Attachment - animal studies Flashcards
1
Q
what did Lorenz research
A
- 1952 observed imprinting
2
Q
what was Lorenz’s study
A
- randomly divided a clutch of goose eggs
- half hatched with mother
- half hatched in an incubator where the first moving object thy saw was Lorenz
3
Q
what did Lorenz find
A
- incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere
- control group followed the mother
- ## even when mixed up they followed their group
4
Q
what is imprinting
A
- bird species that are mobile from birth attach to and follow the first moving object that they see
- identified a critical period - can be a few hours after birth
- if imprinting didn’t occur in the critical period found that chicks didn’t attach themselves to a mother figure
5
Q
what is sexual imprinting and how did Lorenz research it
A
- peacock reared in the reptile house
- first moving object it saw was a giant tortoise
- as an adult the peacock displayed courtship behaviour to the tortoise
6
Q
what did Harlow research
A
- 1958
- reared 16 baby rehsus monkeys with two wire model mothers
- in one condition milk was dispensed by the plan wire mother
- second condition milk dispensed by cloth covered mother
7
Q
what did Harlow find
A
- baby monkeys cuddled cloth mother in preference
- sought comfort from cloth mother when frightened regardless of which mother dispensed milk
- contact comfort was more important than food
8
Q
what did Harlow find about the monkeys in adulthood
A
- followed monkeys who had been deprived of a real mother
- monkeys reared with wire model were most dysfunctional
- even those reared with cloth mother didn’t develop normal social behaviour
- more aggressive, less sociable, bred less
- when they became mothers they neglected their young, attacked children
9
Q
what is the research support for Lorenz’s research
A
Regolin and Vallortigara (1995)
- exposed chicks to simple shape combinations that moved
- range of combinations then shown
- followed the original more closely
- young animals born with an innate mechanism to imprint on a moving object
10
Q
what are the limitations of Lorenz’s research
A
- cannot generalise findings from birds to humans
- mammalian attachment system is a two-way process - young and mothers must be attached
11
Q
what is the strength of Harlow’s research
A
- real world applications
- helped social workers and clinical psychologists understand that a lack of bonding experience may be a risk factor in childhood development
- can intervene and prevent poor outcomes
12
Q
what is the limitation of Harlow’s research
A
- difficult to generalise to humans
- monkeys are more similar to humans than ducks
- human brain and human behaviour is still more complex
- severe ethical issues on the monkeys
- has helped us understand maternal deprivation
