Empathy predates thinking and language
Oochy-coochy-ugg: caring predated thinking Jonathan Leake Science Editor Published: 22 February 2015 Early humans’ development of caring behaviour meant they worked better together and so improved each other’s survival chances. The change drove brain growth and the evolution of intelligence, scientists suggest. EARLY humans developed kindness, compassion and a sense of beauty long before the emergence of intelligence, new research claims. As long ago as 3m years australopithecines, which had brains just a third the size of ours, were carrying pebbles shaped like babies’ faces. By 1.5m years ago, with brains still only 60% of their size today, Homo ergaster was caring for the ill, while Homo heidelbergensis, which lived 450,000 years ago, appear to have nursed disabled children. By contrast, intelligence and language skills, as seen in modern humans, are thought to have emerged only in the past 500,000 years and possibly as late as 150,000 years ago. “Human evoluti...
