How The Chimpanzees Revealed In Next Of Kin

Next of Kin is a story about a chimpanzee named Washoe, told from the perspective from Robert Fouts. Washoe is a special chimp because she became the first non-talking human. She was taught American Sign Language or ASL for short. ASL uses many different hand gestures, and body movements to communicate with people who cannot speak for themselves. Allen and Beatrix Gardener started project Washoe, and they were tasked with teaching a Chimpanzee. Growing up Rodger Fouts didn’t know any other chimpanzee than Curious George. When Fouts entered graduate school he meat a new chimpanzee, Washoe. Fouts was pursuing a life in psychology working with children. He was taking an animals psychology class, and he was taught that animals are mindless creatures; he was soon proven wrong when he meet Washoe. Fouts excepted a graduate assistant

Washoe was raised like a human. She lived with Allen and Beatrix Gardener, and they raised her like she was their own kid. The Gardeners thought that if Washoe was to be raised like a human child then learning a language world come natural, this process is called cross fostering. Previous cross fostering studies showed that chimpanzees could not speak our talking language, so the Gardeners set out to do something different, American Sign Language. This language only requires hand gestures, and body movements, which chimpanzees should pick up on since they are very observant. To get Washoe to pay attention so the sign language rather than what we spoke, the Gardeners ask for the teachers to never speak while signing with Washoe. In other studies, the teachers would expose the chimps to spoken languages and the chimps would not pick up on the signs as much. The Gardeners method was proven to work, Washoe thrived in ASL. If she didn’t know a sign she would make one up, like “dirty good” for toilet. When Washoe was exposed to other chimps, she was able to teach them ASL to communicate with each