The link was to an article about a 2012 study published in the Nature journal, entitled "Spontaneous Giving and Calculated Greed." The study [PDF download] had this to say in its introduction:
On the basis of our results, it may be tempting to conclude that cooperation is "innate" and genetically hardwired, rather than the product of cultural transmission. This is not necessarily the case: intuitive responses could also be shaped by cultural evolution and social learning over the course of development. However, our results are consistent with work demonstrating spontaneous helping behaviour in young children. Exploring the role of intuition and reflection in cooperation among children, as well as cross-culturally, can shed further light on this issue. ... Exploring the implications of our findings, both for scientific understanding and public policy, is an important direction for future study: although the cold logic of self-interest is seductive, our first impulse is to cooperate.
In further Google searches on this and related subjects, I also came across a 2006 article on a similar study published in the Science journal involving children and chimpanzees. As summarized:
Human society depends on people being able to collaborate with others - donating to charity, paying taxes and so on - and many scientists have argued that altruism is a uniquely human function, hard-wired into our brains. The latest study suggests it is a strong human trait, perhaps present more than six million years ago in the common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans.
Studies such as these are important, but merely reinforce what we already know about ourselves. Who we are as humans is perfectly visible. Most people are law-abiding and tend to cooperate. We also know that external forces—ideology, political turmoil, economic hardship—can work against our instincts. People are generally good, but are also susceptible to conditions and are therefore—all of us—capable of profound barbarity. One needn't read research papers and academic journals to know this.
Yet, it is worth reminding ourselves of these realities, as we are encouraged to forget or ignore them. Movies and television shows suggest rampant psychopathology in society, which is not the case. The political discourse constantly ingrains the myth that the United States is a nation divided, which is not the case. And in our personal lives, there is a tendency to commit the fallacy of hasty generalization, creating a general rule from limited specifics. So, we observe an instance of foolishness and leap to the conclusion that "most people are stupid," which is not the case.
In order to politically utilize our general agreement on matters of policy and our collaborative instincts, these actualities have to be foremost on our minds. Distraction works in the favor of anti-democratic, anti-populist forces—and further distraction.
The next time a toddler offers you a portion of her half-eaten cookie, it would do well to take this gesture with the utmost seriousness. Though unaware of it, she's telling you something.
