Animal studies of attachment Flashcards
(12 cards)
What is an animal study?
Studies carried out on non human animal species rather than on humans
Practical - animals breed faster and researchers are interested in seeing results across more than one generation of animals
What was Lorenz’s study on imprinting?
Classic experiment
Randomly divided large clutch of goose eggs
1/2 eggs hatched with mother in natural environment
1/2 hatched in incubator where first moving object saw was Lorenz
What was Lorenz’s findings on imprinting?
Incubator group - followed him everywhere
Control group - followed mother
When mixed up still did the same thing
Imprinting
Identified critical period which imprinting must take place
Birds imprint to first moving object they see
If imprinting doesn’t occur within critical period chicks wont attach themselves to mother figure
What did Lorenz find about sexual imprinting?
Birds that imprinted on a human would often later display courtship behaviour towards humans
Peacock - saw giant tortoises first thing after hatching - as adults directed courtship towards giant tortoises
Meaning the peacock had undergone sexual imprinting
What did Harlow study about the importance of contact comfort?
Rhesus monkeys - more similar to humans than birds.
16 baby monkeys
Two wire model mothers
One condition - milk dispensed by the plain-wire mother
Second condition - milk dispensed by the cloth covered mother
What did Harlow find about the importance of contact comfort?
Baby monkeys cuddled cloth covered mother in preference to the plain wire mother
Sought comfort from cloth one when frightened regardless of what mother dispensed milk
Showing contact comfort was more important to monkeys than food when it came to attachment behaviour
What did Harlow et al find about maternally deprived monkeys as adults?
Followed monkeys who had been deprived of real mother into adulthood
See if this early maternal deprivation had permanent effect
Monkeys reared with plain wire mothers were most dysfunctional
Those reared with cloth covered mother did not develop normal social behaviour.
More aggressive
Less sociable than other monkeys and bred less often then typical.
Unskilled at mating
When become mothers some neglected their young and others attacked their children - killing in some cases
What did Harlow identify as the critical period for normal development?
Mother figure had to be introduced to a young monkey within 90 days for attachment to form
After attachment was impossible
Damage done by early deprivation became irreversible
What is an evaluation for Lorenz’s studies?
Research support
Regolin et al
Chicks were exposed to simple shape combinations that moved
Range of shape combinations were then moved in front of them
Follow the original most closely
Supporting view that young animals are born with an innate mechanism to imprint on a moving object present in the critical window of development
What is an evaluation for Lorenz’s studies?
Generalisability to humans
Mammalian attachment system is a two way system quite different and more complex than that in birds.
Eg. Not only just young who become attached to their mothers but also mammalian mothers show an emotional attachment to their young.
Meaning it is probably not appropriate to generalise Lorenz’s ideas to humans
What is an evaluation for Harlow’s studies?
Real world value
Important real world applications
Helped social workers and clinical psychologists understand that a lack of bonding experience may risk child development allowing them to intervene to prevent poor outcomes
Now understand importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos and breeding programmes in the wild
Meaning value of Harlows research is not just theoretical but also practical
What is an evaluation for Lorenz’s studies?
Generalisability to humans
Rhesus monkeys are much more simlar than Lorenz birds
All mammals share some common attachment behaviours
Human brain and human behaviour still more complex than that of monkeys
Meaning it may not be appropriate to generalise Harlow’s findings to humans
