Next of Kin is a story about a chimpanzee named Washoe, told from the perspective from Robert Fouts. Washoe is a special chimp because she became the first non-talking human. She was taught American Sign Language or ASL for short. ASL uses many different hand gestures, and body movements to communicate with people who cannot speak for themselves. Allen and Beatrix Gardener started project Washoe, and they were tasked with teaching a Chimpanzee. Growing up Rodger Fouts didn’t know any other chimpanzee than Curious George. When Fouts entered graduate school he meat a new chimpanzee, Washoe. Fouts was pursuing a life in psychology working with children. He was taking an animals psychology class, and he was taught that animals are mindless creatures; he was soon proven wrong when he meet Washoe. Fouts excepted a graduate assistant …show more content…
Washoe was raised like a human. She lived with Allen and Beatrix Gardener, and they raised her like she was their own kid. The Gardeners thought that if Washoe was to be raised like a human child then learning a language world come natural, this process is called cross fostering. Previous cross fostering studies showed that chimpanzees could not speak our talking language, so the Gardeners set out to do something different, American Sign Language. This language only requires hand gestures, and body movements, which chimpanzees should pick up on since they are very observant. To get Washoe to pay attention so the sign language rather than what we spoke, the Gardeners ask for the teachers to never speak while signing with Washoe. In other studies, the teachers would expose the chimps to spoken languages and the chimps would not pick up on the signs as much. The Gardeners method was proven to work, Washoe thrived in ASL. If she didn’t know a sign she would make one up, like “dirty good” for toilet. When Washoe was exposed to other chimps, she was able to teach them ASL to communicate with each
Humans have been the dominant species for many years and over the course of history, human nature has never been fully understood due to the fact that there are major differences between how we function in the world compare to other species and we are still learning from it. Human nature is defined as the ability to think, feel, and act in this world (Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary, n.d.). Humans are selfish individuals because no matter how much they act; they want to fulfill their own interest. We blame nature for our problems because other actions, not necessarily our own, control us but in reality it is our own decisions that caused these actions. After reading “Apes in the Family” from Fran de Waal’s Our Inner Ape, humans are not meant to be selfish in nature but also possess empathy and compassion which allows us to form connections and cooperate with others.
Although some may think of metaphor as ornamental and inapplicable for use in subjects other than English literature, metaphors are necessary for communication in all fields. The use of metaphor is especially crucial in the field of education, where students cannot be taught without the use of metaphor because one cannot understand completely new ideas without making a connection to previously known information (Reddy). Textbooks readily employ metaphor in order to convey new information to students. Pages 28-29 of The Primate Family Tree by Ian Redmond illustrates the evolution of primates through a diagram of a tree and describes how the theory of evolution has changed since the nineteenth century. The Primate Family Tree willfully utilizes
The Case of Ronald Cotton Sol Ridgeway University of North Texas The Case of Ronald Cotton 10 years in prison, is what Ronald Cotton had to endure for a crime he didn’t commit. Jennifer Thompson in 1984 was a college student making great grades and feeling really good about her future. While sleeping in her bed one night, she heard something in her bedroom and when awoke, saw a man crouched by her bed. The man jumped on top of her, put a knife to her neck, and began to rape.
1.0 Introduction The question of whether primates in the wild behave similarly to that in captivity is constantly pondered in the scientific community. So, I observed two primates at the San Francisco Zoo to identify their behavior while in captivity and how they differ from those in the wild. In fact, the behavior of these two primates show a correlation with captivity, something one cannot find in these species out in the wild. It is important to understand the impact captivity is having on primates to ensure that the natural balance of their lives is maintained.
“Non-human primates, due to their level of intelligence when compared to other animals, and also due to their evolutionary closeness to man are maintained in several types of captive facilities like laboratories, zoological parks, animal circuses and conservation breeding centres” (Mallapur 2005). They are kept for observation and studies but many of these captive conditions evoke abnormal behavior patterns among non-human primates. Maintaining a satisfied non-human primate in captivity can be challenging. They are many important variables to take into consideration. When the enclosure does not suit the needs of a nonhuman primate it can affect their behavior physically and psychologically.
Amy Tan and Richard Rodriquez both grew up in Northern California, to immigrant families. Amy Tan became famous for her book, “The Joy Luck Club” that later became a movie. Richard wrote “The Hunger of Memory.” Before they became famous though, they both struggled to learn English. In “Mother Tongue.”
