animal studies

Question 1

Harlow’s monkeys (1958)
procedure

Answer 1

• investigate whether food or contact comfort are the basis of attachment
• take monkeys straight after birth
• 2 wire mothers, one with cloth and one with feeding bottle
• infant monkeys presented with a scary stimulus or new situation
• see which mother they turn to for comfort

Question 2

Harlow’s monkeys
findings

Answer 2

• monkeys spent most of their time with it’s the cloth mother
• even after feeding they ran straight back to cloth mother
• when frightened it turned to the cloth mother
• when in new situation, had confidence to explore by keeping cloth mother in it’s proximity (safe base affect)

Question 3

Harlow’s monkeys
conclusion

Answer 3

• infants don’t form relationships from feeding but from contact comfort

Question 4

Lorenz (1935)
procedure

Answer 4

• investigate the mechanisms of imprinting
• split large batch of goose eggs, 1 hatch naturally with mother, other with Lorenz as first moving object
  -marked so could tell which were natural or incubator
• put under upturned box, see who the goslings run to, Lorenz or their mother

Question 5

Lorenz (1935)
findings

Answer 5

• naturally hatched followed their mother, the incubator ones followed Lorenz
• after upturned box, they ran straight to Lorenz, no sign of attachment to original mother
• bonds proved to be irreversible
• critical period, 4-25 hours after birth
• if no bond is formed during critical period, no bond with ever be formed

Question 6

Lorenz
conclusion

Answer 6

• imprinting is a form of attachment
• mainly in nidifugous birds
• close contact is kept with the first large moving object encountered

Question 7

what is imprinting?

Answer 7

• an innate readiness to develop a strong bond with the cared which takes place during a specific time in development
• critical period 48 hours

Question 8

Lorenz evaluation:
Guiton

Answer 8

• chicks imprinted on yellow gloves
• proves they imprint on anything not something specific
• later found male ducks tried to mate with the gloves (imprinting connected to later reproductive behaviour
• able to reverse the imprinting by reintroducing the ducks to their own species
  -able to engage in regular sexual behaviour

Question 9

Lorenz evaluation
real world application

Answer 9

• helped lead to psychologists developing theories of attachment
• suggesting the critical period for attachment and is a biological process
• evolutionary explanation
• infants are pre-programmed to form an attachment for survival

Question 10

harlow’s monkeys evaluation