Animal studies Flashcards
What was Harlow’s procedure?
16 monkeys were separated from their mothers immediately after birth and placed in a cage with 2 surrogate mothers - one made of wire and one covered in soft cloth. Half of the monkeys could get milk from the wire mother and half from the cloth mother and the monkeys were studied for various lengths of time
What were Harlow’s findings?
Both groups of monkeys spent more time with the cloth mother and the infants in the 2nd group would only go to the wire mother when hungry. Also, if a frightening object was placed in the cage, the infant took refuge with the cloth mother and the infant would explore more when the cloth mother was present
What was Harlow’s conclusion?
Contact comfort was more important than food in the formation of attachment, but it is not efficient for health development
What were the result of those who grew up with surrogate mothers?
They were much more timid, they didn’t know how to behave with other monkeys and could be aggressive, had difficulties mating and females were inadequate mothers with some killing own offspring
How long did it take for these negative behaviours to be observed?
Only if monkeys were left for more than 90 days but could be reversed if placed in a normal environment before 90 days
What was Lorenz’s aim?
To investigate the mechanism of imprinting where the young follow and form an attachment to the first moving object they meet
What was Lorenz’s procedure?
Lorenz divided a clutch of eggs into 2 halves and one half was left to hatch with their mother (control group) and the other half were hatched in an incubator and the first moving thing they saw was Lorenz
What were Lorenz’s findings?
The control group followed the mother goose everywhere whereas the second followed Lorenz. He also marked Goslings to indicate which group of eggs they had hatched from and let them out together and Lorenz’s goslings had to recognition of their mother
What were Lorenz’s findings on imprinting?
The strongest tendency to imprint was between 13 and 16 hours after the birds hatch and by 32 hours, the tendency to imprint had passed and attachment wont take place
What is imprinting?
An innate readiness to acquire certain behaviours during a critical or sensitive period of development
What is cupboard love?
The view the infants attach to caregivers because their caregivers provide food
What is the critical period?
The time which an attachment must form if it is to form at all
Why is Lorenz’s study support for animal studies?
It support the concept of imprinting which supports that young animals were born with an innate mechanism to imprint of a moving object present in the critical window of development
Why is imprinting support for the use of animal studies>
It explains human behaviour where humans form an attachment to their first operating system and therefore rejecting others
Why is Harlow’s study support for the use of animal studies?
Real world application as it has helped social workers and psychologists understand that the lack of bonding experience may be a risk factor in a child’s development but they know how to intervene to prevent poor outcomes
