PSYC 355 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Functional Fixedness

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 355
• Professor: Valerie Ann Kuhlmeier

Document Summary

Lecture 7 (week 8): tool use: tool use defined, the development of tool use. Choosing the right tool: functional understanding of tools, tool use defined (cid:862)the use of an external object as a functional extension of mouth or beak, hand or claw, in the attai(cid:374)(cid:373)e(cid:374)t of a(cid:374) i(cid:373)(cid:373)ediate goal(cid:863) (vanlawick-goodall, 1970) Includes dolphin with sponge: the development of tool use, tool manufacture. Learning from others (social learning): studies of new caledonian crows, can probe into crevices using blade of grass, shapes of tool vary by geography, biological predispositions to engage in certain actions, but elaborated by. Juveniles remain near parents (chance for observation) learning: social tolerance. Juveniles observe others: others tolerate presence, causality and tool use. What do tool-using species understand about tools: food-reinforced understanding of behavior, causal understanding, do they recognize the relevant features, tube trap task (aka trap tube task) . When tube was flipped upside down, they still acted as if the trap was relevant: triangulation .