animal studies Flashcards
1
Q
Lorenz: imprinting
A
- where bird species which are mobile from birth attach and follow the 1st moving object they see
- seen by him when he was first given a new duckling
2
Q
Lorenz: procedure
A
- randomly divided a group of goose eggs
- 1/2 hatched with the mother (control grp) & 1/2 hatched in an incubator (1st object they saw was Lorenz)
3
Q
Lorenz: findings
A
- control grp followed the mother and the group followed him
- even when they were mixed up they still did the same
- found that there’s a critical period imprinting needs to happen ( can be a little as 2hrs)
- if it didn’t occur then the chicks didn’t attach to a mother figure
4
Q
Lorenz: sexual imprinting
A
- looked at imprinting and adult mate preferences
- observed that if a bird imprinted on a human, they’d display courtship behaviour
- 1952 = observed a peacock that was reared in a reptile house
- 1st moving object they saw was giant tortoises
- as an adult it would only show courtship behaviour towards giant tortoises
5
Q
Lorenz AO3: generalisability (weakness)
A
- has helped us understand human attachment
- problem generalising the findings to human attachment development
- attachment system of mammals is different than a birds one
- e.g = mothers show more emotional attachment to their young than birds
- mammals may also be able to form attachments at any time but it may be easier at infancy
6
Q
Lorenz AO3: observations questioned (weakness)
A
- researchers have questioned the idea that imprinting has a permanent effect on mating behaviour
- Guiton et al (1966) = chickens that imprinted on yellow washing-up gloves would try to mate with them but eventually learned they preferred to mate with other chickens
- suggests that the effects of imprinting aren’t as permanent as Lorenz thought
7
Q
Harlow: procedure (1958)
A
- tested the idea that a soft object can serve some functions of a mother
- reared 16 baby monkeys with 2 wire model mothers
condition 1 = milk was given by the wire mother
condition 2 = milk was given by a cloth covered ‘mother’
8
Q
Harlow: findings
A
- babies cuddled the cloth covered mother instead of the wire one
- sought comfort from the cloth covered one when scared regardless of which one gave it milk
- showed that contact comfort was more important than food in attachment
9
Q
Harlow: maternally deprived monkeys as adults
A
- had severe consequences
-monkey’s reared with wire mother were most dysfunctional - those reared with a soft toy don’t develop normal social behaviours
- were more aggressive and bred less as they were unskilled at mating
- when they became mothers they neglected
10
Q
Harlow: critical period
A
- mother figure had to be introduced in 90 days for an attachment to form
- after it was impossible for an attachment to be formed
- damage done was irreversible
11
Q
Harlow AO3: theoretical value ( strength)
A
- had a huge impact on the understanding of mother-infant attachment
- informed psychologists that attachments aren’t formed due to feeding but due to contact comfort
- informed how early relationships with a parent will influence later relationship ( successful rearing of their own children)
12
Q
Harlow AO3: practical value ( strength)
A
- had application in various contexts such as social workers
- enabled social workers to identify and understand risk factors in child neglect and abuse & are now more able to prevent this from happening
- helpful to anyone in the childcare field as they can inform parents of the importance of contact comfort in the 1st weeks of life
- has highlighted the importance of proper attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos & breeding programmes
13
Q
Harlow AO3: ethical issues (weakness)
A
- been hugely criticised as the monkeys suffered a lot
- Harlow suggested that monkeys were similar enough to generalise findings to humans and suggests that there suffering was like human
- called the wire mothers ‘iron maidens’ after a medival torture device which suggests he was aware of the suffering of the animals
