Apes Theory of Mind Flashcards
1
Q
Do chimps have theory of mind? Premack and Woodruff
A
- chimp offered correct solutions to an actor’s problems
- suggesting she could infer the actors intention and therefore have theory of mind
2
Q
Povinelli’s view on chimps having ToM
A
- No camp
- Chimps do not reason about others’ beliefs, or any other mental states
- Same behaviours, but not same underlying psychological mechanisms
3
Q
Tomasello view on chimps having ToM
A
- Yes camp
- Chimps have ToM in some respects, but not in others
- No evidence whether they understand false beliefs
- BUT chimps understand:
- goals and intentions, and
- perception and knowledge of others
4
Q
Do chimps have ToM: Behavioural Abstraction Hypothesis (Povinelli)
A
- Understand only surface-level of behaviour and form behavioural rules
- ‘BAH’ posits that chimpanzees:
- make predictions about future behaviours that follow from past behaviours, and
adjust their own behaviour accordingly.
5
Q
Do chimps have ToM: Beyond behavioural rules (Tomasello)
A
- Chimps highly social animals – need to anticipate what others do.
- Observing previous behaviour and deriving set of behavioural rules enables behavioural prediction
- BUT: Inferring states not only in previously observed situations,but also in novel situations
- Need to anticipate actions based on goals and intentions
6
Q
Altruistic helping, Warneken and Tomasello
A
- study 1: 18 month old infants (N=24)
- Study 2: 36-45 moth old chimps (N=-3)
- procedure: 10 situations and 4 categories
- out-reach
- access thwatred by physical object
- Achieving wrong result
- Using wrong means
- 3 ‘request’ phases (10s focus only, 10s alternate gaze, 10s verbalise)
- Children and chimps both willing to help without reward or praise
- Chimps helped more in reaching tasks than other tasks (salient cue?)
- Differ in ability to interpret others’ need for help?
- Methodological note: cooperation vs competition
7
Q
Understanding goals and intentions, Buttelmann et al. (2007)
A
- apparatus with block that made a noise when pressed. condition 1 his hands were full and used his foot to press it. condition 2 hand heavy with nothing in and still pressed button with foot
- 6 chimps imitated E’s novel action when he seemed to do it intentionally but NOT when this was due to a physical constraint.
- Chimps understand other’s goals and intentions.
8
Q
understanding goals and intentions apes, Call and Tomasello, 2008)
A
- Chimps show understanding of goals or intentions
- Findings contradict Povinelli’s Behavioural Abstraction Hypothesis as apes using novel situations that they wouldn’t have encountered before
9
Q
what is the mentalistic significance of eye gaze?
A
The eyes communicate vital information about an individual’s mental states e.g.:
- focus of attention
- object of reference, desire or - aversion
- intent to act
- feelings, mental activities
10
Q
early foundations in humans
A
- early sensitivity to gaze in infancy is well-documented
infants prefer: - Open rather than closed eyes (Batki et al., 2000).
- Direct rather than averted gaze (Farroni et al., 2002).
- Begin gaze following at 6months (D’Entremont et al.,1997).
11
Q
Can apes follow gaze? Povinelli & Eddy (1996); Tomasello et al., (2007)
A
- Ape looks to spot behind her.
- Ape tries to look behind screen.
- Apes rely more on head direction than eye direction
12
Q
chimps understanding of perception: Povinelli and Presuss 1995; Povinelli and Eddy 1996
A
- wanted to see if chimps would beg for food in both scenarios
- scenario 1: carer s blindfolded over eyes
- scenario 2: carer is blindfolded over mouth
- so it would make sense that the chip would beg for food from the individual who can see
- chips showed indiscriminate begging
- suggesting that chimps don’t understand the prospect of seeing
13
Q
Chimps do understand perception Kaminski et al. (2004)
A
- one carer had potential to give the chimp some food
- chimp showed indiscriminate begging between eyes closed and eyes opened carer
- they changed the orientation of the carer with food
- chimp approached the carer with the from facing them more than the one who had their back turned
- so chimps sensitive to face and body orientation by not eyes
14
Q
Chimpanzees understand knowledge and perception, Hare, Call and Tomasello
A
- study didn’t involve other humans
- study didn’t involved any training trails
- there was a middle room with some different features e.g. boulders
- there were two walls either side of the middle room with a window in each
- study based off of the premise that submissive chimps will stay away from food if there is a dominant chimp around
- hid some food in the middle room so that only the submissive chimp can see it
- changed whether blind in the window of the dominant chimp was open or closed so didn’t know if the dominant chimp had seen it
- Findings suggest chimpanzees can reason about others’ knowledge on the basis of what others have / have not seen
15
Q
chimps understand perception and knowledge. Hare et al., 2006
A
- human sat in sealed box with food on either side of them
- chimp could approach the food from either side
- question was whether the chimp would pay attention to where the person was looking
- found the chimp would approach from the back and take food from behind the person
- control condition: no person in box, chimps still preferred the left but wasn’t signifiant enough to suggests the results are due to preference to the left
