| Think about the word "intelligence". What is meant by | | | | their normal behavior. Almost all animals from the |
| saying that an animal is intelligent? How can you tell | | | | flatworm up can be conditioned. Another kind of |
| whether animals are really intelligent? After all, animals | | | | learning takes place through trial and error. The most |
| cannot speak and they do not use words. They | | | | famous kind of trial and error method is the maze. |
| cannot express ideas nor can they learn history or | | | | Mazes are all based on the same idea; that is, an |
| spelling. | | | | animal that is placed in an entrance must find the exit. |
| Still, animals are a capable of doing many things. | | | | As it proceeds, it finds a series of branches. The |
| Perhaps your goldfish swims to the surface looking | | | | animal must make a choice at each branch or fork. If |
| for food when you move near its tank. Or your cat | | | | it chooses the wrong one, it comes to a dead end. |
| may ring the doorbell when it wants to enter the | | | | Then it must go back to take the other path. After |
| house. Many other animals can even do tricks and | | | | a number of times the animal can run through the |
| tasks. Circuses are filled with dancing bears, playful | | | | maze without making mistakes. The reward at the |
| sea lions, hard-working elephants and prancing horses. | | | | end is a piece of food for the hungry animal. Mazes |
| Such behavior is often wrongly perceived as signs of | | | | can be very simple or very difficult, depending on the |
| intelligence. As you'll see, performing tricks is not truly | | | | objectives of the psychologists. Experiments have |
| a sign of intelligence. Intelligence is the ability to | | | | shown that ants can master very complicated |
| reason. It is the sudden flash of an idea, or the ability | | | | mazes, as well as frogs, turtles, rats, cockroaches |
| to solve a new problem directly and also by using | | | | and crabs. |
| previous experiences. Performing tricks and tasks do | | | | Another way to study trial and error at learning is to |
| not require the ability to think, to reason on, or to | | | | place an animal in a box. Food is placed outside and |
| have ideas. | | | | the animal can reach the food only by unlocking a |
| Tricks can be mastered through special kinds of | | | | door. Then the animal must open the same door to |
| learning. One way of learning is through trial and error. | | | | get back into the box. In both cases the problem is |
| Another is through conditioning responses. It is | | | | the same: figuring out a lock to open a door. It has |
| important to understand how such learning behavior | | | | been found that raccoons can learn to open really |
| works. Then we will be able to understand the | | | | complicated locks. Monkeys can also open locks in a |
| differences between tricks and truly intelligent | | | | special order, but are sometimes difficult to work |
| behavior. | | | | with because of their bad tempers. At first, humans |
| One of the hardest problems for psychologists is to | | | | took as long as monkeys to open locks in a special |
| figure out ways to test intelligence. Conditioned | | | | order. But once they learned, they were much faster |
| responses are not signs of intelligence. Nevertheless, | | | | in opening them. The reason humans took so long is |
| they are part of an animal's behavior, so they may | | | | a fairly simple one. There is no way to figure out the |
| help psychologists compare differences among the | | | | order by looking at the locks because learning the |
| learning styles of different animals. Animals are also | | | | order is a form of trial and error learning. Insight or |
| conditioned in other ways. They can learn to avoid a | | | | reasoning does not help here any more than in |
| place or an object by being given a mild, harmless | | | | mazes. Thus, in the first stages of trial and error |
| electric shock. Some can even be forced to change | | | | learning, humans were not fast either. |
