Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish. In Good Natured, de Waal convincingly develops another, decidedly more optimistic point of view. Without denying our penchant for nastiness, he argues that we are at the same time moral beings to the core. Many primates demonstrate what de Waal calls community concern. Animals forge lasting alliances through grooming, sharing food or other acts of goodwill' Good Natured focuses on the central role of reciprocity in primate social groups, and the ways in which animals may forge lasting alliances through grooming, sharing food or other acts of goodwill.
Chimpanzees go further.
For example, during experiments in which he gave a chimpanzee group freshly cut branches, prized for their tasty leaves, some animals were noticeably more generous. Mai, in contrast, shared readily and was typically surrounded by a cluster of beggars. Gwinnie and other stingy personalities encountered far more threats and protestations than generous sharers such as Mai. We primates need our fellows to survive. And therein lies the wellspring of our morality.