Fascinating article and thanks so much Beth. And a lot of projection
you say Paul? Please, please read the book, _Next of Kin_ by Roger
Fouts in which he describes his work with Washoe on sign language.
Chimps are extremely bright animals and are as capable of learning
through observing and imitation as we are. This book also is an
extremely good read, as Fouts, though a scientist first and foremost, is
also amusing, insightful and compassionate. It was only after reading
this terrific book that I began to understand the animal rights movement.
Relative to the article in Current Biology, I was baffled at the
authors hypothesis that these behavior patterns seen more in female
chimps versus male chimps could be "evidence" for the biological
gender-derived behaviors, well except for the obvious reason of the
journal that published it. I am increasingly concerned that we are
dividing into camps of nurture versus nature again as opposed to the
more accurate, nurture and nature. Clearly, these behaviors could be
explained using Bandura's research on observational learning that
reveals that we are more likely to imitate those with whom we more
highly identify. And, usually, this results in boys imitating their
fathers and girls imitating their mothers, yes with significant
exceptions but, as per that cliche, the exceptions prove the rule. The
majority of girls imitate women role models--at home, on TV and in books
while and the majority of boys imitate male role models.
Joan
Paul Brandon wrote:
On Dec 21, 2010, at 7:10 AM, Beth Benoit wrote:
An article in /Current Biology/ describes how young chimps appear to
carry sticks in the same way human little girls carry dolls around.
This is more than twice as likely to be seen in female chimps. I
loved the image of the chimps even playing the "airplane" game:
"lying on their backs and lifting the stick in the air, much as
human parents entertain their youngsters."
A little anthropomorphism can be fun...
and a lot of projection....
http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/230158/chimps-also-play-dollies
Paul Brandon
Emeritus Professor of Psychology
Minnesota State University, Mankato
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
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