animal studies Flashcards
what is imprinting ?
when offspring follow the first large, moving object they see.
imprinting can only occur in a critical period ( this is a specific time period for bonding and imprinting cant occur outside of it)
what was the procedure of lorenzos study?
Lorenz randomly divided a clutch of goose eggs: half were hatched with the mother goose in their natural environment and half were hatched in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was lorenz
what were the findings of lorenz?
the incubator group of geese followed lorenz everywhere whereas the control group followed their mother
when the 2 groups were mixed up the control continued to follow their mother and the experimental group followed lorenz
what is the conclusion of lorenzs study?
attachment is an innate process
there is a critical period and attachement is very important
generalisability in lorenzs study
lorenzs research was on geese. although some of his findings have influenced our understanding of human development we may not be able to generalise to humans as geese and humans are different
e.g human mothers show more emotional attachment to babies than birds do
and humans may form attachments at any time where as geese have a critical period
some of lorenz observations have been questioned
some of lorenzos conclusions have been questioned
e.g the idea that imprinting has a permanent effect on mating behaviour
guiton found that chickens imprinted on yellow washing up gloves would try to mate with them as adults ( as lorenz would have predicted)
but the chickens eventually learned to prefer mating with other chickens
this suggests that the impact of imprinting on mating behaviour is not as permanent as lorenz believed
what animal was used in harlows study?
rhesus monkeys
what is the procedure of harlows study?
harlow had 8 rhesus monkeys that were caged from birth
infants were shown 2 surrogate mothers in the cage
1 plain wire mother dispensed food
1 mother was covered in cloth and had no food
what were the findings of harlow?
monkeys spent 22 hours a day with the cloth coloured mother
when frightened the monkeys went to the cloth mother, not the one with food
monkeys were willing to explore a room full of toys when the cloth covered mother was present, the cloth covered mother acted as a secure base
but displayed phobic responses when only the food dispensing mother was present
later study on monkeys:
if monkeys were left with surrogate mothers for more than 90 days
they found that as adults monkeys who were left with the surrogate mother for more than 90 days were
more timid
didnt know how to behave with other monkeys and could be agressive
had difficulty mating
females were inadequate mothers some even killing off spring
what is harlows conclusion of his later study?
early experiences of long term seperation have severe consequences for later development
contact comfort is asssociated with lower levels of stress
what is the conclusion for harlow?
rhesus monkeys have an innate need for comfort and contact.
infant monkeys do not attach to the source of food but to the source of comfort
what are the practical applications of harlows monkeys?
it shows that foster children need more than basic care, they need comfort
this influences the placing of children in foster families rather than residential care homes
zoos- proper attachment figures for baby monkeys
ethical issues in harlows monkeys
protection from harm: monkeys were caged and taken away from mothers.
it gave monkeys lasting emotional harm as they struggled to form relationships with other monkeys in later life
long term damage
generalisability
cant generalise findings to humans as humans and rhesus monkeys are different
