animal attachments

Question 1

what was the aim of Lorenz’s study

Answer 1

to investigate the mechanisms of imprinting

Question 2

explain the procedure of Lorenz’s study

Answer 2

half goose eggs left with mother, other half in an incubator with lorenz being first moving object to they see
the goslings were placed in an upturned box and allowed to mate with each other

Question 3

explain the findings of lorenz’s study

Answer 3

in both testing phases the goslings followed who they had imprinted on
natural - mother
incubator - lorenz

Question 4

explain the conclusion of lorenz’s study

Answer 4

attachment behaviour is an innate drive
attachment imprinting is where close contact is maintained with the first moving object that is encountered, even if the bond is temporarily broken

Question 5

a strength of lorenz’s research

Answer 5

I: supporting evidence to demonstrate imprinting
E: Leghorn chicks exposed to yellow rubber gloves for feeding, developed a strong bond with the gloves
later male chicks tried to mate with the gloves
C: supports theory as imprinting can have an affect on later sexual behaviour, usually mating with the same object they are imprinted upon

Question 6

explain a weakness of lorenz’s study
observations

Answer 6

I: some of the most observations on animal attachment have been questioned
E: guilin found that he could reverse imprinting in chicks who tried to mate with rubber gloves in adulthood, so they engaged in normal sexual behaviour
C: therefore this challenges lorenz’s observations as according to this theory imprinting is irreversible which this research contradicts

Question 7

explain weakness of lorenz’s study
extrapolation

Answer 7

I: issues either extrapolation and generalising from animals to humans
E: seems that the attachment system in humans is different to that in birds, eg: human and mammal mothers show more emotional attachment than birds
C:not appropriate to generalise lorenz’s ideas to humans as attachments are more complex than goslings

Question 8

What was the aim of Harlows study ?

Answer 8

To test the importance of comfort and security in attachment

Question 9

What was the procedure of Harlows study

Answer 9

Used 16 new born rhesus monkeys
Trial 1: raised monkeys in cages with a wire mother which contained a milk bottle and another surrogate made from soft cloth. Monkeys were exposed to a scary object and the amount of time (mins) spent with each mother was recorded
Trial 2: monkeys were only given one surrogate mother either the cloth or wire and he compared behaviour to a control

Question 10

What were the findings for Harlows study

Answer 10

In the first trial the infants spent majority of the day on the cloth mother (up to 22 hrs).
When they were frightened they clung to the cloth mother
Only went to the wire mother when they needed food out of desperation

Question 11

What did Harlow conclude about his study ?

Answer 11

Attachment is based on comfort and security rather than food
Consequences of separation on monkeys were severe and long lasting

Question 12

A strength and weakness of Harlows study
Ethical issues

Answer 12

I: ethical issues with Harlows research
E: separation from their natural mothers created long lasting social and emotional damage to the monkeys ( more aggressive, abnormal mating behaviour)
However the experiment can be justified on the understanding it has provided about attachment processes
C: we need to carefully consider the ‘cost benefit’ of the research and whether the findings justify the harm to the animals

Question 13

A weakness of Harlows research
extraneous

Answer 13

I: problems with extraneous/ confounding variables in Harlows research
E: two surrogate mothers differed more than the fact that one was cloth and the other wire. EG: faces of the mothers were different - this was an extraneous variable as the monkey may have actuall preferred the cloth as it had a more attractive species specific face
C: the results may not be valid as this could have confounded the results

Question 14

weakness of Harlows research

generalising

Answer 14

I: Issues with extrapolation and generalisability from animals to humans
E: attachment systems in monkeys are different to humans. EG: monkeys are born at a later stage and cant walk whereas humans cant - human attachment is essential for survival monkey attachment possibly isn’t
C: not appropriate to generalise harlows ideas to humans as human attachments are more complex than monkeys