Contributions to the history of psychology: XCIX. Experimental study of infrahuman primate sexual behaviors: James Harlan Elder.

Prior to the 1930s, designs of research into sexual behavior of infrahuman primates were not comparable; conclusions about physiological and nonphysiological factors in receptivity and mating were confounded by species studied, living and testing conditions, and precaptivity history. Clearly there was need for comprehensive and controlled studies of infrahuman primate sexual behavior. In response to the controversy about biological bases of receptivity and mating, James Harlan Elder, in collaboration with Robert M. Yerkes, designed the first truly comprehensive study of factors influencing sexual behavior of chimpanzees. At that time, other persons interested in this problem were employing experimental methods, but Elder's and Yerkes' program most directly addressed the problems confounding prior study and their work served as a model of experimental research into factors affecting receptivity and mating of infrahuman primates.