Animal Studies

Question 1

Describe (animal) research into attachment

Answer 1

Procedure - Classic experiment where he randomly divided clutch of goose eggs. Half of eggs hatched with mother goose in natural environment. Other half hatched in incubator where first moving object they saw was Lorenz

Findings - Incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere whereas control group hatched in presence of mother, followed her. When 2 groups mixed up, CG followed mother, EG follow Lorenz

Lorenz identified critical period in which imprinting needs to take place
If it doesn’t, he found they don’t attach to mother figure

Question 2

Describe further research into attachment

Answer 2

Procedure - Harlow (1958) tested idea that soft object serves some of functions of mother
In 1 experiment he reared 16 baby monkeys with 2 wire model ‘mothers’
In 1 condition milk dispensed by cloth-covered mother

Findings - Was found baby monkeys cuddled soft object in preference to wire one & sought comfort from cloth 1 regardless of which dispensed milk
Showed that ‘contact comfort’ was more importance to monkeys than food when it came to attachment behaviour

Question 3

Evaluate Harlow’s research into attachment

Answer 3

Strength - Theoretical value - profound effect on psychologists’ understanding of human mother-infant attachment
E.g. - Harlow showed attachment doesn’t develop as result of being fed by mother figure, but of contact comfort
Ex. - Harlow also showed us importance of quality of early relationships for later social development including ability to hold down adult relationships & successfully rear kids

Strength - Practical value - important applications in range of practical contexts
E.g. - Helped social workers understand risk factors in child neglect & abuse & intervene to prevent
Ex. - Findings also important in care of captive monkeys: now understand importance of proper attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos & breeding programmes

Limitation - Ethical issues
E.g. - Monkeys suffered greatly bc of research - they’re considered similar enough to humans to be able to generalise findings - suffering was presumably human-like
Ex. - HOWEVER Harlow’s research sufficiently important to justify effects

Question 4

Evaluate Lorenz’s research into attachment through imprinting

Answer 4

Limitation - Generalisability to humans - some findings influenced our understandings of human development - but problem generalising from findings on birds to humans
E.g. - Mammalian attachment system quite different from birds. Mammalian mums show more emotional attachment to young than birds do & mammals able to form attachments at any time
Ex. - Not appropriate to try to generalise any of Lorenz’s ideas to humans

Limitation - Some of Lorenz’s observations have been questioned - later researchers have questioned some of Lorenz’s conclusions
E.g. - Idea that imprinting has permanent effect on mating behaviour
Guiton et al. (1966) found chickens imprinted on yellow washing up gloves would try to mate with them as adults (Lorenz’s prediction) but with xp they eventually learned to prefer mating with other chickens
Ex. - Suggests impact of imprinting on mating behaviour isn’t as permanent as Lorenz believed