attachment: animal studies

Question 1

Lorenz: what is imprinting

Answer 1

when a bird species who are mobile from birth attach and follow the first moving object they see within a critical period

Question 2

what did Lorenz aim to study

Answer 2

the mechanisms of imprinting

Question 3

how did Lorenz study imprinting

Answer 3

split large clutch of goose eggs into 2 batches, one batch hatched naturally and the other was incubated, Lorenz marked all goslings to categorise them, for the incubated batch Lorenz made sure he was the first moving object the goslings saw and recorded their behaviour

Question 4

what did Lorenz find about the natural goslings in his study

Answer 4

natural goslings = immediately after birth followed mother

Question 5

what did Lorenz find about the incubated goslings in his study

Answer 5

incubated goslings = followed Lorenz, showed no bond to their mother

Question 6

what did Lorenz suggest about the bonds formed

Answer 6

bonds were irreversible

Question 7

How long did Lorenz suggest the critical period was

Answer 7

imprinting happened within a few hours of birth (4-25) which he considered the critical period

Question 8

what did Lorenz find later on when it comes to mating

Answer 8

goslings that imprinted on humans also tried to mate with humans (sexual imprinting)

Question 9

what did Lorenz conclude from his study

Answer 9

imprinting has a critical period and is needed to form an attachment

Question 10

ao3: how does Lorenz’s study have research support

Answer 10

Segolin + Valloritaga (1995) : exposed chicks to simple moving shapes, found when they were shown variety, they followed the similar shapes which shows birds have an innate mechanism to imprint during the critical period

Question 11

ao3: how does Lorenz lack generalisability

Answer 11

mammals do not imprint, their attachment behaviour is very different e.g. its a 2 way process

Question 12

what did Harlow aim to study

Answer 12

mechanisms by which new born monkeys bond to mother through food or comfort

Question 13

how did Harlow study attachment in monkeys

Answer 13

he tested the idea that soft objects serves some functions of a mother

Question 14

how many baby monkeys did Harlow use and what type of mothers did they have

Answer 14

he used 16 baby monkeys separated at birth and reared them through 2 ‘wire model mothers’ (one plain and one cloth covered)

Question 15

how long did Harlow study the monkeys for

Answer 15

165 days

Question 16

what did Harlow find about the wire mother vs the cloth mother

Answer 16

less favoured, monkeys spent significantly more time with the cloth mother regardless of wether milk was provided

Question 17

what mother did Harlow find the monkeys refuged to if a frightening object was placed

Answer 17

the cloth mother ‘contact comfort’

Question 18

what did Harlow find in his follow up study

Answer 18

the monkeys with the wire mother were the most dysfunctional

Question 19

which did Harlow find was more important : contact comfort or food

Answer 19

contact comfort

Question 20

what did Harlow conclude about monkeys attachment

Answer 20

monkeys have an innate, unlearned need for comfort and prefer emotional security over food

Question 21

ao3: how did Harlows study have real world value

Answer 21

it has helped social workers and psychologists understand lack of bonding experience may have on children in later life, more likely to intervene to prevent a poor outcome of childs life

Question 22

ao3: how might Harlows study be generalisable to humans

Answer 22

monkeys are the most similar animals to humans and all mammals are thought to share attachment behaviours

Question 23

ao3: what contradicts Harlows study being generalisable to humans

Answer 23

humans brains are much more complex than monkeys brains

Question 24

ao3: how does Harlows study have ethical issues

Answer 24

his research caused severe and long term distress to the monkeys, several even died