by Marlowe Hood / AFP
Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:49 PM ET
Humans are selfish in earliest childhood but by the age of seven or
eight are keen to share equally, a developmental change so sudden that
it can only be explained, at least in part, by genes, according to a
study released Wednesday.
Behavioural scientists and sociologists have quarrelled for decades
as to whether generosity and selfishness are inherited or result from
social conditioning.
But new experiments with 229 Swiss children between the ages of
three and eight suggest that Homo sapiens is probably somewhere in
between: humans look out for No. 1, but also express, if not outright
generosity, at least an aversion to inequality.