animal studies

Question 1

outline Lorenz’s study

Answer 1

• split a clutch of grey lag goose eggs and raised half by hand
• once hatched the ones that had been raised by lorenz and saw him first followed him around and had imprinted on him
• imprinting must occur within the critical period which is 30 months, after which it cannot be formed and consequences are irreversible
• sexual imprinting = animals will attach and display sexual behaviours towards the first moving object or animal they see directly after birth

Question 2

outline harlow’s study

Answer 2

• monkeys were raised in isolation
• put in a cage with 2 surrogate mothers: 1. wire and food, 2. cloth comfort and no food
• monkeys tended to spend most time with cloth mother
• when scared, they would hold tightly to cloth mother but after a while would try to scare the machine and were brave enough to explore
• long-term effects included developmental issues such as being less skilled at mating, aggressive towards their own children and would be socially reclusive

Question 3

how do animal studies link to human attachments

Answer 3

• critical period = lorenz found imprinting critical period was 30 months and found that effects of no attachment in this time were irreversible,,, harlow also demonstrated the negative consequences of not forming an attachment within this critical period
• bowlby’s theory of attachment = lorenz links to bowlby’s idea that an attachment is adaptive and had biological links,,, could possibly make links from harlow to adaptive as choosing comfort may suggest that the monkeys were trying to feel protected and safe
• learning theory = harlows research challenges the learning theory of attachment that says attachment is formed based on food, as the monkey chose comfort over food, suggesting attachments are formed on the basis of love and comfort

Question 4

evaluation of animal studies

Answer 4

• extrapolation issues = human attachments are different and have a higher level of emotional complexity and so it is difficult to generalise the findings from these animal studies to human attachments
• useful in psychological understanding = provided us with a better understanding of explanations of attachments such as critical period and maternal deprivation
• ethical issues = rhesus monkeys were raised in isolation causing significant psychological harm as shown in the long-term effects -> cost-benefit analysis should be conducted