animal studies of attachment

Question 1

Lorenz (1952)

Answer 1

• Lorenz’s research suggests that organisms have a biological propensity to form attachments to one single subject
• Conducted an experiment in which goslings were hatched either with their mother or in an incubator. the goslings then proceeded to follow the first moving object they saw between 13 & 16 hours after hatching, either Lorenz or their mother
• it supports the view that having a biological basis for an attachment is adaptive as it promotes survival
• increased mobility compared to human babies are born immobile and less reason for them to form attachments straight away

Question 2

Harlow (1958)

Answer 2

• Harlow conducted research with 8 monkeys which were caged from infancy with wire-mesh food dispensing and cloth-covered surrogate mothers to investigate which of the two alternatives would have more attachment behaviours directed towards it
• Harlow measured the amount of time that monkeys spent with each surrogate mother and the time spent crying for their biological mother
• Findings revealed that separated infant monkeys would show attachment behaviours towards cloth surrogate mother when frightened rather than food-dispensing surrogate mother
• Findings also showed monkeys were willing to explore the room full of toys when cloth mother was present but displayed phobic responses when food-dispensing mother was present
• Harlow reviewed infant monkeys that were reared in a social environment and observed that these monkeys went on to develop into healthy adults while monkeys in isolation with surrogate mothers all displayed dysfunctional adult behaviour:
• being timid
• unpredictable with other monkeys
• difficulty mating
• inadequate mothers

Question 3

implications of animal studies: Lorenz

Answer 3

• imprinting irreversibly early in life suggests that this was operating within a critical period which was underpinned by biological changes
• the longevity of the bond to Lorenz would support the view that early attachment experiences do predict future bonds
• the powerful instinctive behaviour that the goslings displayed would suggest that attachments are biologically programmed into species according to adaptive pressures: goslings innately follow moving objects shortly after hatching as this would be adaptive given their premature mobility

Question 4

implications of animal studies: Harlow

Answer 4

• the monkeys’ willingness to seek refuge from something offering comfort rather than food would suggest that food is not as crucial as comfort when forming a bond
• the fact that isolated monkeys displayed long-term dysfunctional behaviour illustrates that early attachment experiences predict long-term social behaviour, which would suggest that animals have greater needs that just the provision of food

Question 5

strengths of animal studies

Answer 5

• humans and monkeys are similar: Green (1994) states that mammals have the same biological brain structure - the only differences are size and number of connections
• important practical applications: Harlow’s research has profound implications for childcare - due to the importance of early experiences on long-term development, it is vital that all of children’s needs are catered for - taking care of physical needs is not sufficient enough

Question 6

weaknesses of animal studies

Answer 6

• results cannot be generalised to humans - cannot be extrapolated and applied to human behaviour as it is unlikely that observations of goslings following a research or monkeys clinging to surrogate mothers reflects the emotional connections and interaction that characterises human attachment
• unethical use of animals - animals have a right not to be researched/ harmed - the pursuit of academic conclusions for human benefits could be seen as detrimental to non-human species