Animal Studies of Attachment

Question 1

What was the aim of Harlow’s monkey study?

Answer 1

To investigate whether food formed the basis of attachment.

Question 2

What were the two mothers Harlow created?

Answer 2

One made of wire and one made of soft terry towelling cloth.

Question 3

How many monkeys were studies and for how long?

Answer 3

8 monkeys for 165 days.

Question 4

What happened in the first group of monkeys?

Answer 4

The cloth mother provided no food whilst the wire mother did, in the form of an attached baby bottle containing milk.

Question 5

Who did both groups of monkeys spend more time with?

Answer 5

The cloth mother.

Question 6

What did Harlow find about the monkeys who fed from the wire monkey?

Answer 6

They only spent a short amount of time with the wire monkey before returning to the cloth-covered mother for the rest of the day.

Question 7

What happened when the monkeys were placed in a frightening situation?

Answer 7

All infants took refuge with the cloth mother.

Question 8

What happened to the monkeys when playing with new objects?

Answer 8

They kept one food on the cloth monkey for reassurance.

Question 9

What can you conclude from Harlows study?

Answer 9

That infants do not develop an attachment to the person that feeds them but to the person who offers contact comfort.

Question 10

What attachment behaviour was monitored in Harlows study?

Answer 10

Safe base and proximity seeking.

Question 11

What 2 conditions did Harlow create for the monkeys?

Answer 11

• A new, unfamiliar environment.
• A scary, intimidating animal-like threat.

Question 12

What does Lorenz’s research investigate?

Answer 12

The evolutionary explanation of attachment which suggests that infants are pre-programmed to form an attachment from the second they are born.

Question 13

What theories does Lorenz’s research support?

Answer 13

The idea that infants have an attachment gene and that they imprint on a caregiver not long after birth.

Question 14

What was the aim of Lorenz’s research?

Answer 14

To investigate the mechanisms of imprinting where the youngsters follow and form an attachment to the first, large, moving object that they meet.

Question 15

What did Lorenz do to the clutch of grey lag goose eggs?

Answer 15

Split them into 2 batches.
One batch hatched naturally with the mother, the other batch hatched in an incubator with Lorenz making sure he was the first moving object the goslings encountered.

Question 16

What happened to the gooses behaviour?

Answer 16

It was recorded.

Question 17

How did Lorenz make sure he knew if the goslings had hatched naturally or in an incubator?

Answer 17

He marked them.

Question 18

What did he place the goslings under?

Answer 18

An upturned box and removed it and recorded behaviour.

Question 19

What happened to both groups of goslings after birth?

Answer 19

The naturally hatched baby goslings followed their mother but the incubator hatched goslings followed Lorenz around.

Question 20

What happened after the goslings were released from the upturned box?

Answer 20

The naturally hatched goslings went straight to their mother whilst the incubator hatched goslings went to Lorenz (showing no bond to their natural mother).

Question 21

What did the bonds prove to be?

Answer 21

Irreversible.

Question 22

What did Lorenz notice about imprinting?

Answer 22

The process of imprinting occurred only a short period of time after birth (between 4 and 25 hours)

Question 23

What can you conclude about Lorenz’s research?

Answer 23

Imprinting is a form of attachment, exhibited mainly by nidifugous birds, whereby close contact is kept with the first large moving object encountered.