Animal Studies: Harlow and Lorenz

Question 1

A03: (Harlow) Controlled study

Answer 1

• Lab method
• Harlow was able to control potential extraneous variables i.e monkeys being taken away from their mothers straight after birth, and the baby monkeys not being exposed to any love to attention from their biological mothers.
• strength b) means that Harlow is measuring what he intended to measure, and … the study can be seen to have high internal validity allowing a cause-and-effect relationship to be established.

Question 2

A03: Weakness of Harlow’s it was controlled

Answer 2

• conducted using lab method, artificial setting.
• Highly controlled lab setting used is not reflective of real-life situations and may cause monkeys to behave in an artificial manner.
• Weakness b) it means that Harlow was not necessarily measuring the real-life attachment formation and … the study can be criticised for lack of ecological validity

Question 3

A03: Lorenz, a (s) is the findings have been highly influential

Answer 3

• in the field of development of psychology.
  -i.e te fact that imprinting is under biological control and that attachment formation happen within a specific time frame
• This is a (s) b) it leads to the developmental psychologist like Bowlby to developed well-recognized theories of attachment suggesting that attachment formation takes place during the critical-period and is a biological process
• theories have been highly influential in the way child care is administrated today.

Question 4

A03: Lorenz weakness is it can be criticised for extrapolation.

Answer 4

• He conducted a study on the imprinting of animals (geese). This is a (w) b) humans and animals are physiologically dif. the way a human infant develops an attachment w their PC could be very dif to the way geese form an attachment with t PC.
  -… the findings can not be generalized.