186 K. S. LASHLEY 



carrying position, 2 but experimental evidence upon the acquire- 

 ment of such habits by young children is lacking. 



SUMMARY 



1. The rhesus monkey, as has been shown by Franz, may be 

 right or left-handed or may use the hands indifferently. 



2. Immediate adaptation in the preferential use of the hands 

 in different situations may appear. 



3. Where there is no decided preference, the use of the hands 

 may be modified very easily for a given situation by training. 



4. There is a transfer of training to new situations, but these 

 are selected on the basis of complex stimuli. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Franz, S. I. Observations on the Preferential Use of the Right and Left Hands 



1913. by Monkeys. Jour. Animal Behav., 3, 140-144. 

 Lashley, K. S. and Watson, J. B. Notes on the Development of a Young Mon- 



1913. key. Jour. Animal Behav., 3, 114-139. 

 Meyer, M. Left-handedness and Right-handedness in Infancy. Psvcli. Bull., 



1913. 10, 52-53. 

 Pfungst, O. Zur Psychologie der Affen. Ber. u. d. V. Kongressf. exper. Psychol. 



1912. 200-205. Leipzig. 

 Woolley, H. T. The Development of Right-handedness in a Normal Infant. 



1910. Psych. Rev., 17, 37-41. 

 Yerkes, R. M. The Mental Life of Monkeys and Apes: a study of ideational 



1916. behavior. Behavior Monograph, vol. 3, no. 12, iv+145 pp. 



2 Max Meyer ('13) has criticized this interpretation upon inadequate grounds. 

 He says concerning it, " If our ancestral inheritance could be so easily modified as 

 Mrs. Woolley supposes, what an incentive this would be to enthusiastic educators! " 

 Here he evidently overlooks the fact that the great mass of habits formed by in- 

 fants and young children (the social inhibitions) are just such modifications of 

 instinctive behavor and that the modification is a process both rapid and produc- 

 tive of enduring results. 



