Gua, the chimpanzee raised as a human baby

Psychologist W. N. Kellogg wanted to raise his baby Donald with a chimpanzee a few months old.

The history of psychology is replete with unusual studies and experiments that would hardly be justified or possible today. The reason is that many of these studies were based on experimentation with young children, adolescents or people with some kind of mental or psychiatric disorder, all of whom were unable to decide or understand the effects of it.

One of these experiments was that of the chimpanzee Gua, carried out by the psychologist W. N. Kellogg.. It is an investigation on behavior and learning in which Gua was raised for months in the bosom of a family, with the intention of testing if the chimpanzee could be educated like the rest of the children.

As father and daughter: the chimpanzee Gua and W. N. Kellogg

In the 1930s Winthrop N. Kellogg, a psychologist and Columbia University professor specializing in the processes of conditioning, learning and human behavior, set out to investigate the differences between animals and humans in learning and behavior. the differences between animals and humans in learning and behavior..

Kellogg adopted a two-month-old female chimpanzee and brought her into his home with the intention of educating her in the same way he did with his son Donald, who at the time was less than a year old. For several months, Kellogg raised them as if they were siblings.Kellog raised them as if they were siblings for several months, devoting the same attention, love and care to each of them in order to watch and analyze the evolution and learning of both of them.

The animal chosen for the study was given the name Gua and, unbeknownst to her, her goal was to reveal at what point some kind of distinction began to emerge between the processes and progress in learning between an animal and a human.

The result: something unexpected

After nine months of cohabitation, the results were not at all as Kellogg had expected, Gua ended up becoming "humanized" to the point of learning faster and more efficiently than her son, and the little one ended up developing behaviors that were not as good as Kellogg's expectations.In short, Gua ended up "humanizing" himself to the point of learning more quickly and effectively than his son, and the little one ended up developing chimpanzee-like behaviors such as tasting everything with his mouth or emitting howls and grunts like Gua.

Such was the degree of learning of the little one that a large part of the idioms and habits that he had learned from Gua would remain intact throughout his life.

The product of this research materialized with the play The ape and the childpublished in 1931, which was not exempt from criticism and controversy. In his text, Kellogg details each and every one of the activities and learning games he carried out with both children, as well as the effects they had on them.

As a consequence, the American psychologist received very tenacious and merciless criticisms that accused him of having subjected the accused him of having subjected his son and the animal to an experiment that would leave a lifelong mark on both. for life. The impact of the criticism struck a deep chord with Kellogg, who ended up recognizing that he had made a mistake.

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How did the offspring-to-infant experiment unfold?

In the early days of the research, it focused on collecting data about the physical condition of both Gua and little Donald. Kellogg and his wife, accompanied by a group of researchers, set about collecting data such as weight, Blood Pressure and reflexes, and then began activities and tests related to learning, then began learning activities and tests..

Over the next 9 months, Kellogg and his wife raised Gua in the same way they raised their son, as if they were siblings. They recorded the data on videotape and meticulously described each and every change or progress in each of the little ones.

The data obtained by Kellogg and his team focused on aspects such as memory, drawing ability, vocalization or language, manual dexterity, locomotion, problem solving, fear and fear reactions, obedience and even the ability to respond to tickling.

What were the results?

During the time the study lasted, Kellogg observed how Gua developed a fascinating ability to adapt to a human environment, to the point of obeying orders and followingHe observed how Gua developed a fascinating ability to adapt to a human environment, to the point of obeying orders and following directions much better than his "brother" Donald. Other of the many behaviors learned by Gua were related to the ability to ask for people, give kisses to other people and even learn to eat by herself in the same way as humans or to bathe herself.

Donald, on the other hand, possessed a characteristic trait: he was a much better mimic. While Gua was a better student, who was able to discover before Donald the functions and uses of objects and showed a better understanding of the different games and activities they carried out, the little human only imitated or reproduced what the chimpanzee did.

As a result, little Donald also began to imitate some of Gua's gestures, behaviors and language, using grunts, snores and animal noises and experiencing a noticeable delay in language development and communication difficulties. and notable communication difficulties. This was one of the reasons why, despite Gua's progress, Kellogg decided to stop the experiment after nine months of testing. After this time, he separated the two "siblings" and Gua was returned to the Orange Park Zoo, from where she was taken and to which she was unable to adapt, dying the following year.

As for Donald, he was already 19 months old at the end of the experiment and yet he was only able to express a small number of words, while any child of his age should have at least a repertoire of fifty or so and be able to begin to form phrases and sentences. Fortunately, he later compensated for this disadvantage and even went on to complete university studies.

What conclusions were drawn from this study?

In terms of learning processes, Kellogg concluded that, at least during the infant stage, children are highly impressionable and that in their first years of life their reasoning and intelligence skills may be comparable to those of an animal with intelligence characteristics comparable to those of a chimpanzee.

However, later on these paths separate, with humans being able to develop a much higher level of intelligence and skills.

As for the intellectual development of the chimpanzee, Kellogg's methods may reflect that chimpanzees, in the first months of life, have the capacity to develop a language analogous to the human, although are incapable of speech. Similarly, although they are adept at making simple tools, there is an abysmal difference in the capacity for ideation between chimpanzees and humans.