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| Behaviorism and the Mind of a Bee |
| Saturday, May 24, 2025 |
| 11:00 AM–11:50 AM |
| Marriott Marquis, M2 Level, Marquis Salon 6 |
| Area: PCH; Domain: Basic Research |
| Chair: Andres H. Garcia-Penagos (California State University, Chico) |
| Presenting Author: LARS CHITTKA (Queen Mary, University of London) |
| Abstract: B.F. Skinner was one of the most influential, and also one of the quirkiest psychologists of all time. He trained pigeons to play ping pong, rats to pull levers and cats to play the piano. The behaviorist interpretation that all of these seemingly intelligent behaviors could be explained solely by operant conditioning, without the involvement of mental processes, is now confined to history lessons. However, the behaviorist view still holds strong in research on insect cognition. In recent years, bees have been trained to pull stings, roll balls to a goal and open puzzle boxes – but many researchers hold firm in their belief that this is “just operant conditioning”. Here I explore whether there is evidence for mental processes in bees – whether they can solve problems by insight rather than trial and error, whether they can imagine things, and whether they could be said to have emotion-like states. The answer to all these questions is a cautious “yes”. |
| Instruction Level: Basic |
Learning Objectives: 1. Explore levels of animal (insect) cognition that extend beyond operant conditioning
2. New experimental methods indicate that insects think and quite possibly feel
3. These findings mean that the exploration of the inner mental world of animals is both possible and exciting |
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| LARS CHITTKA (Queen Mary, University of London) |
 Lars Chittka is the author of the book The Mind of a Bee and Professor of Sensory and Behavioural Ecology at Queen Mary College of the University of London. He is also the founder of the Research Centre for Psychology at Queen Mary. He is known for his work on the evolution of sensory systems and cognition using insect-flower interactions as a model system. Chittka has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of animal cognition and its impact on evolutionary fitness studying bumblebees and honeybees. |
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