Shaping Monkey-Human Contact

Abstract

An empirically ordered sequence of 11 steps is described for the training of progressive increases in physical contact between monkeys and Es. The steps range from a point at which food is not accepted from E's hand, through the touching and petting of varied parts of the monkey's body, to the monkey climbing on or being held by E. Some illustrative data are presented and it is suggested that evaluation of the animal-human relationship is relevant to long-term studies in experimental behavior therapy.