We aren't especially fearful apes, and fearful apes aren't especially prosocial.
Raechel DrewEnda TanFrancis YuenJ Kiley HamlinPublished in: The Behavioral and brain sciences (2023)
Grossmann posits that heightened fearfulness in humans evolved to facilitate cooperative caregiving. We argue that three of his claims - that children express more fear than other apes, that they are uniquely responsive to fearful expressions, and that expression and perception of fear are linked with prosocial behaviors - are inconsistent with existing literature or require additional supporting evidence.