Mineka, Davidson, & Cook Keir (1984). Observational Conditioning of Snake Fear in Rhesus Monkeys.
Arhe Vaninetti
Research Methods and Statistics, PSY301, Pacific University, Oregon
February 19, 2023
Mineka et al. (1984) aimed to study and correct previous literature on the observational conditioning of the snake fear in rhesus monkeys and to extrapolate from their findings how the research related to human subjects. In Mineka et al.’s (1984) study, the designed experiment was based on previous research by Mineka et al. (1980) where they tested the fear response of young monkeys to snakes. Mineka et al. cited this previous research as having limitations in measuring the fear responses in young monkeys due to the monkeys’ attachment to their social group, which meant that the experimenters’ tests on food latency may have been testing the monkeys’ reactions to a new environment instead. Continue reading “Mineka et al. (1984) Critique: “Observational Conditioning of Snake Fear in Rhesus Monkeys””