W2 2.3 Animal Thoughts and Instincts

What is the theory of mind?

The knowledge that others may have different BAVs to one’s own.

Is animal behaviour a function of conscious thought or simple instinct?

Otters open mussels by bashing them against a rock on its stomach. They will search for good rocks and keep them for later. Suggest future planning = thought?

Describe the experiment of chimps and insight learning (cage).

(Kohler, 1925)

A chimp would be placed in a cage. A short stick is placed inside the cage, a long stick out of reach, and a fruit even further away.

The chimp would try grab the food immediately = instinct. Eventually it would grab the small stick to grab the long stick, then use the long stick to get the fruit = thought.

Describe the experiment of chimps and insight learning (box).

(Kohler, 1925)

A chimp would be placed in a room that contain several boxes. A fruit would be hanging from the ceiling, out of reach. The chimp would first reach for the fruit = instinct. Then it would stack boxes to reach the fruit = thought.

Do chimps have insight learning?

Chimps often arrived at the solution after it had been sitting quietly, suggesting that it had been thinking about the problem and was struck by a sudden insight, it was not acting on instant.

Hence, behaviour is a consequence of thought (conscious).

Describe the experiment where chimps learnt numeracy.

(Rumbaugh, Savage-Rumbaugh & Pate, 1988)

Chimps were presented with two pairs of food container and had to choose the preferred pair.

Chimps chose the pair with the highest combined number of cookies.

Describe the experiment that suggest apes have self-consciousness.

Self consciousness: appreciation of one’s own mind.

Apes can explore themselves in the mirror (self-recognition); pass the mark test.

When does theory of mind develop for humans? Describe the relevant experiment.

c. 4 years old.

A child was shown a tube a smarties and asked what’s inside. They were then shown what another child would think is inside the tube.

Pre 4 years: child would say that the other child would also think it’s pencils (not conscious of other minds).

4+ years: child would say that the other child would think it’s smarties (conscious of other minds).

Describe the observation where chimps showed understanding of theory of mind.

Deception requires a theory of other minds. Chimps are capable of deception.

Baby chimps can fake being attacked to its mum helps the chimp protect its food.

Describe the study testing whether chimps have a theory of mind.

(Povinelli & Eddy, 1996)

Chimps presented with two people who are holding food, one blindfolded the other not. The chimp can beg for food from either person by putting its hand through a hole and gesturing towards the person.

Children above 4 years never begged from the blindfolded experimenter. Chimps equally likely to beg from either experimenter.

Conclusion: chimps don’t have a full appreciation of other minds.

Do animals have cognitions (thoughts)?

Yes, especially apes.

• Insight

• Numeracy

• Some theory of mind

• Cultural diversity

Suddendorf & Whiten (2001): cognitive ability similar to 2 year old infants.

What are the 3 criteria for languages?

1) Must use meaningful combinations of sounds, gestures or symbols.

2) Allows displacement — can communicate about objects or events that are displaced in time or space.

3) Contains grammer (syntax).

Describe examples of animals seeming to display language.

Vervet monkeys have different alarms for different predators (leopard, eagle, snake) = meaningful.

Parrots can make and understand meaningful utterances = meaningful.

Honey bees can communicate with other bees by dancing. The direction and duration of the dance indicates the direction and distance (number of landmarks) to food source = displacement.

A chimp (Washoe) was taught ASL and learnt 132 signs (Gardner & Gardner, 1969).

A gorilla (Koko) was taught ASL and learned 1000+ signs, kept a pet of a different species and held in online chat in 1998.

Do animals have language?

Animals seem to have the capacity for language as they can combine individual signs or symbols into meaningful expressions.

But apes gain language with great difficulty and their syntax is poor. Trainers may also be ascribing more to signs that is realistic. —> aren’t capable of grammar.

Most agree that animals can’t invent languages though they can acquire language skills of a two year old.