Research Interests for Jingzhi Tan

Humans are incredibly skillful in working with others. We cooperate in large-scale for a long term with unfamiliar strangers even in a costly way. However, how human cooperation evolved remains a mystery. Are we ultra-cooperators because we evolved to be genuinely altruistic to others or because we became more trusting to strangers? I study the psychological mechanisms of cooperation and trust in humans, nonhuman primates and dogs. I take a comparative approach to examine what are unique (and not unique) in human cooperation and how these traits evolved.

Keywords:

Stranger, Prosocial behavior, Cognition, Evolution, Bonobo, Dog, Chimpanzee

Current projects:

Xenophilia in bonobos

Other-regarding preferences in bonobos

Xenophobia in humans

Trust formation in domestic dogs

Areas of Interest:

Prosocial behavior
Xenophobia
Cognitive evolution

Recent Publications   (search)

1. Tan, J; Ariely, D; Hare, B, Bonobos respond prosocially toward members of other groups., Scientific Reports, vol. 7 no. 1 (November, 2017), pp. 14733 [doi] [abs]
2. Tan, J; Hare, B, Bonobos share with strangers., Plos One, vol. 8 no. 1 (January, 2013), pp. e51922 [doi] [abs]