Animal Studies of Attachment Flashcards
(8 cards)
What was Harlow’s procedure?
16 baby monkeys were separated from their mothers immediately after birth and placed in a cage with two ‘surrogate’ mothers
- one made of wire and the other covered in soft cloth
Half the monkeys could get milk from the wire mother and vice versa
What were Harlow’s findings?
Both groups of monkeys spent MORE time with the cloth mother than wire mother
- 2nd group would only go to the wire mother if they were hungry
What was Harlow’s conclusion?
Comfort contact was more important than food in the formation of attachment, even though it’s not vital for health development
What did Harlow notice about the monkeys that grew up with surrogate mothers?
They were more timid and didn’t know how to behave with other monkeys
- could be aggressive
- had difficulty mating
- females were often inadequate mothers and some killed their off-springs
How long did it take before Harlow saw the negative behaviours?
Only if the monkeys were left for more than 90 days
- could be reversed if placed in a ‘normal’ environment before 90 days
What was Lorenz’s aim?
To investigate the mechanism of imprinting
- where an animal forms an attachment to the first moving object they see
What was Lorenz’s procedure?
He divided a clutch of goslings eggs in half
- Control group hatched with the mother
- Experimental group hatched in an incubator and saw Lorenz
