e food in what might be a more reflective way, then at the toys in the enclosure, then back at the food, and then at the toys again. Finally, the animal begins to use the toys to get at the food (Gould, 1971). The details of the chimps’ solutions to Kohler’s food-gathering puzzle varied. The theme common to each of these attempts is that, to all appearances, the chimps were solving the problem by a kind of cognitive trial and error, as if they were reflecting in their minds before manipulating the tools. These indications seem to point to insight and planning the very crux of Gestalt theory.Intelligence is questionable, however. Two sets of interests lead us to test the intelligence of the higher apes. We are aware that it is a question of beings which in many ways are near to man. These beings show so many human traits in their “everyday” behavior that the question naturally arises whether they do not behave with intelligence and insight under conditions which require such behaviors (Kohler, 1925).These proposed experiments by Kohler have made significant contributions to the world of Gestalt Psychology. Perhaps he gave us a means of questioning the possibilities involving animal cognition as well as human cognition, and our capabilities of insight and perception and how those two characteristics dramatically change the way we see our world....
