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"Experiment 1 results indicated that observer rhesus monkeys acquired a fear of snakes through watching videotapes of model monkeys behaving fearfully with snak

"Experiment 1 results indicated that observer rhesus monkeys acquired a fear of snakes through watching videotapes of model monkeys behaving fearfully with snakes. In Experiment 2, observers watched edited videotapes that showed models reacting either fearfully to toy snakes and nonfearfully to artificial flowers (SN+/FL-) or vice versa (FL+/SN-). SN+/FL- observers acquired a fear of snakes but not of flowers; FL+/SN- observers did not acquire a fear of either stimulus. In Experiment 3, monkeys solved complex appetitive discriminative (PAN) problems at comparable rates regardless of whether the discriminative stimuli were the videotaped snake or the flower stimuli used in Experiment 2. Thus, monkeys appear to selectively associate snakes with fear." Experiment 1 shows that monkeys become afraid of snakes through watching videos of other monkeys being afraid of snakes. Experiment 2 shows that monkeys don't acquire a fear of flowers if shown a video of other monkeys being afraid of flowers. Experiment 3 shows that monkeys can still be conditioned in other tasks using videos of either flowers or snakes. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2230660 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2230660

nothis 11y ago
So, is it obvious that monkeys aren't afraid of snakes if they never see other monkeys act afraid before? Because that's what I'd test first. Further, if there's a learned fear of snakes, that might not be coincidence, even if it's not genetic.
- trevyn 11y ago
  Yep. From the actual paper referenced above: "Although considerable controversy has existed over the extent to which this fear of snakes is “innate” as opposed to based on learning, current evidence suggests that learning is necessary for the fear to manifest itself, at least for some primate species in which wild-reared but not laboratory-reared monkeys show a fear of snakes (see Mineka & Cook, 1988, for a review). For example, Mineka and Cook demonstrated that laboratory-reared rhesus monkeys who were initially unafraid of snakes rapidly acquired a fear of snakes after watching wild-reared model monkeys exhibit a strong fear of snakes (Cook, Mineka, Wolkenstein, & Laitsch, 1985; Mineka, Davidson, Cook, & Keir, 1984). The naive laboratory reared observers initially reached rapidly for food placed adjacent to a series of stimuli, including a real snake, toy snakes, and neutral objects."
  - tlarkworthy 11y ago
    My dog has instinctively done many high level things, peeing on tall things, sexing anything, responding to scolding despite I have never been violent to him, shaking water off with a weird reflex, pooing away from his home etc. It's like those behaviours are already preprogrammed. Being scared of certain classes of animals is no more.complex, I think humans probably have tons of preprogrammed behaviours we later add a narrative to. Perhaps belief in unseen agents is one of them.

nothis 11y ago

So, is it obvious that monkeys aren't afraid of snakes if they never see other monkeys act afraid before? Because that's what I'd test first. Further, if there's a learned fear of snakes, that might not be coincidence, even if it's not genetic.

trevyn 11y ago
Yep. From the actual paper referenced above: "Although considerable controversy has existed over the extent to which this fear of snakes is “innate” as opposed to based on learning, current evidence suggests that learning is necessary for the fear to manifest itself, at least for some primate species in which wild-reared but not laboratory-reared monkeys show a fear of snakes (see Mineka & Cook, 1988, for a review). For example, Mineka and Cook demonstrated that laboratory-reared rhesus monkeys who were initially unafraid of snakes rapidly acquired a fear of snakes after watching wild-reared model monkeys exhibit a strong fear of snakes (Cook, Mineka, Wolkenstein, & Laitsch, 1985; Mineka, Davidson, Cook, & Keir, 1984). The naive laboratory reared observers initially reached rapidly for food placed adjacent to a series of stimuli, including a real snake, toy snakes, and neutral objects."
- tlarkworthy 11y ago
  My dog has instinctively done many high level things, peeing on tall things, sexing anything, responding to scolding despite I have never been violent to him, shaking water off with a weird reflex, pooing away from his home etc. It's like those behaviours are already preprogrammed. Being scared of certain classes of animals is no more.complex, I think humans probably have tons of preprogrammed behaviours we later add a narrative to. Perhaps belief in unseen agents is one of them.