A comparison of development and deprivation in non-human primates and man

Abstract

Comparisons are made between the normal behavioral development and the effects of social deprivation in rhesus monkeys, chimpanzees and man. In this sequential order of species, development is slower, mother-infant stimulations are richer and the capacities to be developed are more sophisticated. It seems likely that in the course of human evolution, social play with peers is delayed in favor of longer mother-infant interactions of increasing quality. This view is consistent with a number of indications that the vulnerability for effects of mild social deprivation is greater in man than in monkeys; especially the social play with peers seems to drop out easier in humans than in monkeys. However, studies of the development of abnormal behavior in non-human primates were insufficiently matched with the known behavioral deviations in human children. More knowledge is required of the process of behavior development under circumstances relevant to humans and of the causes of individual differences.