full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Sarah Brosnan: Why monkeys (and humans) are wired for fairness

Unscramble the Blue Letters


All of my capuchins were perfectly happy with their cucumbers as long as the other meoynks were getting cucumbers too. But they often weren't so happy with their cucumbers when other monkeys were getting a grape. The obvious question is why? If they liked those cucumbers before, what changed?

Now, I'm a scientist, and scientists are flsumoay shy about reading too much into our studies, especially when it comes to what other animals are thinking or feeling, because we can't ask them. But still, what I was seeing in my monkeys looked an awful lot like what we humans would call a sense of fairness. After all, the difference in that cucumber was that it came after wntier got a garpe, rather than before.

Open Cloze


All of my capuchins were perfectly happy with their cucumbers as long as the other _______ were getting cucumbers too. But they often weren't so happy with their cucumbers when other monkeys were getting a grape. The obvious question is why? If they liked those cucumbers before, what changed?

Now, I'm a scientist, and scientists are ________ shy about reading too much into our studies, especially when it comes to what other animals are thinking or feeling, because we can't ask them. But still, what I was seeing in my monkeys looked an awful lot like what we humans would call a sense of fairness. After all, the difference in that cucumber was that it came after ______ got a _____, rather than before.

Solution


  1. grape
  2. winter
  3. monkeys
  4. famously

Original Text


All of my capuchins were perfectly happy with their cucumbers as long as the other monkeys were getting cucumbers too. But they often weren't so happy with their cucumbers when other monkeys were getting a grape. The obvious question is why? If they liked those cucumbers before, what changed?

Now, I'm a scientist, and scientists are famously shy about reading too much into our studies, especially when it comes to what other animals are thinking or feeling, because we can't ask them. But still, what I was seeing in my monkeys looked an awful lot like what we humans would call a sense of fairness. After all, the difference in that cucumber was that it came after Winter got a grape, rather than before.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
capuchin monkeys 6
perfectly happy 4
monkeys prefer 2
playing field 2


Important Words


  1. animals
  2. awful
  3. call
  4. capuchins
  5. changed
  6. cucumber
  7. cucumbers
  8. difference
  9. fairness
  10. famously
  11. feeling
  12. grape
  13. happy
  14. humans
  15. long
  16. looked
  17. lot
  18. monkeys
  19. obvious
  20. perfectly
  21. question
  22. reading
  23. scientist
  24. scientists
  25. sense
  26. shy
  27. studies
  28. thinking
  29. winter