4.3 Animal studies of attachment

Question 1

What are the two key animal studies of attachment?

Answer 1

• Lorenz (1952)

* Harlow (1958)

Question 2

What was Lorenz’s aim?

Answer 2

To investigate the mechanisms of imprinting

Question 3

What was Lorenz’s procedure?

Answer 3

1. Randomly divided 12 greyling goose eggs
2. Half (control group) hatched in their natural environment w mother
3. Half hatched in an incubator where first moving object they saw was Lorenz
4. Recorded following behav
5. Observed their later courtship behaviours

Question 4

What did Lorenz find?

Answer 4

• The incubator group followed Lorenz, the control group followed biological mother, even after being mixed up
• Imprinting only occurred w/in time period between 4-25 hrs after hatching
• Goslings imprinted onto humans would attempt to mate w humans once matured - sexual imprinting

Question 5

What did Lorenz conclude?

Answer 5

• Imprinting is form of att, exhibited mainly by nidifugous birds
• Imprinting is irreversible

Question 6

What reduces support for Lorenz’s research?

Answer 6

• Extrapolation - Lorenz only studied animals so we cannot extrapolate results to humans - likely have different att mechanisms - mammalian mothers show more emotional att to young than birds do - mammalian young can form atts beyond first few hours of birth - cannot apply animal studies directly to humans
• Lorenz research challenged - idea that imprinting is permanent and irreversible contradicted - Guiton found chickens imprinted on yellow washing up gloves would try to mate w them as adults - w experience chickens learned to mate w other chickens instead - suggests imprinting not permanent as Lorenz suggested

Question 7

What was Harlow’s aim?

Answer 7

• To test learning theory by comparing att behav in baby rhesus monkeys given a wire mother producing milk and a soft cloth mother producing no milk

Question 8

What was Harlow’s procedure?

Answer 8

1. 16 baby rhesus monkeys
2. In one condition milk was dispensed by wire mother, in the other it was dispensed by the cloth mother
3. The amount of time spent w each mother was recorded

Question 9

What did Harlow find?

Answer 9

• Monkeys preferred contact w the cloth mother regardless of whether she produced milk
• Monkeys in condition w only wire mother had diarrhoea - sign of stress
• When frightened by loud noise, monkeys clung to cloth mother

Question 10

What did Harlow conclude?

Answer 10

• Rhesus monkeys have innate need for contact comfort, which is associated w lower stress & greater willingness to explore

Question 11

What support is there for Harlow’s research?

Answer 11

• Practical applications - Harlow’s results provide insight into att formation - important real-world applications - Howe reports the knowledge gained from Harlow has helped social workers understand risk factors in neglect and abuse who can then intervene to prevent it - also for zoo animals - we now understand baby monkeys and breeding programmes need proper att figures

Question 12

What reduces support for Harlow’s research?

Answer 12

• Ethics - Harlow heavily criticised for ethics of his research - baby rhesus monkeys suffered severe emotional trauma due to separation from biological mother at early age - if baby monkeys human-like, they likely experienced similar effects of psychological harm as human babies would - in later research Harlow isolated newborn monkeys in total isolation fro up to 24 months - resulted in severe disturbance - highly unethical