Part 14

Julius was allowed to work for about an hour. As formerly, he was sufficiently hungry to be eager to get the food and evidently tried all of the possible ways which occurred to him. Chief among these were (1) the use of the various boxes separately or in pairs in very varied positions but never with one upon another,--the only way in which the banana could be reached; (2) climbing to various points on the sides of the cage, with infrequent attempts to reach the banana. Usually his eyes saved him the vain effort.

Unlike the child, Julius paid little attention to the six-foot stick. Two or three times he took it up and seemingly reached for the banana, but in no case did he try persistently to strike it and knock it from the string. It is but fair, however, to remark that such an act is very difficult for the young orang utan, as compared with the child, because of the weakness of the legs and the awkwardness of striking from a sitting posture. As previously, the steadiness of attention and the persistence of effort toward the end in view were most surprising. At one time Julius walked to the end of the cage and there happened to see one of the monkeys eating. He watched intently a few seconds and then hastened back to the banana as if his task had been suggested to him by the sight of the feeding animal. Most interesting and significant in this behavior was the suddenness with which he would turn to a new method. It often looked precisely as though a new idea had come to him, and he was all eagerness to try it out.

On March 11, Julius was given another opportunity to obtain the banana by the use of the three boxes. Although he used them together he made no effort to place one upon another. Certain of his methods are shown in plate V, especially by figures 21, 23 and 24.

This experiment was continued on April 2 under yet different conditions, for this time only two boxes were placed in the cage, the one of them the heavy, irregularly-shaped box and the other the smaller, lighter one originally used. On the end of the heavier box had been nailed a two by two inch wooden block in order to increase the difficulty in using this box alone. As previously, Julius made varied attempts to obtain the banana, but on the whole his interest and attention seemed somewhat weaker than previously and there were indications of discouragement because of repeated failures.

He handled the boxes conspicuously well, and it seemed at times that he would certainly succeed in placing the one upon the other and in reaching the food.

After one series of attempts from the sides of the cage and from the large box, he deliberately turned away from the box and neatly executed a somersault on the floor of the cage, as much as to say, "I am disgusted with the whole situation." Again, later on the same day, after falling from the top of the larger box, which tilted over very easily, he rolled himself into a ball, and childlike, played with his feet. An additional evidence of his changed affective attitude toward his task, especially in connection with definite failures, appeared in his rough handling and biting of the boxes. When most impatient, he worked very roughly.

Julius was allowed to work for the reward from thirty to ninety minutes, or, as a rule, until he had become completely discouraged on April 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 13. His behavior was interesting and significant, but nothing new appeared except that his willingness to work gradually disappeared, and on April 13, although previously hungry, he made only a single attempt to obtain the banana and then paid no further attention to it.

The prolonged and varied efforts to obtain the banana were due in a measure at least to three accidental successes. Thus on April 2, 3 and again on the 5th, by fortunate combinations of circumstances, he succeeded in getting the banana, contrary to the intention of the experimenter.

Although active at first on April 6, he soon wearied of his task and quit work. The same was true on April 7, and again on the 8th and 9th. On these days, although hungry, he did not care to enter the large cage and worked only a few minutes each day, seldom making more than two or three half-hearted attempts to obtain the banana. His attitude toward the task had changed completely, in that hopelessness had taken the place of eager expectancy. By the 13th of April he had so nearly given up voluntary efforts to solve the problem that it seemed worth while to test his ability to get the idea by watching the experimenter. For this purpose the following test of imitation was made.

On the morning of April 14, having placed a banana in the usual position, I took Julius into the large cage, dragged the two boxes to the proper position beneath the banana, placed the smaller one upon the larger one and then climbed up on them to show the ape that I could reach the banana. I then stepped down and gave him a chance to climb on the boxes. He did so immediately and obtained the food.

