Why did psychologists who reared chimpanzees as if they were children fail to teach them to talk?
A)The psychologists failed to use operant conditioning.
B)Chimpanzees are unable to make human sounds.
C)Chimpanzees are not intelligent enough to learn to communicate.
D)The psychologists punished chimpanzees for their mistakes.

Question

Why did psychologists who reared chimpanzees as if they were children fail to teach them to talk?​
A)The psychologists failed to use operant conditioning.
B)​Chimpanzees are unable to make human sounds.
C)​Chimpanzees are not intelligent enough to learn to communicate.
D)​The psychologists punished chimpanzees for their mistakes.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

While chimpanzees are capable of producing a wide range of vocalizations, their vocal tract is not structured in a way that allows them to produce the complex sounds necessary for human speech. Therefore, even if psychologists used techniques like operant conditioning, chimpanzees still would not be able to acquire spoken language as humans do.

Why Did Psychologists Who Reared Chimpanzees as If They Were