is it? Yes, it’s that old favourite, the straw man:
Chomsky, Fitch, and Hauser argue that Pinker and Jackendoff did not understand their initial paper, created a straw man in its place, and then destroyed it with arguments that are irrelevant to what Chomsky, Fitch, and Hauser actually said.
As Zimmer points out, the initial paper by Chomsky et al was hardly a model of clarity, and this latest paper is no better. Oh well.
Of more interest is Zimmer’s article on animal personality. It’s hardly a surprise to pet owners that animals differ in their personalities, but apparently it’s a bit of a shock to scientists.
A team of Dutch scientists is trying to solve the mystery of personality. Why are some individuals shy while others are bold, for example? What roles do genes and environment play in shaping personalities? And most mysterious of all, how did they evolve?
The scientists are carrying out an ambitious series of experiments to answer these questions. They are studying thousands of individuals, observing how they interact with others, comparing their personalities to their descendants’ and analyzing their DNA.
It may come as a surprise that their subjects have feathers. The scientists, based at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology, are investigating personalities of wild birds.
Until recently, most experts in personality would have considered such a study as nothing but foolish anthropomorphism. “It’s been looked at with suspicion and contempt,” said Dr. Samuel Gosling, a psychologist at the University of Texas.
Dr. Samuel Gosling?
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