Roger Fouts
Roger Sheridan Fouts ( born June 8, 1943 in Sacramento, California ) is a psychologist and anthropologist and researched since the 1960s, the communication skills of chimpanzees. At that time, Fouts was a young junior scientist who wanted to be a child psychologist. He began instead on a proposal by Beatrix and Allen Gardner, a study in the field of behavioral research has been developed: His team- taught several chimpanzees terms of the sign language of the deaf (American Sign Language, ASL), thus gaining insights into the cognitive abilities of our closest relatives.
Life
Roger Fouts studied psychology at the California State College at Long Beach, where he graduated in 1965 with a Bachelor's exam. In 1971 he received a PhD degree in the subject Experimental Psychology at the University of Nevada in Reno. Already in his undergraduate studies, he had specifically concerned with the behavior of the great apes.
From 1967 to 1970, Roger Fouts research assistant at the " Washoe Project " at the University of Nevada, ie He spent almost all his time with the young chimpanzee Washoe, which he taught for his doctoral thesis, the American Sign Language (ASL, sign language for the deaf ): Roger Fouts was the first person who actually spoke with animals. From 1970 he taught psychology at the University of Oklahoma, he is since 1980 professor of psychology at Central Washington University. Since 1981, Fouts is also president of the organization " Friends of Washoe ."
Roger Fouts is married to Deborah H. Fouts and the couple have three children.
Research Topics
Roger Fouts still particularly concerned with the communication in apes and humans, with comparative psychology and psycholinguistics. He also uses for improving the welfare of chimpanzees for the ban medical experiments on great apes, and for the protection of wild chimpanzee populations. His groundbreaking work with Washoe - who lived near him - and with other chimpanzees has provided deep insights into the thoughts and feelings of our closest relatives and serious impact on the theories of the origin of our own language.
Roger Fouts has been used in numerous technical papers, popular science publications and radio and TV appearances for the welfare of chimpanzees. Known in Germany he was not least due to the success of his book "Our closest relatives ," in which he, inter alia, detail the amazing language skills to describe with ASL communicating apes.
Because of his research, it is now accepted that chimpanzees learn several hundred words of sign language, use sensible and also can associate spontaneously and creatively concept chains. Proved also has the ability to understand if-then relationships and to use self ( " If you bring me the bottle, then you get a banana" ).
Works
- Roger Fouts, Stephen Tukel Mills: Our closest relatives. From chimpanzees learn what it means to be human. 1998: Munich ( Limes Verlag), ISBN 3809030139 ( 2002 paperback published by Earthscan, ISBN 3426774208 ).