Comparative Psychology Test

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Mary Gani

Psychology – 12

Comparative Psychology Test

4. a.)         In 1933, Kellogg and Kellogg raised their child with chimpanzee Gua to attempt in teaching Gua spoken English. Although Gua could understand approximately 70 words, there was no speech production at all. Gardner and Gardner (1969) taught a female chimpanzee named Washoe. Instead of teaching her how to speak, they tried another attempt: teaching her American Sign Language (ASL).  By utilizing positive reinforcement, Washoe was able to comprehend and use over 130 distinct signs by the age of 4. Like a young child, she generalized words, such as “more tickling” and “more brushing”.  She also showed spontaneous recombination, such as calling a swan a ‘water bird’, as well as teaching it to her children and other chimpanzees. Premack and Premack (1972) taught the female chimpanzee Sarah a language using plastic symbols in certain orders.  She was able to understand link between plastic symbols and what they stood for. She was also capable of understanding grammatically complex instructions. Rumbaugh (1977) taught chimpanzee Lana an artificial language of symbols (Yerkish) on a computer keyboard. She was able to invent new words, such as ‘finger bracelet’ for a ring and ‘green banana’ for a cucumber. She was also capable of understanding word order difference, and could self-correct herself if she made an error. Using operant conditioning and modeling, Patterson (1978) taught the gorilla Koko American Sign Language. Koko was able to show productivity, create self-description ‘red, mad gorilla’ and insult ‘dirty toilet’; reflexiveness, for instance ‘good sign Micheal’; displacement, when apologizing for a biting incidence 3 days before; as well as prevarication, when lying and joking.  Herman et al (1984) taught dolphins Akeakamai and Phoenix a symbolic language. By using positive reinforcement, dolphins showed semanticity, understanding of commands; productivity, understanding of word order; as well as displacement. Pepperberg (1983) taught the African Grey Parrot Alex spoken English, and it proved to show semanticity.

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b.)         Language is more than a system of communication, it is the ability to understand a certain concept or idea. One of the most provocative debates over recent years has been over whether language is an ability specific to humans. While research and development have begun to challenge the assumption of language being human-specific, skeptic scientists as well as others have nonetheless, disregarded evidence.

There has been also been a debate on whether it is the productivity or comprehension of language that is more important. Savage-Rumbaugh sees comprehension of language to be the most important aspect of language. Dolphins’ studies ...

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