Another piece of banana was supplied, the boxes were placed in distant corners of the cage, and fifteen minutes were allowed Julius so to place them that he could obtain his reward. He gave no indications of having profited by my demonstration, but worked with the boxes singly, usually with the larger one. On April 16, with the banana in position and the two boxes also in the cage, Julius was admitted and allowed to work for five minutes, but again without success. I then placed the boxes properly for him and he immediately climbed up and got the banana. While he was eating, the boxes were carried to distant corners of the cage and another banana placed in position. Now thirty minutes were allowed him for unaided work on the problem. As formerly, the larger box was used repeatedly and attempts to reach from the side of the cage appeared, but there was no tendency to try to use the two boxes together. He worked fairly persistently, however, and showed clearly the stimulating and encouraging effect of aid from the experimenter. Once more, on April 17, Julius was taken into the cage and allowed to watch me place the boxes in proper position. He then climbed up and obtained the desired food. After the bait had been renewed and the boxes displaced, he immediately tried to use the larger one, then he reached for the small one as though to use both together. But the impulse died out and he turned again to the larger box as usual, standing it on end, and persistently trying to balance himself on it. Nothing else of special interest happened during the interval of unaided effort.

Similarly, I placed the boxes for the ape on April 19, allowed him to get the banana and then gave him opportunity to try for himself after the boxes had been displaced. This time he immediately reached for the smaller box and moved it about a little, thus indicating a new association. He next turned to the larger box and worked with it persistently. Later, he once more worked with the smaller box in an unusual manner. He repeatedly stood on it, but made no attempt to lift it or to place it on the larger box. Clearly the usually neglected smaller box had become associated with the satisfaction of obtaining the banana. The same method was carried out on April 20. As I placed the boxes in position beneath the banana, Julius watched with unusual intentness, and when it came his turn to try to obtain the food by the use of the boxes, he began at once to work with the smaller box, but as on April 19, he soon abandoned it and turned to the other. While I was making note of this particular feature of his behavior, he suddenly seized the smaller box by two corners with his hands and by one edge with his teeth, and after a few attempts placed it on top of the larger box, climbed up, and obtained the banana.

Because of bad weather on April 21, the next test was made on April 22, with everything as usual. Unaided, the ape was given an opportunity to obtain the coveted reward, while I stood ready to obtain records of his behavior with my camera. He wasted no time, but piled the smaller box on top of the larger one immediately, and obtained his reward. As soon as opportunity was offered, he repeated the performance. The same thing happened on April 23 and several succeeding dates.

Julius had got the idea, and the only further improvement possible was in skill in manipulating the boxes.

One of the curious performances which appeared during the imitative period is pictured in figure 26, plate V, where the ape is seen lifting the smaller box into the air. This he did three or four times one day, raising it toward the banana each time as though he expected thus to obtain the reward. As he did not go up with the box (according to his expectation?), he abandoned this method, and looking about, discovered the larger box in a distant corner. Thereupon, he promptly pulled the boxes to their proper position beneath the banana, stacked them, and obtained his food.

After considerable skill had been acquired in the placing of the boxes, the one upon the other, the height of the banana above the floor was increased so that three boxes were necessary. Figure 25 of plate V shows him standing on three boxes and reaching upward, and figures 22, 27 and 28 show various modes of handling the boxes and of reaching from them. He was not at all particular as to the stability of his perch, and often mounted the boxes when it seemed to the experimenter inevitable that they should topple over and precipitate him to the floor. Only once, however, during the several days of experimentation did he thus fall.

Obviously important is the evident change in the animal's attention on April 20. He watched with a keenness of interest which betokened a dawning idea. Before he had succeeded in stacking the boxes, I had written in my note-book, "He seemed much interested today, in my placing of the boxes." Interesting, and important also, is the ease and efficiency with which he met the situation time after time, after this first success. "Trial and error" had no obvious part in the development of the really essential features of the behavior. The ape had the idea and upon it depended for guidance.

