Animal Studies of Attachment Flashcards
(10 cards)
What was Lorenz’s (1952) procedure for studying imprinting?
He split goose eggs so half hatched naturally and half in an incubator with Lorenz as the first moving object they saw.
What did Lorenz find in his imprinting study?
Incubator-hatched goslings imprinted on Lorenz, while naturally-hatched goslings followed their mother.
What is the critical period in Lorenz’s study?
Imprinting must occur within hours after birth or attachment won’t develop.
What is sexual imprinting according to Lorenz?
Birds imprinted on Lorenz later attempted to mate with similar-looking objects.
What did Harlow (1958) study about attachment?
The importance of contact comfort using wire and cloth surrogate monkey mothers.
What were Harlow’s findings?
Monkeys preferred the cloth mother for comfort, even when only the wire mother provided food. Deprived monkeys showed social and emotional issues later in life.
What research supports Lorenz’s concept of imprinting?
Guiton & Valtonraggia (1959) found chicks imprinted on gloves and later tried to mate with them.
Why is generalising Lorenz’s findings to humans limited?
Birds and mammals have different attachment processes; mammalian mothers show more emotional bonding.
What practical application does Harlow’s research have?
It has helped inform childcare practices and highlight the importance of emotional care in early development.
What are the ethical issues in Harlow’s research?
The monkeys suffered emotional harm, raising concerns about long-term distress and whether the research was ethically justified.
