Yamamoto Flashcards
Altruistically
willingness to do certain things for others, even if it disadvantages you
shared intentionality
the ability and motivation to engage with others in collaborative activities with joint goals.
empirical evidence
information that can be acquired through observation and tested using experimental methods
flexible targeted helping
where you make a choice of how to help the other person achieve a goal
- help and care based on the cognitive appreciation of the need or situation of others
conspecifics
members of the same specie
background of Yamamoto (3 points)
- humans show altruistic behaviour
- animals rarely help spontaneously, but at direct request of others. The ability to offer targeted help is linked to TOM
- previous studies show little about the cognitive mechanism underlying the helping behaviour to non-human animals, no study has empirically examined if and how chimps understand others goals
Aims of Yamamoto
To learn more about helping behaviour in chimpanzees. Specifically, to find out whether chimpanzees:
- have the ability and flexibility to UNDERSTAND the needs of conspecifics
- can RESPOND to those needs with targeted helping
- can help conspecifics without being asked
IV
‘can see’, helper can see the other’s tool-use situation
‘cannot see’
DV
percentage of voluntary offer & upon request offer
How did they operationalise ‘targeted helping’
operationalised by letting the chimps choose the correct tools to help their conspecifics
How did they operationalise ‘offer’
as the chimps holding out a tool towards the recipient
How did they operationalise ‘request’
as the recipient poking their arm through the hole
Outline the 7 steps of procedure
- familiarisation phase
- can see booth
- cannot see booth
- can see booth x2
- 48 trials, 24 stick-use, 24 straw-use
- trials ended when the recipient received the object and succeeded in obtaining the juice reward, OR after 5 mins elapsed without an object being passed
- offers were counted when the chimpanzee held out the object to recipient, whether the recipient took it or not. Only the 1st offer was counted, subsequent offers of different items were not included
Describe the familiarisation phase
8 days, 5 mins. They went through this phase each day before the trials started, they could examine and manipulate all the objects without the need to use them as tools or offer them to others
Describe the ‘can see’ booth
panel between the two chimps was transparent
What do the chimps need to do? And what is the apparatus?
A chimpanzee had to select a tool that would help the other chimpanzee to solve a problem. One task requires a stick and the other required a straw, solving = juice to recipient.
7 objects in a booth occupied by the ‘helper’, could not be reached by recipient but can be requested (poking arm through a hole), this allowed us to examine whether ‘helper’ understands what the other needed
Describe the cannot see booth
panel between the two chimps was opaque
Why did they repeat the ‘can see’ booth?
Repeated to confirm that any difference in the object choice between the first two conditions was due to intentional, targeted helping and not a order effect
What is the sample used?
- 5 chimps, mother and child pair
- housed at Prime Research Institute in Japan
- were chosen because they were experts in the two tool-use tasks used in the study
What is the weakness of the sample?
- 1 chimps did not participate, less data
- lacks generalisability, as they are better than other chimps
Is there any surprising finding?
- All chimps, except Pan, first offered potential tools significantly more frequently
- Ayumu peaks through the hole when selecting tools in cannot see condition, so offered the correct tools
What are the findings?
- More frequently offered a stick in a stick-use situation and vice versa
- In cannot see, no significant difference in the choice of tool in relation to the tool-use situation
- The results in the 2nd ‘can see’ is consistent with the 1st
- chimps show flexible targeted helping when they could visually assess the situation
Biggest difference noted between the “can see” and “cannot see” condition
no difference in choice of stick or straw when stick or straw was needed.
- This suggests that the chimpanzees can only understand their partner’s needs when they can see the task themselves.
What is the main conclusion? (empirical evidence)
Empirical evidence
- It provides empirical evidence for chimp’s flexible, targeted helping, based on an understanding of others’ goals. When helpers could visually access their partner;s situation, they selected out of 7 tools an appropriate tool to transfer to their partner so he/she can obtain a reward.
What is the main conclusion? (cognitive mechanism)
Offers insights into the cognitive mechanism underlying helping behaviour in chimps –> chimps are motivated to help upon request even they cannot properly assess the others’ predicament
What is the main conclusion? (voluntary help)
Even when they understand the needs, they seldom help others unless directly requested.
Both understanding of others’ goals + detection of directed request are essential for targeted helping in chimps
What are the ethical guidelines in animal research?
- replacement
- specie and strain
- number of animals
- procedures: pain and distress
- housing
- reward, deprivation and aversive stimuli
What is Bateson’s cube
- animal suffering
- likelihood of benefit
- importance/quality of research
Give two strengths of the study
- carried in a lab, high reliability
- minimised extraneous variables, high internal validity
Give two weaknesses of the study
- biased sample, low generalisability
- artificial environment, low ecological validity.
Statistical results in can see condition
Any offer: 91%
Upon request: 90%
Statistical results in cannot see
Any offer:96%
Upon request: 72%
Statistical results in second can see
Any offer: 98%
Upon request: 79%
What did previous study failed to examine?
- previous studies failed to examine whether chimps actually understood what others needed, because they never confronted with a behavioural choice when given the opportunity to help
What are the differences between Savage-Rumbaugh and this study?
- chimps had to request using symbols, requires training, too artificial, also did not give insight into helping behaviour.
