Cooperative behavior is central to human societies. Human adults who reach their cooperative decisions more rapidly and independently of cognitive control display greater levels of prosocial behavior. This is taken to show that cooperation is guided by intuitive processes rather than by active control of selfish impulses. The current study investigated the emergence of intuitive cooperation in early human ontogeny. We measured helping behavior (latency and frequency) in a longitudinal sample of infants at ages 14 and 18 months. Between 14 and 18 months, the frequency of helping significantly increased and latency to help significantly decreased, suggesting advances in helping behavior during this period of development. Moreover, at 18 months and to some extent, even at 14 months, infants who helped more rapidly (as indexed by a shorter latency) acted more prosocially (as indexed by a greater frequency of helping) than infants who were slower to help. This link between latency and frequency of prosocial behavior was independent of infants' ability for inhibitory control and general sociability levels. Prosocial behavior thus begins to be governed by intuitive processes that operate independently of cognitive control early in human ontogeny. This informs our understanding of the nature and emergence of cooperative behavior by supporting accounts that assign a central role to intuition in the evolution of human cooperation.

中文翻译：

---

帮助，快速和缓慢：探索早期个体发育中的直观合作。

合作行为对人类社会至关重要。较快地达成合作决定并独立于认知控制的人类成年人表现出更高的亲社会行为水平。这表明合作是通过直观的过程而不是主动控制自私的冲动来指导的。本研究调查了人类早期个体发育中直观合作的出现。我们在纵向样本中测量了14和18个月婴儿的帮助行为（潜伏期和频率）。在14到18个月之间，帮助的频率显着增加，而帮助的等待时间则显着减少，这表明在此发育阶段的帮助行为有所进步。而且，在18个月（在某种程度上，甚至14个月），与帮助速度较慢的婴儿相比，帮助速度更快（以较短的潜伏期为指标）的婴儿的亲社会行为（以帮助的频率更高为指标）。潜伏期和亲社会行为频率之间的这种联系与婴儿的抑制控制能力和一般的社交能力无关。因此，亲社会行为开始受到直观过程的支配，这些直观过程在人类个体发育的早期就独立于认知控制而运作。通过支持在人类合作的发展中为直觉赋予核心作用的说明，这可以使我们对合作行为的性质和出现有了更深入的了解。抑制控制能力和一般的社交能力。因此，亲社会行为开始受到直观过程的支配，这些直观过程在人类个体发育的早期就独立于认知控制而运作。通过支持在人类合作的发展中为直觉赋予核心作用的说明，这可以使我们对合作行为的性质和出现有了更深入的了解。抑制控制能力和一般的社交能力。因此，亲社会行为开始受到直观过程的支配，这些直观过程在人类个体发育的早期就独立于认知控制而运作。通过支持在人类合作的发展中为直觉赋予核心作用的说明，这可以使我们对合作行为的性质和出现有了更深入的了解。