Great apes, like humans, possess impressive knowledge of their social world: they remember social partners for decades, encode their dispositions and relationships, & even track their perspectives in surprisingly rich ways

Origins of the social mind: Cognition in humans and other apes. Christopher Krupenye. European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association, 15th Conference, Mar 2021. https://ehbea2021.com/

Abstract: Few traits characterise humans more profoundly than the complexity of our social lives, and the depth of our insights into the social and mental lives of others. To predict behaviour and make decisions in a dynamic and uncertain social world, we track others’ social relationships, evaluate others based on their behaviour or identity, and even attempt to infer their thoughts and emotions. That our potential social partners possess these skills, too, is precisely what makes the social world so complex. In turn, we must manage our reputation and relationships, adhere to the norms of our group, and strategically navigate manifold cooperative and competitive interactions. Cognition is at the heart of what makes social life so demanding and thus, to characterize the origins of human social complexity, we must understand the origins of our social cognition. I will present a series of comparative experiments with humans and our closest phylogenetic relatives, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus), aimed at identifying shared traits that were likely present 6-9 million years ago in our last common ancestor, as well as spotlighting unique features of the human mind. This work demonstrates that great apes, like humans, possess impressive knowledge of their social world: they remember social partners for decades, encode their dispositions and relationships, and even track their perspectives in surprisingly rich ways. Together, this body of research suggests  that the roots of our social minds are discernible in the minds of our closest relatives, and extend deep into our evolutionary history.

Happy people retain their jobs because they enjoy doing their work; happiness leads people to place more weight on enjoyment than on competence in the enjoyment-competence trade-off context

Enjoyment Versus Competence Trade-Off: Happy People Value Enjoyment Over Competence More Than Unhappy People. Mina Jyung, Incheol Choi & Yerin Shim. Journal of Happiness Studies, Apr 2 2021. https://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-021-00374-5

Rolf Degen's take: When compared with unhappy individuals, happy people value work they enjoy more than work that they perform well

Abstract: Do people prefer a job that promotes feelings of enjoyment, or of competence? The present research examined the role of individuals’ happiness in choosing the type of work to engage in when selecting between two characteristics of the work—enjoyment and perceived competence. Studies 1, 2, and 3 revealed that happier people are more likely to value (Study 1) and to choose (Studies 2 and 3) work they enjoy over work in which they expect high competence. In Study 3, a direct manipulation of happiness increased preference for enjoyment, but not for competence. Finally, Study 4 found that happy people, when compared with their unhappy counterparts, retain their jobs because they enjoy doing their work. Together, the findings suggest that happiness leads people to place more weight on enjoyment than on competence in the enjoyment-competence trade-off context.