Animal Studies

Question 1

Lorenz findings

Answer 1

-Incubator group followed lorenz everywhere
-control group followed their mother everywhere
-Lorenz critical period 12-17 hrs
-sexual imprinting

Question 2

strength of lorenz research

Answer 2

Practical applications - promotes the importance of early interactions between parents and infants.

Question 3

Limitation of Lorenz

Answer 3

Animal bias - human emotions are more sophisticated to their offspring for example attachment in humans is a 2 way process

Question 4

Criticism of Lorenz

Answer 4

Researcher bias - Lorenz recorded his own observations so he may have only included findings that supported his theory

Question 5

Harlow findings

Answer 5

-monkeys spent more time with cloth mother than wire mother
-when frightened monkeys would go to cloth mother
-emotional damage later in life
-contact comfort most important when forming an attatchment

Question 6

Strength of Harlows research

Answer 6

Practical applications - emphasise child rearing needs to go beyond caring for childs physical needs

Question 7

Limitation of Harlow’s research

Answer 7

-animal bias - human attachment behaviour may be more complex than animal attachment behaviour

Question 8

Limitation of Harlow’s research

Answer 8

Ethical issues - animals suffered greatly and sometimes died. However, Harlow argued the importance of the findings outweighed the distress caused.