Intelligenzprüfungen an Menschenaffen (literally translated: Intelligence tests on great apes) is a book by Wolfgang Köhler published in 1921. The English version called "The Mentality of Apes", translated by Ella Winter, was published in 1925. With the book Köhler showed that chimpanzees could solve problems by insight. The importance of this work was to show there is no absolute dividing line between the human species and their nearest living relative, at least in this respect. The insights of Köhler's book had a profound and lasting impact on studies in psychology, primatology, creativity and many other fields.
Context Before Köhler's work, the field of comparative psychology was revolutionised by Charles Darwin, proposing evolutionary continuity between humans and other animals. In the 19th century Darwin wrote about the possible reasoning abilities of animals. In the early 20th century, further influential research was among others published by Edward Thorndike, who investigated learning abilities of apes and other animals. The Thorndiken view explained animal intelligence with stimulus-response associations, limiting animal learning to trial and error learning. At the same time Robert Yerkes, studying animals' intelligence and Leonard Hobhouse, who described sudden problem-solving abilities in monkeys, opposed these proposals of Thorndike. Hobhouse's experimental results were in favour of apes being able to learn by imitation. Together with a broader shift in the perception of animal intelligence, these different researchers provided the base for Köhler's studies on anthropoid apes. Köhler conducted experiments similar to those of Hobhouse. Köhler with a background in many disciplines (philosophy, history, natural science, and experimental psychology) finished his doctorate under the supervision of Carl Stumpf at the Berlin Psychological Institute. In 1913, Stumpf offered him the directorship of the Anthropoid Station in Tenerife, which he accepted. Stumpf had considered Köhler for the position already in 1912 but ruled him out due to missing experience in animal psychology research. Before and after his stay in Tenerife Köhler created and contributed to the movement of Gestalt psychology together with his contemporaries Kurt Koffka and Max Wertheimer. The experiments described in the book were conducted at the Anthropoid Station in Tenerife. The station was conceptualized by Max Rothmann and funded by the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences. In 1912 most of the chimpanzees arrived, by a shipment from Cameroon, then a German colony. The first director was Eugen Teuber, followed by Köhler as the second and last director, due to influences of World War I. The station's research was not unaffected by World War I. Köhler was obliged to stay on the island until 1920, five years longer than planned. The station was suspected of espionage and the estate was subsequently sold by the owner, leading to a relocation of the research station to a nearby estate in 1918. During his prolonged stay on the island, he wrote about his experiments. Between 1915 and 1921 he published four papers on his primate research. One of these was reprinted and retitled in the book Intelligenzprüfungen an Menschenaffen. By 1920, financial difficulties in post-war Germany forced the cessation of experiments, and Köhler returned to Berlin. The station was officially closed in the same year.
Contents In Intelligenzprüfungen an Menschenaffen, Köhler documents his experiments with chimpanzees at the Tenerife station. Köhler's methodology involved presenting chimpanzees with a desired target out of reach, requiring creative problem-solving from the apes. For example, reaching some fruit by making use of a stick or a box. He thoroughly observed and documented the apes' behaviours and the strategies they used to solve these tasks. The introduction highlights the importance and generalisability of the work suggesting similarities between apes and humans. Köhler points out large individual differences between apes and describes their individual characteristics, which he compares to personalities. One chimpanzee, Sultan, he noted was particularly adept at problem-solving. The following chapters structured by the experimental set-ups, exploring the apes' abilities to find correct ways around obstacles, their tool use in various manners and also building tools and towers of boxes. The book highlights the difference between genuine achievements and coincidental problem-solving. Köhler observed and analysed that apes could use tools and exhibit insight. In contrast to Thorndike's publications, Köhler's research emphasised that apes showed forms of problem-solving beyond trial-and-error learning, highlighting the cognitive similarities between apes and humans. He emphasises his observation that a genuine solution, is preceded by a perceptual stage, such as an ape carefully looking around.
Editions The book was published in multiple editions with the various editions each having a different title:
1917. Intelligenzprüfungen an Anthropoiden. Berlin: Royal Prussian Society of Sciences. 1921. Intelligenzprüfungen an Menschenaffen. Berlin: Springer (called a 'second edition', but the first was a two-part whole issue journal publication 1918/19). 1925. The Mentality of Apes. Translated from the second revised edition by Ella Winter. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner. U.S. edition 1925 by Harcourt, Brace & World. Also included is a translation of Köhler's long 1921 paper as Some contributions to the psychology of chimpanzees. Appendix, p281–342.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
