Animal studies of attachment Flashcards
(9 cards)
1
Q
What did Lorenz study?
A
Geese
2
Q
What did Harlow study?
A
Monkeys
3
Q
What was Lorenz’ procedure?
A
- took a large clutch of goose eggs and kept them until they hatched.
- half of the eggs were placed under a good mother, while Lorenz kept the other half in an incubator, he made sure he was the first moving object the geese encountered.
4
Q
What was Lorenz’ findings?
A
- the geese followed the first moving thing they saw
- this is known as imprinting
5
Q
What did Lorenz Conclude?
A
- that infants will not attach to a mother figure if imprinting does not occur.
- the imprinting suggests that attachment is innate and biologically programmed.
- Lorenz also believed that imprinting could not be undone.
6
Q
What was Harlow interested in?
A
Whether attachment bonds are based on the provision of food or not?
7
Q
What was Harlow’s procedure?
A
- created 2 wire mothers
- each mother had a plastic head attached but only one had a piece of soft cloth.
- 16 infant monkeys were removed from their mothers at birth.
- 8 moneys were placed with a milk bottle attached to the cloth mother and 8 with a milk bottle and the bare mother.
- The monkeys were studied for 165 days
measurements were made of the amount of time each monkey spent with each mother. - their reactions when they were frightened or introduced to new toys were all tested.
8
Q
What did Harlow find?
A
- 8 monkeys who fed from the bare mother only spent a short amount of time getting milk from her, and then returned to the cloth mother.
- when the monkeys were frightened, all of them clung to the cloth mother.
- when they were introduced to new toys, all of the monkeys kept a foot on the cloth mother for reassurance.
9
Q
What did Harlow conclude?
A
- Harlow concluded that infants do not necessarily form an attachment with the person who feeds them.
- They form an attachment with the person who offers them contact/comfort.
