Results
This is the specific number of juvenile elephants that successfully learned the entire trunk sequence.
What are 4 juvenile elephants?
This secondary reinforcer was used as a "marker" to signal that a reward was coming.
What is a whistle?
Because the study was done in the elephants' natural stalls, it is said to have high levels of this.
What is ecological validity?
This is the total number of elephants in the study.
What is 5?
This is the specific psychological approach investigated in this study.
What is the learning approach?
This was the average length of a training session in the study.
What is 12 minutes?
This primary reinforcer was used as a natural reward for the elephants.
What is a banana?
What is a major weakness of the sample, as it only included 5 elephants from one camp?
What is low generalizability?
This was the gender of all of the elephants.
What is female?
This is the specific process of assigning a rewarding stimulus, such as a banana, immediately after a desired behavior to increase the chance of that behavior happening again.
What is positive reinforcement?
What behaviors was the 5th older elephant unable to learn?
What is blowing into the bucket and the syringe?
This technique involves strategically placing a reward to "coax" the elephant into a specific body position.
What is luring?
The researchers used a detailed, operationalized checklist of behaviors to increase this.
What is reliability?
This was the age range for the juvenile elephants.
What is 5-7 years old?
This type of conditioning involves learning from the consequences (rewards or punishments) of behavior.
What is operant conditioning?
This was the overall success rate for the required behaviors after 35 sessions.
What is 89.3%?
This 6-step training technique involves linking previously learned behaviors together in a specific order (assembly line).
What is behavioral chaining?
By giving elephants the choice to walk away or not participate, the researchers upheld this specific ethical guideline.
What is the right to withdraw?
This sampling method was used to select the elephants.
What is opportunity sampling (convenience sampling)?
This study supports this side of a famous debate, as the elephants learned new behaviors through their environment.
What is Nurture?
The juveniles learned the whole sequence in this range of total sessions.
What is 25 to 35 sessions?
This was used to help the elephants overcome their fear of the syringe and saline.
What is desensitization?
This control was used to ensure the elephants weren't reacting to the trainers (mahout) cues, reducing the 'researcher effect'.
What are non-sensical commands? Or hand signals?
This term describes the traditional method of handling the five elephants in the sample, the specific type of handling they were already used before the study began.
What is "Free Contact" handling?
This is the full name of the training method that uses a sound first, followed by a reward.
What is Secondary Positive Reinforcement (SPR)?