i62 evolution: the ages and tomorrow 



oddness (which is a concept) . Monkeys and children were 

 tested in a series of "oddity" problems with the surprising 

 result that the monkeys did somewhat better than most of 

 the youngsters. Long experience with monkeys has shown 

 that they retain their learning sets for more than a year and 

 will learn a tough problem all over again in a very few trials, 

 although originally it may have taken them weeks to master 

 the situation. The ability was found to be similar to the 

 quick relearning of the human. 



All these studies and many others have convinced Har- 

 low and his associates that there is no inborn ability to solve 

 problems without fumbling. The ability is gradually learned 

 through trial-and-error experience; there is no innate insight 

 that has anything to do with learning in animals or children. 

 This is the assumption of psychologists in general. Augusta 

 Alpert, working with bright nursery-children, has shown 

 that they typically go through a trial-and-error process be- 

 fore solving problems involving the use of tools, some failing 

 repeatedly. Eunice Mathieson also found no cases of natural 

 insight in children when carefully tested with tool problems. 



Originally the theory that animals may show innate in- 

 sight arose out of the studies Wolfgang Kohler made on the 

 behavior of chimpanzees. He found that some individuals 

 were able, without learning, suddenly to solve problems 

 where they were forced to use long sticks to reach bananas 

 on the roof of their cage. Kohler had used adults in some of 

 his experiments, animals that had spent part of their lives in 

 the jungle, and the use of sticks was probably not new to 

 them. At the famous Yerkeys Laboratory of Primate Bi- 

 ology many tests similar to those carried out on chimpanzees 

 by Kohler have been made which did not corroborate the 

 Kohler claim of innate insight. When the whole life history 

 of the experimental animal is known (in this case they were 

 born in captivity), it invariably follows that a new problem 

 is solved by trial-and-error. Some chimpanzees are smarter 

 than others, but all must learn the hard way. Others have 



