animal studies of attachment Flashcards
Lorenz study aim
to investigate the mechanisms of imprinting
, where some species of animals form an attachment to the first moving object that they meet
Lorenz study procedure
split a large clutch of gosling eggs and divided them into 2 groups
one group hatched with mother goose in natural environment
other group were hatched in incubator
when the incubator eggs hatched, first living thing they saw was lorenz and they started following him around
test imprinting, lorenz mixed all the goslaings together in a box marking the two groups to distinguish them
box was then removed and the goslings behaviour was recorded to see who would follow
lorenz study findings
incubator group followed lorenz everywhere whereas the control group hatched in presence of mother follow the mother
when two groups were mixed up, the control group continued to follow mother and experimental group continued to follow lorenz
imprinting-where species follow first moving object they see
sexual imprinting
Lorenz also investigated the relationship between imprinting and adult mate prefernces
strength-practical value
findings have been highly influential within the field of developmental psychology. For example, the fact that imprinting is seen to be irreversible
weakness-generalisability to humans
can be criticised for exploration. LOrenz conducted his study imprinting on aimals
weakness-some of lorenz observations been questioned
later researchers have questioned lorenz conclusions. For example, guiton et al
harlow study aim
to study the mechanisms by which new-born rhesus monkeys bond with their mothers
harlow procedure
reared 16 rhesus monkey with two wire model mothers
one condition, milk suspended from wire mother
other condition, milk dispensed from cloth covered model
measure attachment behaviour, observed how monkeys reacted when placed in frightening situations
e.g added noisy mechanical teddy bear to environment
studied the monkeys as they grew up
findings of Harlow study
baby monkeys cuddled the soft object rather then wire as sought confort for. thr cloth one when frightened regardless of which dispensed milk
showed contact condor was more important to monkeys than food when it came to attachment behaviour
critical period for normal development
lorenz and harlow concluded that there was a critical period for this behaviour
mother had to be introduced to infant monkey 90 days for an attachment to form
after that, attachment was impossible
maternally deprived monkeys as adults
found that monkeys who reheated with wire mothers only were the most dysfunctional
however, even those who reared with soft toy as a substitute did not develop normal social behaviour
more aggressive and less sociable than other monkeys and they bread less than typical monkeys
strength-important practical value
research into attachment from Harlow’s research has had important applications in a range of practical contexts
weakness-research is unethical
e.g the monkeys in Harlows study showed greater distress when removed from their biological mothers
when placed with other monkeys, not monkeys from his study, showed greater distress and were unable to communicate with other monkeys
as well as that, when had their own children many would neglect their offspring and in some extreme cases killed them
weakness as in breach with the BPS guildlines (fails to protect the monkeys from harm)
strength-controlled setting
harlow was about to control potential extraneous variables e.g such as the monkeys being taken away from their mothers straight after brother, baby monkeys were not exposed to any love or attention from their biological mothers
strength as shows harlow is measuring what he intended to measure
study seen to have high internal validity allowing cause and effect relationship to be established
howerver. lab setting is not reflective of real life situations and may cause monkeys to behave in artificial manner
weakness as can be criticised for lacking ecological validity
