Psychology 2134A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Waggle Dance, Ethology, Alarm Call

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2134A/B
• Professor: Sarah Smits- Bandstra

Document Summary

Just like human adults, adult bonobos have difficult learning a new language. Not all scientists think kanzi has learnt the language because even though he uses words, he doesn"t understand syntax: syntax is what separates human languages from animal communication systems. Ethologist: a scientist who studies animal behavior: four f"s: food, foe, friend, fucking. Communication: any behavior on the part of the organism that is intended to influence the emotions, thoughts, or behaviors of another organism: conspecific: a member of the same species. Honeybee waggle dance is communication about food indicating the distance and angle of flight to get to food. Some primates will vocalize when they find a new food source: some ethologist suggest that food calls are less about communicating and more about unrestrained excitement. Alarm call: vocalization to warn other members of the group about an approaching predator. Limitation of the monkey communication system: only have two or three words, only in present tense.