5. Animal Studies of Attachment

Question 1

2 animal studies into attachment

Answer 1

• Lorenz (1952)
• Harlow (1958)

Question 2

Outline research into animal studies of attachment: introduction

Answer 2

animal studies are conducted in the basis that there was a biological continuity between humans and animals, so what was true for animals would also be true for humans.

such studies were also regarded as being more ethical than if performed upon humans.

Question 3

Outline research into animal studies of attachment: LORENZ
aim

Answer 3

Lorenz’ research into the theory of imprinting aimed to observe the formation of attachment in Greylag Geese

Question 4

Outline research into animal studies of attachment: LORENZ
procedure

Answer 4

Loren divided a number of goose ages randomly into two groups.

half were replaced under their mother so that the first thing they would see when they hatched was their mother goose (control group)

the other half were placed in an incubator and the first thing that they saw when they hatched was Lorenz (experimental group)

Question 5

Outline research into animal studies of attachment: LORENZ
findings

Answer 5

when the incubator eggs hatched, the first moving thing they saw was Lorenz and they soon started following him around.
to test the effect of imprinting Lorenz marked the two groups to distinguish them and placed them together with both himself and the natural mother.
Lorenz found that the goslings quickly divided themselves up, one following their natural mother and the other group following Lorenz.
Lorenz’s geese showed no recognition of their natural mother as Lorenz became their ‘imprinted parent’.

Question 6

Outline research into animal studies of attachment: LORENZ
conclusion

Answer 6

Lorenz concluded that animals imprint a mental image of the first moving object they see within hours of being born and therefore the process of attachment must be an instinctive one

Question 7

Evaluate research into animal studies of attachment: LORENZ
Strengths

Answer 7

P: evidence to support Ls findings from Guiton (1966)
E: Leghorn chicks were exposed to a yellow rubber glove that fed them during the first few weeks after hatching
E: it was found that the glove imprinted on the chicks
L: supports the view that young animals are not born with a predisposition to imprint in a specific type of object but on any moving thing that is present during the critical window of development

Question 8

Evaluate research into animal studies of attachment: LORENZ
Limitations

Answer 8

P: issue with animal studies into attachment is that the findings are difficult to generalise to humans
E: humans and animals differ in important ways
E: eg much more of human behaviour is governed by conscious decisions unlike animals such as geese and monkeys
L: we cannot assume that animals and humans form complex emotional bonds in the same way, therefore more research is needed to aid our understanding

Question 9

Outline research into animal studies of attachment: HARLOW
aim

Answer 9

Harlow aimed to test the learning theory of attachment (attachments are formed primarily through food)

Question 10

Outline research into animal studies of attachment: HARLOW
procedure

Answer 10

• 8 baby rhesus monkeys were reared with two wire model ‘mothers’
• one was a plain wire mother which gave milk. another was a cloth covered mother which did not give milk.
• the amount of time spent with each mother was recorded.
• observations of the monkeys responses were made for 165 days.
• the monkeys were tightened to test for mother preference during stress.

Question 11

Outline research into animal studies of attachment: HARLOW
findings

Answer 11

Harlow found that all 8 monkeys spent most of their time with the cloth covered mother and were often found to ‘reach over’ to the wire mother for food whilst still clinging to the cloth mother.

when playing with new objects the monkeys often kept one foot on the cloth cornered mother seemingly for reassurance.

Question 12

Outline research into animal studies of attachment: HARLOW
conclusion

Answer 12

Harlow concluded that ‘contact comfort’ was of more importance to the monkeys than food when it came to attachment behaviour

as the monkeys had innate, unlearned need for contact comfort, it suggests that attachment concerns emotional security more than food

Question 13

Outline research into animal studies of attachment: HARLOW
Strengths

Answer 13

P: high control over variables
E: research is conducted in the controlled setting of a laboratory which allowed EVs to be controlled
E: eg the time each monkey was allowed to spend with the wire mothers could be controlled
L: gives the research high internal validity
E: however, Harlow was criticised for using a different ‘head’ on each ‘mother’ which may have given the ‘soft cloth mother’ a more appealing appearance to the infant monkeys, possibly skewing the results, making them invalid

P: practical applications
E: research has given insight into attachment that has had important applications in many practical contexts
E: the emphasis on contact comfort has been seen in the real world where mothers are now encouraged to have skin to skin contact with babies straight after birth to aid their attachment
L: this research has a real benefit to people’s lives in the real world

Question 14

Outline research into animal studies of attachment: HARLOW
Limitations

Answer 14

P: raised ethical issues
E: created lasting emotional harm as the monkeys later found it difficult to form relationships with peers being referred to by Harlow as socially abnormal
E: could be seen as lack of protection from harm as the monkeys were put under a great deal of psychological stress which they wouldn’t have experienced in every day life
L: goes against the ethical code of conduct
E: however, this species is considered similar enough to humans to be able to generalise the findings, meaning their suffering was presumably quite human like