# 10 Of The Most Famous Animals In Psychology



## David Baxter PhD (Dec 21, 2017)

*10 Of The Most Famous Animals In Psychology*
by Christian Jarrett, _BPS Research Digest _
December 21, 2017     



 Psychologists have long studied chimps and other animals with two  principal, related aims: to find out the capabilities of the animal  mind, and to discover what makes us truly unique, if anything. This is a  challenging field. As any pet owner knows, it?s tempting to project a  human interpretation onto animal behaviour. Researchers, especially when  they?ve spent many years studying the same animal, can fall victim to  this very bias (you?ll see a theme of this field is the powerful, close  bonds frequently formed between psychologist and animal). At the same  time, though, there is also a temptation to overestimate our human  uniqueness. Which emotions and capabilities are exclusively human? Tool  use, perspective taking and deceit were once contenders, but no more,  and the list is getting shorter all the time.

 This Digest feature post is a celebration of the contribution that  animals have made to psychology, including eight that we?ve come to know  on first-name terms:

*Hans the Horse*



 The extent to which animals are truly capable of human-like  intelligence has dogged psychologists for over a hundred years. A horse  nicknamed Clever Hans (Der Kluge Hans in his native tongue) seemed to  answer that question in dramatic fashion through his public performances  in Berlin in early 1900s. Trained by a maths teacher Wilhelm Von Ofsten  for four years, Hans appeared not only capable of simple arithmetic and  telling the time, but by using hoof taps to correspond to letters, he  performed even more astonishing feats, like identifying artists from  their paintings or the composers of melodies. The German board of  Education launched an 18-month long enquiry and found no evidence of  fraud. However, the psychologist Oscar Pfungst eventually deduced that  Hans must be reading tell-tale cues from whomever was questioning him  because he could only answer correctly when his interrogator was  visible.

 This revelation highlighted some of the problems that have plagued  animal psychology research ever since. Animals are highly receptive to  human cues and many animal behaviours that seem impressive on the  surface ? and which seem to reveal complex animal cognition ? may often  have a simpler explanation (though Hans? ability to read cues, even when  humans tried to conceal them, remains an incredible feat in itself).  Unfortunately, the story ends sadly. Hans was recruited into the German  war effort and, depending on which account you believe, was killed in  action or eaten by hungry soldiers.

*Pavlov?s Dogs*



  I?m cheating a little with this (and the final) entry by including a  group of famous animals rather than an individual, but it only seems  right to mention the dogs studied by the Russian physiologist Ivan  Pavlov given their contribution to psychology. The reason Pavlov?s dogs  feature in almost every introductory psychology class and textbook is  because they revolutionised our understanding of learning, especially  the principle of classical conditioning (detailed in a classic paper  from 1927). Pavlov discovered classical conditioning almost by  accident, when he noticed that his research dogs salivated when they  heard cues that indicated to them that dinner was on the way. Pavlov  soon found that he could get the dogs to salivate in response to almost  any kind of previously meaningless cue, such as a bell, simply by  pairing the bell repeatedly with the arrival of food. A challenge for  later psychology research has often been to show that something more  than basic learning processes, such as classical conditioning, are at  play when animals perform apparently impressive feats of human-like  intelligence.

*Wahsoe the Chimp*



  A long-running question in animal psychology has been whether human  language can be taught to animals. Early in the last century, one idea  was that our primate cousins might well be capable of human language if  only they were raised in human culture. This prompted the wife and  husband team of Luella and Winthrop Kellogg to raise the chimp Gua  in their home alongside their son. It ended in failure of course, with  Gua unable to speak. Decades later ? it?s strange it took so long ?  animal researchers realised non-human primates would never speak because  of the anatomy of their mouth and vocal chords.

 Recognition of this anatomical fact led to an intense period of  several decades of work that attempted to teach apes sign language and,  later, communication by symbols on a picture board. The first chimp to  be taught sign language was Washoe (hence why I?ve chosen her for this  list, rather than other famous research chimps including Kanzi and Nim  Chimpsky). Washoe hailed from West Africa and was adopted by another  spousal psychologist team, Allen and Beatrix Gardner. Washoe eventually  learned to use over 250 different signs (her obituary in the _New York Times_ in 2007 was headlined: Washoe, a Chimp of Many Words, Dies at 42).  There is disagreement over whether Washoe ever really invented new  words, such as the time she allegedly signed ?water?, ?bird? at the  sight of a swan. However, witnessing this apparent linguistic  improvisation was according to at least one commentator (Harvard  psychologist Roger Brown) ?like getting an SOS from outer space?.

