Animal Studies of Attachment

Question 1

Why do we look at animal Studies?

Answer 1

• They have been used to look at the formation of early bonds between non-human parents and their offspring
• Attachment, like behaviour, iscommon to a range of species and so animal studies can help us understand attachment in humans

Question 2

Who is Lorenz?

Answer 2

• One of the most prominent ethologists
• First observed imprinting when he was a child
• A neighbour gave him a newly hatched duckling that began to follow him around

Question 3

What was Lorenz(1935) Method?

Answer 3

• Took a clutch of gosling eggs & divided them into 2 groups
• One group were left with their natural mother, the other group were placed in an incubator
• When the incubator eggs hatched, the first thing they saw was Lorenz
• When the natural mother eggs hatched, the first thing they saw was the mother
• The behaviour of all goslings was recorded

Question 4

What was Lorenz(1935) Findings?

Answer 4

• Once the goslings hatched, they proceeded to follow the first moving object they saw during the critical period (12-17 hours) = this is called imprinting
• One group followed their mother goose & the other group followed Lorenz
• This suggests that attachment is innate and programmed genetically
• Supports having a biological basis for an attachment is adaptive

Question 5

Define imprinting

Answer 5

An innate readiness to develop a strong bond with the mother which takes place during a specific time in development (usually the first few hours after birth/hatching)

Question 6

Explain Imprinting

Answer 6

• Has consequences for short-term survival & helps to develop longer term forming of internal templates for later relationships
• Occurs without any feeding taking place
• If the animal has not seen a moving object within the critical period, it will NOT imprint
• If no attachment has developed in 32 hours, it’s unlikely any attachment will develop
• Is irreversible
• Sexual imprinting - later mates are chosen based upon the object they imprinted on

Question 7

Explain Guiton (1966)

Answer 7

• Found that chicks, exposed to yellow rubber gloves for feeding them during the first few weeks, became imprinted on the gloves
• Shows support that animals are not born with predisposition to only imprint on specific objects/people, but on any moving thing present in the critical period

-The chicks were then found to later try and mate with the gloves, supporting sexual imprinting

Question 8

Evaluation of Imprinting

Answer 8

• Generalising - can we generalise this to humans?
• Sexual imprinting - Guiton (1966) stated that he could reverse this and later found that chickens were able to engage in normal sexual behaviour with other chickens
• Influential findings - these findings enabled other psychologists (Bowlby) to further explore the critical period

Question 9

What is the aim of Harlow(1959)?

Answer 9

To demonstrate that attachment is not based on the feeding bond (as predicted by the Learning Theory)

Question 10

What was the method of Harlow (1959)?

Answer 10

• 16 monkeys were separated from their mothers immediately after birth and placed in cages with access to 2 surrogate mothers
• One surrogate mother was made of wire and the other was made of wire but then covered in soft cloth
• 8 monkeys could get milk from the wire mother and 8 monkeys could get milk from the cloth mother
• The monkeys were studied for 165 days

Question 11

What was the findings of Harlow (1959)?

Answer 11

• Both groups of monkeys spent more time with the cloth mother (even if
  she had no milk)
• The infant would only go to the wire mother when hungry
• Once fed, the monkey would then return to the cloth mother
• If a frightening object was placed in the cage, the infant took refuge with the cloth mother
• For monkeys left for 90 days or more - they were aggressive & the females were inadequate mothers
• For monkeys left for less than 90 days - the effects could be reversed

Question 12

What are the long lasting effects of Harlow (1959)?

Answer 12

• Continued to study the monkeys as they grew up
• The motherless monkeys, even those who did have contact comfort, developed abnormally
• Social abnormalities - they froze or fled when approached by other monkeys
• Sexual abnormalities - they did not show normal mating behaviour and did not cradle their own babies

Question 13

What is the Evaluation of Harlow (1959)?

Answer 13

• Generalising - can we generalise this to humans?
• Ethical concerns - the study created lasting emotional harm for the monkeys
• Provides a valuable insight into the development of attachment and social behaviour
• Confounding variables - the 2 wire heads were very different