Except for the fact that Julius was immature, probably under five years of age, it is likely that he would have stacked the boxes spontaneously instead of by suggestion from the experimenter or imitatively.

No unprejudiced psychologist would be likely to interpret the activities of the orang utan in the box-stacking experiment as other than imaginal or ideational. He went directly, and in the most business-like way from point to point, from method to method, trying in turn and more or less persistently or repeatedly, almost all of the possible ways of obtaining the coveted food. The fact that he did not happen upon the only certain road to success is surprising indeed in view of the many ineffective methods which he used. It seemed almost as though he avoided the easy method.

It is especially important, in connection with these results, to point out the risk of misinterpretation of observations on the anthropoid apes. If they can imitate human activities as readily and effectively as Julius did in this particular experiment, we can never be sure of the spontaneity of their ideational behavior unless we definitely know that they have had no opportunity to see human beings perform similar acts.

Of all the methods of eliciting ideational or allied forms of behavior used in my study of the monkeys and ape, none yielded such illuminating results as the box stacking test, and although from the technical standpoint, it has many shortcomings, as a means to qualitative results it has proved invaluable.

Other Methods of Obtaining the Reward

Some weeks later, I tried to discover how Julius would obtain the much desired banana when the boxes were absent. I placed in the large cage a stick about six feet long and an old broom. When admitted, he looked about for the boxes, but not seeing them, picked up the broom and placing it with the splints down, beneath the banana, he tried to climb it, but as it fell over with him, he abandoned this after a few trials, went to his cage, and picking up some old bags which he used at night as covers, he dragged them out and placed them on the floor beneath the banana. He next put the broom upon them and tried to climb up. This general type of behavior persisted for several minutes, everything within reach being used as were the bags, as a means of raising him in the desired direction. Finally, he placed his feet on the broom where the handle joins the splints, seized the handle near the top with his hands, drew himself up as far as possible, and then launched himself in the air and tried to seize the banana. On the third attempt he succeeded.

Later, he was given a plain stick about five feet long. Figure 32 of plate VI shows him using this to obtain the banana in the manner described above. He would grasp it with one or both feet, usually one, ten to fifteen inches from the floor of the cage, meanwhile holding with his hands near the top of the stick. He would then, with all his strength, draw himself up suddenly and jump toward the banana. Often he came down rather hard on the cement floor, much to his disgust.

Yet another method of obtaining the reward developed a day or two later. A light red-wood stick about five feet long and an inch in its other dimensions was the only object in the cage which could possibly be of use in obtaining the banana. The aim of the experimenter was to discover whether Julius would use this as a club.

Previously, in connection with the use of the boxes, he had taken up the same stick two or three times and reached for the banana with it, but in no case had he struck at it or clearly tried to knock it from the string, as did the child most readily and naturally. When provided with this same stick, and it alone, as a means of obtaining the food, he hit upon the following interesting method. Placing one end of the stick between a wooden brace and the wire side of the cage, he climbed up to a level with the banana as is shown in figure 33 of plate VI. Then holding with one hand and one foot to a timber of the cage and to the stick with his other foot, he swung outward as far as possible and reached the banana with his free hand. Having once succeeded by the method, he used it whenever given an opportunity. It was impossible for him to make the reach without the use of the small stick, while with it he succeeded fairly easily and regularly.

Box and Pole Experiment

Following the box stacking test, Julius was given an opportunity to exhibit ideation in another type of experiment. This may be designated the box and pole test. The conditions are describable thus. A strong wooden box eighty-four inches long, by four inches wide, by four inches deep, with open ends, was built with one side hinged. Hasps and padlocks enabled the experimenter to lock this "lid" after food had been placed in the center of the box. This box could be placed in the center of the large cage and there fastened by means of cross bars. It is well shown in position in figure 29, plate V. Two poles each eight feet long and approximately one and a half inches in their other dimensions were the only additional materials in the experiment.