*Koko the Gorilla*



  Most of the ape language studies have involved chimps, but one  particularly famous exception is Koko the Gorilla, who has been taught  sign language (and exposed to spoken English) for decades by the  psychologist Francine ?Penny? Patterson. A few years ago Koko made  headlines around the world when it was alleged by the Gorilla Foundation  in California that she was mourning the passing of actor and comedian  Robin Williams, who she?d met for an afternoon in 2001. A YouTube clip  of their encounter (see above) has been viewed over three million times.  Koko has also starred in her own books, including a children?s book, _Koko?s_ Kitten, and been the subject of several film documentaries, most recently a BBC programme, _Koko: The Gorilla Who Talks To People_.  ?What we can really learn from this extraordinary science experiment  turned love affair?? asks the film, highlighting in a nutshell one key  problem with this entire field ? the emotional closeness between  researchers and the animals they study, challenging the pursuit of  scientific objectivity.

 The sad thing about the story of Koko and the other apes made famous  by their part in psychological study is that the whole field has  crashed, not only because of methodological criticism (most notably a devastating critique published in _Science_  in 1979 by Herbert Terrace, leader of the Nim Chimpsky project, in  which he argued that ape language is not human-like and doesn?t feature  real syntax), but also amid accusations of animal mistreatment. A recent  _Slate_ article  summed up the situation: ?No new studies have been launched in years,  and the old ones are fizzling out. A behind-the-scenes look at what  remains of this research today reveals a surprisingly dramatic world of  lawsuits, mass resignations, and dysfunctional relationships between  humans and apes.? Similarly, a major new paper in _Annual Reviews of Anthropology _by  Don Kulick says, ?The threadbare field left today is an alarming  not-so-funhouse of intrigue, betrayal, accusation, threats, litigation,  dismissals, obese apes (unsurprising when most of their signing seems to  be concerned with obtaining food rewards), dead apes, mass  resignations, and even, inevitably, sex.?

*Peter the Dolphin*



  Sex is also a surprising theme of dolphin research that took place in  the 1960s at a lab known as Dolphin House, built on the Caribbean  island of Saint Thomas. There, John Lilley and his wife conducted  investigations into whether dolphins are capable of mimicking human  speech, and later into the effects of LSD on dolphins (to their  surprise, the drug seemed to have no effect). As part of the language  research, a woman called Margaret Howe Lovatt moved into a specially  designed dolphinarium with a young male dolphin called Peter, living  there more or less 24 hours a day in an office that overhang his water  tank. The idea was that with constant human contact, it would perhaps be  possible for a dolphin to fully grasp and imitate human language.

 One problem: the pup?s burgeoning sexual needs began to interrupt the  language lessons. At first Peter was intermittently relocated to spend  time with female dolphins in another tank, but Lovatt found that this  interfered too much with her research and the bond she was trying to  establish. So she began to satisfy Peter?s needs herself. ?It wasn?t  sexual on my part. Sensuous perhaps,? she told Christopher Riley, the producer and director of the BBC documentary _The Girl Who Talked To Dolphins_.  ?It seemed to me that it made the bond closer,? she continued. ?Not  because of the sexual activity, but because of the lack of having to  keep breaking. And that?s really all it was. I was there to get to know  Peter. That was part of Peter.?

 This isn?t just an odd tale, but a sad one. As Lovatt?s experiment  was coming to an end, news came that funding was being withdrawn from  the lab (Riley says this is because of wider concerns about the welfare  of all the resident dolphins). The following year, Dolphin House lab was  forced to close. The story goes that after being moved to  claustrophobic surroundings in Miami, Peter took his own life.

*Alex the Parrot*



  Language skills and a keen intelligence are not only the preserve of  apes and dolphins, as shown ? to many experts? surprise at the time ? by  the remarkable achievements of the African Grey parrot Alex (an acronym  for ?Avian Learning Experiment?), who was studied for 30 years by the  psychologist Irene Pepperberg, until the parrot?s death in 2007 at the  age of 31.

 Pepperberg, who bought Alex from a pet store in 1977, was apparently  inspired to study Alex because she?d read about the linguistic  achievements of Washoe (see above) and other animals. As well as being  famous for his one liners, Alex apparently learned over 100 words, could  name over 50 objects and knew his colours and shapes. He starred in  several BBC and PBS documentaries. Like many of his ape peers in the  research world, Alex also received notable obituaries upon his death. _The Economist_ referred to him as science?s ?best known parrot?. The _New York Times_ ran with ?Brainy Parrot Dies, Emotive To The End?,  in reference to the fact that Alex?s last words to Pepperberg the night  he died were ?You be good, see you tomorrow. I love you.?

 Compared with his ape peers, it seems that Alex contributed to  research that is more likely to stand the test of time. He featured in  dozens of quality peer-reviewed papers by Pepperberg (by contrast, it?s  over 20 years since the on-going Koko project published a significant  language paper in a peer-reviewed journal, and that was in the _Russian Journal of Foreign Psychology_).  In his recent review of human-animal communication, anthropologist Don  Kulick wrote the ?? emphasis on cognition and downplaying of language  seem to have protected Pepperberg?s studies [of Alex] from the sort of  critical onslaught that pulverized ape-language research?.

