Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall

Major Topics and Research Methods

Jane Goodall is a psychologist who studies the relationship between humans and chimpanzees. Jane starts her research by moving to Cape Town in Africa and meeting up with Louis Leaky, who hired her to do some research with him. After observing how serious and methodical she was, Leaky selected her to do a study of chimps and he obtained the necessary funding for the project. Goodall research methods are very different then most researchers. Goodall lives with her specimens, so she can interact with the chimps in their natural habitats. Goodall believes that her research would have ended long ago if she had used the experimental methodology use by most of the psychologists of the time. Other psychologists did not value Goodall's research in the beginning and they paid little attention to her until she discovered that chimps are, in fact, omnivores. Goodall has also documented affectionate touching instantly recognizable to people: hugs, kisses, pats on the back, even tickles. Many ethnologists long continued to dismiss