animal studies Flashcards
why are animal studies conducted?
- early research was done on animals based on biological similarities between animals and humans
- often seen as more ethical than research on humans
lorenz (1935) - aim
examine imprinting in non human animals
lorenz (1935) - method
- randomly divided greylag goose eggs into 2 batches
- the control group were hatched naturally by the mother. the experimental group were placed in an incubator, lorenz was the first large moving object they saw
- the following behaviour of the mother and lorenz was recorded
- he placed them all in an upside down box, this was then removed and the behaviour was recorded again
lorenz (1935) - results
- straight after birth the control group followed the mother goose and the experimental group followed lorenz, this was repeated when they were places under the box
- this imprinting only occurred within a 4-25 hour critical period
- the relationship persisted over time and was irreversible
lorenz (1935) - conclusion
imprinting is a form of attachment displayed by birds who leave their nest early, it is irreversible
give a limitation of lorenz
1/2
he only studied animals, specifically greylag geese, the results cannot be generalised to humans since we cannot conclude they would behave in the same way. the attachment formation in mammals appears to be very different than in birds, in which mothers show more emotional reactions to their offspring, and can form attachments beyond the first few hours after birth. although lorenz’s research has influenced our understanding of attachment, we must apply caution when drawing wider conclusions
give a limitation of lorenz
2/2
later research contradicts lorenz. guiton et al (1966) found that chickens would imprint on a yellow glove if it was the first moving object they saw after birth, they would then try to mate with this object during adulthood. they also disagreed with lorenz’s predictions that this relationship persists and is irreversible, instead finding that they could learn to mate with other chickens instead, suggesting imprinting isn’t as permanent as lorenz suggested
harlow (1959) - aim
examine the extent to which contact comfort and food influence attachment in baby rhesus monkeys
harlow (1959) - method
- he constructed 2 surrogate mothers, one ‘wire’ and one ‘towelling’ mother
- 16 baby rhesus monkeys across 4 conditions: 1) wire gave milk and towelling didn’t. 2) wire had no milk and towelling did. 3) wire gave milk. 4) towelling gave milk
- the amount of time spent with each mother and time feeding was recorded
- monkeys were startled by a loud noise and their responses were recorded to record mother preference
- a large cage was used to observe the degree of exploration
harlow (1959) - results
- they preferred the towelling mother even if they didn’t provide food, they would cling to the towelling mother and stretch to the wire mother for food
- when only with the wire mother they showed signs of distress like diarrhoea
- when startled by the loud noise, they clung to the towelling mother for comfort when available
- when in the larger cage, those with the towelling mother showed greater exploration behaviours
harlow (1959) - conclusion
- baby rhesus monkeys have an innate drive to seek contact comfort from parents, suggesting attachments are formed through an emotional need for security not food, contrasting the learning theory
- contact comfort with mothers is linked to more willingness to explore and lower stress levels
give a strength of harlow
1/1
results provide real-world applications for insight into attachment formation. for example, harlow’s research helped social workers understand risk factors in neglect and abuse cases with children, helping to prevent similar cases in the future. there are also future practical applications for the care of captive monkeys in zoos or breeding programmes to ensure they develop adequate attachments
give a limitation of harlow
1/2
he was heavily criticised for the ethics of his research on baby rhesus monkeys. they suffered greatly due to the early emotional separation from their mothers. if we are able to generalise this study to humans, we can assume that the effects of psychological harm they endured are similar to that of a human baby. there is however questions as to if the insight gained from the research justifies harlow’s methodology
give a limitation of harlow
2/2
there is an issue with applying and generalising findings from his study based on baby rhesus monkeys to humans. although these monkeys are more similar to humans than the geese that lorenz studied, however, it is still argued to what extent studies of animals should be generalised to the human population
