Animal studies of attachment - Lorenz's research

Question 1

Describe how Lorenz studied attachment in animals.

Answer 1

• Set up a classic experiment
• Lorenz divided a large clutch of goose eggs into 2 groups
• Half the eggs hatched with mother goose in a natural environment. - control group
• Other half hatched in an incubator.
• When control group hatched - they followed the mother goose
• Incubator group hatched, followed the first moving object they saw - Lorenz
• When both groups were mixed up, chicks still followed the first moving object they first imprinted on.
• Lorenz identified a critical period in where imprinting occurs which is a few hours after hatching.
• If chicks did not attach with period, chicks did not attach to a mother figure

Question 2

What did Lorenz investigate in the study?

Answer 2

Impriniting

Question 3

Describe sexual imprinting with case study.

Answer 3

• Lorenz case study (1952) - Peacock reaered in (raised up) in reptile house of a zoo
• So first moving objects it saw were giant tortoises.
• As an adult, the peacock only direct courtship towards giant tortoises.

Animals that imprint on their firstmoving object later display courtship

Question 4

What are the evaluations of Lorenz’s research?

Answer 4

• Supporting research evidence for imprinting.
• lack of generalisability to humans

Question 5

Evaluation: Supporting research evidence for imprinting

Answer 5

• Strength: Supporting research evidence for imprinting.
• Study by Regolin supports Lorenz idea of imprinting.
• Chicks were shown a simple shape combination that moved (such as triangle with a rectangle in front).
• Other shape combos were moved infront, but the chicks still followed the original closely
• Supports the view that young animals imprint on the first moving object they see during the critical period as sugguested by Lorenz.

Question 6

Evaluation: Lack of generalisability to humans

Answer 6

• Limitation: Lack of generalisability to humans.
• Lorenz’s procedure included newly hatched chicks who formed attachments during imprinting.
• However attachment system in humans in more complex compared to birds.
• e.g. in Humans its a two-way process where infant and mother become attached to each other.
• Therefore research cannot be applied to humans as human behavior is more complex