Key Study Lorenz 1935

Question 1

AO1 of Lorenz study

Answer 1

One animal study of attachment is lorenz 1935 where he studied imprinting . In the study Lorenz took a clutch of gosling eggs and divided them into 2 groups . Group 1 was left with their natural mother whilst group 2 was placed in an incubator and saw Lorenz after they had hatched . Group 1 followed their natural mother whilst group 2 followed Lorenz. To make sure that imprinting had taken placed Lorenz placed them in a box and they still followed either Lorenz (group 2) or their natural mother (group 1).Lorenz found that his group had no recognition of their natural mother and that the critical period for goslings to imprint is 12-17 hours .This shows that imprinting has to take place during the critical period and is restricted to a defined period of their young life.

Question 2

why is the fact that lorenz study cant be generalised to humans seen as a weakness

Answer 2

P:one weakness of Harlow animal study is that it cant be used to consider human attachment
E:evidence for this is that humans have a conscious and free will to make decisions
E:this shows it lacks it can’t be generalised to the wider population and therefore lacks representation

Question 3

why is early imprinting reversible seen as a strength

Answer 3

P:one strength of Lorenz study is that early imprinting is reversible
E: evidence for this is that a researcher found chicks who were exposed to simple shape combinations that moved. The chicks decided to mate on the object which they imprinted on.
E:this shows early imprinting is fairly reversible and they can imprinting on innate objects as long as it’s in the critical therefore it is reliable