In the op-ed piece “A Change of Heart about Animals”, Jeremy Rifkin emphasizes the similarities between humans and animals by providing results on scientific research studies to illustrate that humans should be more empathetic towards animals. In addition, he further explains how research results have changed the ways humans perceived animals and indicates solutions that were taken by other countries and organizations to help improve and protect animal rights. Rifkin provides examples that demonstrate animals have emotions, conceptual abilities, self awareness, and a sense of individualism just like humans. For example, Pigs crave for affection and get depressed easily when isolated, two birds Betty and Abel have tool making skills, Koko
This condition interests us because of well-known fact that in the chimpanzee, and all inferior Primates, a considerable portion of this muscle…” Finally, Parks highlights the difference in the language that the play is written. When African people, The Chorus of the 8 or Venus Hottentot, speak there is a distortion in the language. For instance, The Chorus of the 8 Human Wonders say: “When I was birthed intuh this World.” Here the distortion is represented by “uh” sound.
Janni Pederson with the Great Ape Trust of Iowa (2008) believes that language is more than vocalization of information and consists of a combination of interactions, and that is why they possess their own language and can learn new languages with great effort. Pederson (2008) found that language with non-human primates and humans can consist of turn taking, negotiation, pauses, repetition, and sharing of information through use of lexi-grams; not just vocalization. Pederson (2008) noticed that bonobo monkeys were capable of understanding words and conversations humans had and then reacting with this combination of interactions in order to get what they wanted from the humans interacting with them and caring for them. Understanding words being spoken is an important skill found in the bonobo monkeys, but so was the use of these other components of communicating in order to make up a system of language to effectively obtain the results wanted in response to what was being said by the humans, despite the actual inability of the bonobo monkeys to produce human words. Some research has found that while non-human primates may not be able to control vocalization well enough to produce human words, they are still capable of producing certain taught sounds in response to reward encouragement.
In her memoir she mentioned seeing chimpanzees travel in groups and realized they were like a community. Not only that, but the chimps would use hand gestures to communicate with each other. Goodall found this especially fascinating, since animals have never been seen doing this. As you can see, Hachiko and the chimpanzees both had many human characteristics. The chimps for example, bonded and trusted her.
Koe no Katachi (A Silent Voice) is about Ishida, who bullied Shouko for being deaf in elementary school to the point she had to transfer away. Despite the entire class taking part in being mean to Shouko, they instantly blame only Ishida, and alienate him just as he did to Shouko. Now in high school, Ishida has developed anxiety and depression, but runs into Shouko at a sign language class. What does he want out of talking to Shouko again? Will anyone forgive him?
From the earlier stages of development, children learn to understand other people by tone, facial expressions, and gestures. Although these are important aspects to communication if a child is only using gestures to communicate and not words, then there might be a difficulty in language development. On average “Children will typically be able to say 50 words by the time they reach 2 years. At this age, they will start to put short two-word sentences together. Language learning increases dramatically and by three years children are using three to four-word sentences and can be easily understood by familiar adults.
Evaluates the significance and usefulness of anthropomorphism for the scientific understanding of animals by presenting diverse ideas from historians, philosophers, anthropologists, primatologists, psychologists, behaviorists, and ethologists. People commonly think that animals are psychologically like themselves (anthropomorphism), and describe what animals do in narratives (anecdotes) that support these psychological interpretations. This is the first book to evaluate the significance and usefulness of the practices of anthropomorphism and anecdotalism for understanding animals. Diverse perspectives are presented in thoughtful, critical essays by historians, philosophers, anthropologists, psychologists, behaviorists, biologists, primatologists,
The questionable and ambiguous nature surrounding the notion that children play an active role in acquiring language has been debated by many theorists of different perspectives. These three perspectives include the learning view, the nativist view and the interactionist view. In this essay I will discuss each perspective with reference to psychological theories and research that relates to each view. The learning perspective of language acquisition suggests that children acquire language through imitation and reinforcement (Skinner, 1957). The ideology behind this view claims that children develop language by repeating utterances that have been praised by their parent, therefore gaining a larger vocabulary and understanding of phrases over
It is true that all social animals communicate with each other, from bees and ants to wheels and apes, but only humans have developed a language which is more than set of prearranged signals. No doubt human speech differs in physical way from the communication of other animals. It is impossible to find out that when and how the special talent of language is developed, but it’s clear that its evolution must have been a long process to develop. Origin of language The origin of language is a huge debatable topic over the years.