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/lp/american-psychological-association/a-preview-of-teaching-the-social-heritage-the-sociological-basis-of-PIK0eGPEw0
- Publisher
- Ginn & Company
- Copyright
- Copyright © 1928 American Psychological Association
- Pages
- 72 –89
- DOI
- 10.1037/14850-004
- Publisher site
- See Chapter on Publisher Site
Abstract
Learning among animals below man is individual, not cooperative and cumulative. One dog does not seem to learn from another, nor one ape from another, in spite of the widespread misapprehension in this regard. Many experiments have been patiently tried in recent years and it seems to be pretty well established that the monkey learns by monkeying, but that he rarely or never appears to ape. He does not learn by imitation, because he does not imitate. There may be minor exceptions, but the fact that apes never, in spite of a bodily equipment nearly human, become in the least degree civilized, would seem to show that the accumulation of knowledge or dexterity through imitation is impossible for them. (7: 70) Among human beings, on the other hand, learning is both cooperative and cumulative. When man, by reason of his great power of analysis and inference, finds the solution to a problem, he not only can use that solution or parts of it in similar situations but can pass it on to others. Solutions may be preserved and used long after the individual who discovered them has passed away, thereby giving to one's achievements a sort of earthly immortality. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
Published: Sep 21, 2015
Keywords: sociological basis; social heritage; learning among animals; imitation; learning; cooperative