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Why is the Vervet monkey study "really dumb?"

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Revision as of 11 November 2014 at 20:53.
The highlighted comment was created in this revision.

If you're wondering why it's a study on monkeys and not humans, and why I chose that one in particular, it's because there is no way to definitively rule out the possible effect of societal influence among children old enough to even have toy preferences, as studies in those cases also show that little girls prefer dolls, but in those events, how can we know if that is not a result of preconceived notions?

Monkeys don't have preconceived notions about gender. And that's why I must ask: in what way is that peer-reviewed study "dumb?"

    Parogar (talk)18:25, 11 November 2014

    I suggest looking at the external link that Nebuchadnezzar left at the end of the post. Here it is again, for your convenience:

    http://cathyyoung.blogspot.com/2006/01/hyping-sex-differences.html

      ZooGuard (talk)19:11, 11 November 2014

      Okay, I read through the blog post, but I'm still not seeing it. She doesn't refute (at all) the findings of the study. Rather she deflects and tries to associate it with something else, then associate THAT with something else, until she's going on at great length about object-oriented vs. person-oriented. But at no point does she make any argument that suggests the findings in the study were wrong or inaccurate.

        Parogar (talk)19:24, 11 November 2014

        True, she doesn't negate the vervet study. She does minimize it by pointing out how the actual differences in behavior were relatively small. In medical research (my area), that'd be statistical significance combined with clinical irrelevance. The findings may be right, but they're small.

          MarmotHead (talk)20:09, 11 November 2014

          She also points out that using human toys in a monkey study is ridiculous. A red frying pan is apparently a girl's toy, but how can that possibly apply to a species that has no concept of cooking. The same goes for the toy truck in a species that I would imagine would have trouble recognizing the connection between a tiny toy and an actual vehicle. Further, there are problems in comparing gender roles in primates as they vary wildly from species to species.

            Marlow (talk)20:53, 11 November 2014