Evolution - Explanations

Question 1

Outline two main points within the evolutionary theory of attachment.

Answer 1

The tendency to form attachments is innate.

This tendency is present in both infants and mothers.

Question 2

Outline two main points within the learning theory of attachment.

Answer 2

Infants have no innate tendency to form attachments.

They learn attachments because of food.

Question 3

What is evolution?

Answer 3

The process whereby useful features randomly appear in a species.

Question 4

Why are useful features actually useful to an animal?

(Evolution)

Answer 4

They help the animal survive long enough to successfully reproduce are not eliminated.

Question 5

What do animals need to be, in order to survive and reproduce? What are these useful features called?

Answer 5

Need to be well adapted to their environment.

For this reason, useful features are said to be adaptive.

Question 6

What are ethologists?

Answer 6

Biologists who study animal behaviour in the natural environment.

Question 7

Give an example of an ethologist. What did they study?

Answer 7

Konrad Lorenz.

He was interested in how young animals attach to their mothers, and how this gave them an increased chance of survival.

Question 8

When did Lorenz complete his gosling study?

Answer 8

1935.

Question 9

What did Lorenz aim to do in his 1935 study?

Answer 9

To investigate the mechanisms of imprinting where youngsters follow and form an attachment to their first large moving object that they meet.

Question 10

Briefly outline Lorenz’s procedure for his 1935 study.

Answer 10

Lorenz split a large clutch of greylag goose eggs into two batches, one of which hatched naturally by the mother and the other hatched in an incubator, with Lorenz making sure he was the first moving object the newly hatched goslings encountered.

Following behaviour was then recorded.

Lorenz marked all the goslings so he could determine which batch they came from and placed them under an upturned box which was then removed and following behaviour was recorded.

Question 11

What were 2 findings from Lorenz’s 1935 study?

Answer 11

Immediately after birth, the naturally hatched baby goslings followed their mother about, while the incubator goslings followed Lorenz around.

When released from the upturned box, the naturally hatched goslings went straight to their mother whilst the incubated goslings went to Lorenz, showing no bond to their natural mother. The bonds proved irreversible.

Lorenz noted how imprinting would only occur within a brief, set time period of between 4 and 25 hours after hatching.

Lorenz subsequently reported on how goslings imprinted onto humans would, as matured adult birds, attempt to mate with humans.

Question 12

What was concluded from Lorenz’s 1935 study?

Answer 12

Imprinting is a form of attachment, exhibited mainly by nidifugous (precocial) birds (ones that leaved the nest early) whereby close contact is kept with the large moving object encountered.

Question 13

Outline 2 evaluative points from Lorenz’s 1935 study.

Answer 13

The fact that imprinting is irreversible, suggests that ability is under biological control, as learned behaviours can be modified with experience.

The fact that imprinting only occurs within a brief, set time period influenced Bowlby’s idea of a critical period in human babies.

The fact that goslings imprinted onto humans exhibit sexual advances to humans when adult birds shows the importance of the behaviour upon future relationships, something which Bowlby incorporated into his continuity hypothesis.

There are extrapolation issues with animal studies; the attachment behaviour of geese is not necessarily that of humans.

Question 14

Outline Immelmann’s research from 1972.

Answer 14

Supports Lorenz’s ideas of imprinting.

This is because they arranged zebra finches to be raised by Bengalese finches and vice versa.

In years later, when finches were given free choice, they preferred to mate with the species on which they had been imprinted.

This suggests that imprinting has long-term effects on mate relationship attachment, and that the process is not specific to goslings’.

Question 15

What did Bowlby do in 1958?

Answer 15

Bowlby put forward an important theory of attachment, based on the work of the ethologists.

Question 16

What did Bowlby seen humans like? What did this suggest?

Answer 16

He saw humans as being just like other animals - we have an innate tendency to form attachments with a caregiver.

This tendency gives us an adaptive advantage, i.e, makes it more likely that we will survive.

Question 17

Where did Bowlby get his ideas for his ‘critical period’ from?

Answer 17

He adopted the idea of a critical period from ethologists like Lorenz, and applied this to his explanation of how humans form their attachments.

Question 18

What is the acronym associated with Bowlby’s Attachment Theory?

Answer 18

ASCMI.

Question 19

Outline ASCMI.

(Bowlby’s Attachment Theory)

Answer 19

Adaptive.

Social releases.

Critical period.

Monotropy.

Internal working model.

Question 20

Outline ‘adaptive’ as one of the factors of Bowlby’s Attachment Theory.

(ASCMI)

Answer 20

Attachments are adaptive.

This means that they give our species an ‘adaptive advantage’, making us more likely to survive.

This is because if an infant has an attachment to a caregiver, they are kept safe, given food and kept warm.
An attachments results in a desire to maintain proximity and ensure safety, and uses the mother as a secure base for exploration.

Question 21

Outline ‘social releasers’ as one of the factors of Bowlby’s Attachment Theory.

(ASCMI)

Answer 21

Babies have social releasers, which ‘unlock’ the innate tendency of adults to care for them.

Physical: face, features, proportions.
Behavioural: crying, cooing.

Question 22

Outline ‘critical period’ as one of the factors of Bowlby’s Attachment Theory.

(ASCMI)

Answer 22

Babies have to form the attachment with their caregiver during a critical period.

This is between birth and 2.5 years, but was later revised to birth to 5 years.

Bowlby said that if this didn’t happen, the child would be damaged for life - socially, emotionally, intellectually and physically.

Question 23

Outline ‘monotropy’ as one of the factors of Bowlby’s Attachment Theory.

(ASCMI)

Answer 23

Bowlby believed that infants form one very special attachment with their mother.

This special, intense attachment is called monotropy.

If the mother isn’t available, the infant could bond with another ever-present, adult, mother substitute.

Question 24

Outline ‘internal working model’ as one of the factors of Bowlby’s Attachment Theory.

(ASCMI)

Answer 24

Through the monotropic attachment, the infant would form an internal working model - expectations regarding his/ her relationship with others.

This model is then used as a template or pattern for future relationships.

As this is based on the monotropic attachment, the internal working model also forms within the critical period.

Question 25

Outline Dollard and Miller’s research from 1950.

(Challenging research for imprinting)

Answer 25

Challenges the idea that imprinting plays a significant role in attachment.

In the first year of life, babies are fed around 2000 times, generally by their main carer.

This creates ample opportunity for the carer to become associated with the removal of the unpleasant feeling of hunger, a form of negative reinforcement.

This suggests that conditioning through feeding is more significant than imprinting.

Question 26

Outline Harlow’s research from 1959.

(Challenges the mothers involvement in the monotropy)

Answer 26

Challenges the idea that the monotropy is only provided through the mother.

The monkey’s spent 22/ 24 hours a day with the towelled mother - only moving other to the other for food.

This shows that comfort is the primary reason for attachment, thus can be provided by anyone; not just the mother.

Question 27

Outline Harlow’s research from 1959.

(Supports attachments being biologically innate)

Answer 27

Supports the idea of attachment formation being biologically innate.

The monkey’s spent 22/ 24 hours a day with the towelled mother - only moving other to the other for food.

This shows that attachments develop as a result of the mother providing “tactile comfort,” and that infants have an innate (biological) need to touch and cling to something for emotional comfort.

This suggests that attachment processes may be innate, rather than a result of e.g. conditioning.

Reinforces Bowlby’s ideas of adaptive attachments.