Feral children and clever animals : reflections on human nature / Douglas Keith Candland.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Candland, Douglas K.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Psychology--History.

Psychology.

Psychology--Research--History.

Feral children--Psychology--History.

Feral children.

Psychology, Comparative--History.

Psychology, Comparative.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (432 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, 1993.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In this provocative book, Douglas Candland shows that as we begin to understand the way animals and non-speaking humans "think," we hold up a mirror of sorts to our own mental world, and gain profound insights into human nature. Weaving together diaries, contemporary newspaper accounts, and his own enlightening commentary, Candland brings to life a series of extraordinary stories. He begins with a look at past efforts to civilize feral children, such as the Wolf Girls of India found early this century huddled among wolf pups in a forest den (they were originally believed to be ghosts by superstitious villagers, who nearly shot them as they were being captured). It was hoped that the study of these children would help clarify the age-old nature/nurture debate, but, as Candland shows, so much of the information "revealed" was really only a projection of beliefs previously held by the investigating scientists. Candland then turns to "clever animals," discussing the latest successes of teaching sign language to such precocious apes as Sarah, Sherman, Austin, and Koko. Throughout, Candland illuminates the boldest and most intriguing efforts yet to extend our world to that of our fellow creatures. And he shows that, in the end, our effort to "make contact" is a reflection of the way in which we as a species create and order our universe. Humans have long shown a wish to connect with the silent minds around them. In assembling and interpreting the compelling tales in this book, Candland offers us a new understanding not only of the animal kingdom, but of the very nature of humanity, and our place in the great chain of being.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Chronology

Part I: What Feral Children Tell Us

1 Nature and Nurture: Children without Human Parenting

What Feral Children Might Tell Us

Philosophies and Psychologies of the Intellect

Peter and the Question: Prewired or Blank Blackboard?

Victor Meets Dr. Itard

Dr. Itard's Intentions

Pinel's First Findings

Teacher and Pupil: Itard and Victor Together

Five Years Later

What Itard Learns

2 Kaspar Hauser and the Wolf-Children

Kaspar Hauser

The Mystery

Wooden Horses

Kaspar at Home

Feuerbach Visits Kaspar

A Dangerous Thing

Psychological Issues

The Wolf-Children

The Years in the Orphanage

Kamala and Amala: Emotions and the Intellect

Kamala's Socialization

Five Children: What Is Learned? What Is Innate?

Part II: Four Psychologies

3 Thinking about the Mind

The First Psychology: The Mental Ladder

The Second Psychology: Psychoanalysis and Little Hans

The Third Psychology: Behaviorism and Clever Hans

Myth as a Way to Understanding

The Fourth Psychology: Phenomenology

Five Children, Four Psychologies

4 The Psychology of Psychoanalysis: Freud and Little Hans

Little Hans

Hans's Dream

The Crumpled Giraffe

Hans's Wish

Anxiety: Hans and Victor Compared

Freud's Analysis

Hans's Mind and Body

Hans's Life

Psychoanalysis: Reliability and Validity

5 The Psychology of Experimentalism and Behaviorism: Clever Hans and Lady Wonder

Berlin, 1904

Richmond, Virginia, 1924-1952

The Carrot and the Whip

The September Commission

The Mind's Hypotheses

Oskar Pfungst's Hypothesis

Hans's Senses

Pfungst Watches von Osten

Why Hans Was Clever

To the Psychological Laboratory: Human Suggestion

Freud, Pfungst, and Contradiction

6 Experimentation and the Experimenter: Clever Hans's Companions.

About Mr. von Osten

Rendich and Nora

Hans's New Life

At Elberfeld: Muhamed and Zarif

Claparède's Visits

Souls and Minds of the Animals

Hans and Lady Wonder

Dog and Chimp

Experimentalism and Behaviorism: Reliability and Validity

7 The Psychology of Perceiving: Phenomenology and Ethology

Laura Bridgman

The Dog, Van

Lubbock and Van

Experiment and Control: Roger and "B.B.E.

Enter Yerkes

What Laura Did

Perception in Time and Space

Perception as Explanation

Perception and the Animal Mind

Buytendijk's Dog

Reliability and Validity

Peeking into the Future

Part III: The Mental Ladder

8 Peter and Moses, Chimpanzees Who Write

At the Keith Theatre

Peter at the Psychological Clinic

The Missing Link: Tools and Language

The Man in the Cage

At Fort Gorilla

Garner's Problem

Moses, the Captive

Another Captive

Moses and Aaron

Husband and Wife

And Garner

9 Exploiting the Missing Link

Ontogeny and Phylogeny

Measuring Mentation

Peter's and Moses's Colleagues

Animal Imitation

The Puzzle Box

Animal Mentation or Exploitation?

Erecting the Primate Ladder

Scheduling Reinforcement

Unshackling of the Missing Link

Part IV: People and Apes Communicating

10 Raising Human Babies with Chimps: Donald, Gua, and Viki

Speech and Meaning

Donald and Gua

The Course of Development

The Senses of Donald and Gua

Play and Emotion

Solving Problems

Gua Speaks

Retrospective

Viki

The Achievements

11 Human and Ape Communication: Washoe, Koko, and Nim

The Chimp Family Expands

Koko

Rethinking Speech

Nim

Bruno and Nim

Nim's Progress

Nim's Achievement

Nim Meets Washoe

SAY WHAT NIM?

12 Language and Meaning: Sarah and Lana, Sherman and Austin, Kanzi and Ai

Sarah

Sarah's Intentions, Sarah's Lies.

LANA and Lana

Sherman and Austin

Apes Teaching People

Communication among Primates

Part V: Principles and Myths

13 Feral Children and Clever Animals

Possible Principles

The Psychologies

Human and Animal Communication

Postlude

Notes

References

Illustration Credits

Text Credits

Index

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

W

Y

Z.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 371-394) and index.

Description based on metadata supplied by the publisher and other sources.

ISBN:

1-280-52863-X

9786610528639

0-19-535614-4

1-4294-0616-X

OCLC:

228171198