![]() When did we become so helpful? Anthropologists - scientists who study how humans developed - think it started when our ancestors had to work together to hunt big game. In fact, Charles Darwin, the 19th-century scientist famous for studying evolution, thought conscience is what makes humans, well, human. Our conscience is part of what lets us do so. But humans work together in ways no other species does. So do some birds, who work together to raise young or to gather food for their social group. ![]() The other great ape species (chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos and orangutans) also live in cooperating groups. We’re hardly the only ones to do this, however. That means we work together to get things done. ![]() Or they see another person not helping out when they should. Often, when someone’s conscience gets their attention, it’s because that person knows they should have helped someone else but didn’t. Why do people have a conscience? How does it develop as we grow up? And where in the brain do the feelings that make up our conscience arise? Understanding conscience can help us understand what it means to be human. Scientists are trying to understand where conscience comes from. The emotions that stop us include guilt, shame, embarrassment and a fear of being judged poorly by others. ![]() Other times, we need to not do something. Empathy, gratitude, fairness, compassion and pride are all examples of emotions that encourage us to do things for other people.
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