Study Questions #1

Questions For Scientific American "Can Animals Empathize?" Yes--Gordon Gallup Jr. Maybe Not--Daniel Povinelli

1. Describe how chimpanzees and orangutans "pass" the mirror test.

 

 

2. How does Gallup extend his claim beyond the assertion that self-awareness is evident from the mirror test?

 

 

3. What differences in behavior between rhesus monkeys and chimps led Gallup to infer that chimps are empathetic?

 

 

4. What does Gallup say children are able do before they can infer informational states about other people?

 

 

5. Why does Gallup think that Descartes' famous maxim "I think; therefore I am" needs to be restated?

 

 

6. Why does Povinelli find the ability of chimpanzees to track others' vision unconvincing as an example of empathy?

 

 

7. What experiment revealed to Povinelli that chimps might not be able to infer a mental visual state in others?

 

 

8. How does Povinelli respond to Gallup's claim that the chimps used in Povinelli's experiment were not adequately self-aware?

 

 

9. How did Povinelli test for the onset of an autobiographical memory?

 

 

10. What does Povinelli believe is constitutive of self-recognition in higher organisms?