain the option of lying: human societies and individuals becamemore co-operative andmorally-aware already before the emergence of language (Tomasello, 2008, 2009, 2016); honest communication was ensured by conformist learning and moralistic enforcement of norms by punishment (Richerson…”

“Moral societies are generally regarded as ones in which individuals do not merely pursue their own selfish desires, but rather decide to cooperate and look out for others’ interests too (e.g., Tomasello, 2016).”

“Still, chimpanzees do not generally react negatively when they observe unrelated individuals hitting each other (third person, Silk & House, 2011; Tomasello, 2016).”

“From early on, human children are both motivated and culturally expected to learn not only specific, individual forms of behavior, but rather general forms of conduct—social norms— that apply to any competent cultural agent (Rakoczy & Schmidt, 2013; Schmidt & Rakoczy, 2019; Tomasello, 2016).”

“The altruistic sense of guilt, and more generally altruistic morality, could derive from the care-giving motivation, as suggested, for example, by Tomasello (2016), whereas deontological guilt, and deontological morality, could derive, by way of processes of exaptation, from disgust.”

“22 Interactions with others are made possible by shared values governing how such interactions should proceed.”

“With respect to the social patterns or situations that trigger the various MFs, it can be noted that human morality as such emerged as a response to the challenge of free riding on public goods (Graham et al. 2011, Haidt 2012, Tomasello 2016).”

“Once adopted, conventions affect the welfare of individuals and the functioning of social groups, and their violations elicit negative reactions from children and adults (Hardecker, Schmidt, Roden, & Tomasello, 2016; Rakoczy, Warneken, & Tomasello, 2008; Turiel, 2008b).”

“Although more evidence will be needed to assess the underlying cognitive abilities involved in those visible patterns of resumptions and sequencing of actions, these new findings show that some aspects of the structure of joint action coordination appear to be shared among Homo and Pan [34].”

“Guilt, with its reparative focus, is a powerful motivator for prosocial behaviors, such as helping, cooperating, and sharing (Malti et al., 2016; Tangney & Dearing, 2002; Vaish, Carpenter, & Tomasello, 2016).”

“These moral values likely originate from social interactions in close social relationships (caring for others and collaborating with others in dyadic or triadic relationships) but do not presuppose larger cultural group contexts (cf. Tomasello, 2016).”

“Until recently in history, being ostracized and excluded from the tribe meant nearcertain death (Tomasello, 2016; Von Hippel, 2018).”

“The cognitive and psychological requirements for interactive repair seem to go beyond turn-taking and intentionality, and notably include the ability to prompt others for self-repair, which ultimately may also require some form of perspective taking [117,118].”

“According to Tomasello ’ s [35] account of the ontogeny of norms, it is during episodes of joint goal pursuit that children begin to develop a sense of social obligation, based on the motivation to play their part in collective actions.”

“A wealth of data from both evolutionary accounts (Tomasello, 2015) and social-cognitive developmental accounts (Killen & Smetana, 2015; Smetana et al.”