*Betty the Crow*



  Alex is far from being the only smart bird in town. Betty, the New  Caledonian crow, though less famous than the parrot, made headlines  around the world in 2002 when it was reported that she had shown the  ingenuity to make a hook out of a straight piece of wire, to reach food  in a plastic tube (another crow had taken off with the hook provided by  the researchers). This was considered a big deal because, as one of the  researchers told the _BBC_,  ?Although many animals use tools, purposeful modification of objects to  solve new problems, without training or prior experience, is virtually  unknown?. In fact, the researchers claimed Betty?s tool-making was more  impressive than the tool use seen among chimps.

 However, as is usually the way with animal research of this kind,  doubts have since been raised about the way Betty?s feat was  interpreted. Last year, a different team of researchers studied 18 New Caledonian crows  as they made tools with the branches they use in the wild. Crucially,  the researchers observed that most of the birds performed the same final  modification ? to create a hook shape ? as seen by Betty in the lab. In  other words, Betty?s feat was not entirely spontaneous, but probably  part of her species? natural repertoire. Meanwhile, while we?re talking  about corvids, an honourable mention should go to psychologist Nicky  Clayton?s scrub-jays, who have been observed demonstrating many  behaviours previously considered uniquely human, such as advanced  deceit. For instance, a jay will re-hide her food stash if a potential  thief was nearby when she first hid it.

*Chaser the Border Collie*



  Not to be outdone by the birds and the apes, a dog named Chaser the Border Collie can  reportedly recognise over 1000 words, having been trained extensively  through play by the psychologists Alliston Reid and John Pilley. ?We  have found that play is infinitely greater than food [for training].  It?s not as distracting and dogs don?t satiate on play? says Pilley in a  promotional video (see above) for his _New York Times_ best-selling book, _Chaser: Unlocking the Genius of The God Who Knows a Thousand Words_.  Are Chaser?s skills an example of true animal intelligence? Pilley  thinks so: ?These kind of findings definitely show that lower animals,  especially dogs, are not machines with blood. They have emotions, they  have mental processes,? says. But again, anyone watching Pilley with his  research subject will see the common problem of an emotional bond  between scientist and animal, potentially blurring objectivity and  making it difficult to interpret research findings. That said, in the  formal published paper  detailing Chaser?s achievements, Pilley claims to have ruled out the  possibility that Chaser relies on visual cues, ?Clever Hans style?.   Chaser?s fame continues to grow through regular documentary  appearances, including on 60 Minutes and National Geographic and on the  BBC.

*Echo the Elephant*



  Echo the elephant died in 2009 at the age of 64 having been filmed  and observed in Kenya?s Amboseli National Park for several decades,  making her the world?s most studied elephant (although, strictly  speaking she was the subject of ethological rather than psychological  study). Echo, who was her tribe?s matriarch for about 36 years, starred  in at least four documentaries, including David Attenborough?s Echo: An Unforgettable Elephant.  The principal researcher was ethologist Cynthia Moss who ? like many of  the other researchers mentioned in this list, formed a powerful  emotional bond with Echo. Moss learned from Echo and the other elephants  of Amboseli about their emotional lives, their transmission of cultural  practices and their capacity for future planning and teamwork. This is  illustrated in the clip above, in which Echo marshals the support of her  tribe?s adult females to execute an apparently daring rescue of her  daughter, Ebony, who had been kidnapped by a rival tribe.

*Harlow?s Monkeys*



  I?m going to cheat again for this last entry and rather than name a  specific creature, include a group of animals who helped us better  understand a fundamental fact about ourselves.

 The importance of physical touch between mother and baby is today  widely recognised, but back in the 1950s this wasn?t the case, thanks in  part to the influence of Freud and his ideas that an infant bonds with  her mother primarily because she satisfies her basic needs of thirst and  hunger. The American psychologist Harry Harlow?s research in the 1950s  with rhesus monkeys changed this. Though ethically controversial, it  provided a powerful demonstration of the importance of physical contact  in mother-infant attachment.

 Inspired by his observation that monkeys separated from their mothers  grew highly attached to and possessive of their blankets, Harlow  created two forms of surrogate mother: one made of wire that provided  milk, another warm and soft that provided comfort but no milk. Given the  choice, infant monkeys spent the majority of their time with the soft,  warm version. However, without their mothers, even the monkeys who  clinged to the cloth-covered surrogates developed serious behavioural  problems later, lending graphic evidence to support the British  psychologist John Bowlby?s claims about the importance of early maternal  care.


_ *Christian Jarrett* (*@Psych_Writer) is Editor of BPS Research Digest and the owner of an adorable miniature schnauzer called Ruby, who understands two words, dinner and walkies. 
*_


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## Daniel (Jan 11, 2022)

Crows Are Self-Aware and 'Know What They Know,' Just Like Humans
					


Almost no other species has that kind of higher intelligence.





					getpocket.com
				




In what now feels like an annual update, crows are even more surprisingly smart than we thought. But do they have true consciousness? Research shows that crows and other corvids “know what they know and can ponder the content of their own minds,” according to _STAT_. This is considered a cornerstone of self-awareness and shared by just a handful of animal species besides humans.


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## Daniel (Jul 13, 2022)




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