Addressing nonhuman primate behavioral problems through the application of operant conditioning: Is the human treatment approach a useful model?

Abstract

Training by the systematic application of operant conditioning has been widely applied in the care, management, exhibition, and study of nonhuman primates and many other species, but is less often used to control problematic animal behavior such as stereotyped behavior or self-injurious behavior. We review the topographical features and causal factors of stereotyped and self-injurious behavior in captive nonhuman primates, and the small number of published studies that have used operant conditioning to address these behavioral problems. The techniques developed in treating human stereotyped and self-injurious behavior are then described, and comparisons are made between the two approaches. Virtually all the techniques found to be effective treatments of stereotypy and self-injurious behavior in humans are directly applicable to similar behaviors in captive nonhuman primates. Thus the human work can serve as a model for how we can enhance our attempts to address behavioral problems in captive nonhuman primates. We advocate a philosophy of behavioral management, based partly on the science of behavior analysis, that includes a systematic, scientific approach to the discovery and description of behavioral problems and their treatment.