TOWARD A NEW OUTLOOK ON PRIMATE LEARNING AND BEHAVIOR - COMPLEX LEARNING AND EMERGENT PROCESSES IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

Primate research of the 20th century has established the validity of D arwin's postulation of psychological as well as biological continuity between humans and other primates, notably the great apes. Its data ma ke clear that Descartes' view of animals as unfeeling ''beast-machines '' is invalid and should be discarded. Traditional behavioristic frame works - that emphasize the concepts of stimulus, response, and reinfor cement and an ''empty-organism'' psychology - are in need of major rev isions. Revised frameworks should incorporate the fact that, in contra st to the lifeless databases of the ''hard'' sciences, the database of psychology entails properties novel to life and its attendant phenome nal The contributions of research this century, achieved by field and laboratory researchers from around the world, have been substantial - indeed revolutionary. It is time to celebrate the progress of our fiel d, to anticipate its significance, and to emphasize conservation of pr imates in their natural habitats.