Penny Patterson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Francine Patterson (1947-02-13)February 13, 1947 (age 78) |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Alma mater | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign(B.A., 1970) Stanford University(Ph.D., 1979) |
| Parent | C. H. Patterson |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | President and Research Director ofThe Gorilla Foundation |
Francine "Penny"Patterson (born February 13, 1947) is an Americananimal psychologist. From 1972 onwards, she taught a modified form ofAmerican Sign Language, which she called "Gorilla Sign Language" (GSL), to agorilla namedKoko. The scientific validity of Patterson's claims about the extent of Koko's language mastery has been widely rejected in linguistic and other specialist circles.[1][2][3][4]
Patterson is the second oldest of seven children and daughter ofC. H. Patterson,[5] a professor of psychology, and Frances Spano Patterson. She was born inChicago and moved with her family toEdina, Minnesota, when she was young, and then toUrbana, Illinois. Her mother died of cancer when Patterson was a freshman in college and the youngest of her siblings was just five years old. This triggered her interest indevelopmental psychology, a theme which pervaded much of her later work.
Patterson earned herbachelor's degree in psychology at theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1970. She attained herPh.D. in 1979 fromStanford University, with her dissertationLinguistic Capabilities of a Lowland Gorilla, on teaching sign language toKoko andMichael, another Western lowland gorilla, who died in 2000.
Patterson is the president and research director ofThe Gorilla Foundation. The foundation was founded with her longtime research colleagueRonald Cohn and Barbara F Hiller[6] in 1978 using monetary support from aRolex Award. The Gorilla Foundation had been trying to move from its current home inWoodside, California, toMaui, Hawaii.[7] Patterson is an adjunct professor of psychology atSanta Clara University and a member of the Board of Consultants at the Center for Cross Cultural Communication inWashington, D.C. She is the Editor-in-Chief of theGorilla journal.
Patterson and her work with Koko are the subject ofBarbet Schroeder's 1978 feature-length documentaryKoko: A Talking Gorilla. She is also an author of nonfiction works, includingThe Education of Koko,Koko's Kitten,Koko-Love!: Conversations With a Signing Gorilla, andKoko's Story. All of these books deal with her personal experiences with Koko.
Patterson's work has garnered controversy. Multiple allegations, made by former employees, said that she would routinely show her nipples to Koko and demand that other employees, both female and male, present their nipples to the gorilla. These demands never occurred with important donors. Asexual harassmentlawsuit over this matter was settled out of court.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]
