Animal Studies Flashcards
What is imprinting?
An innate readiness to develop a strong bond with the first moving object seen which normally takes place during the first few hours after birth.
What are the long-lasting effects of imprinting?
It affects later mating preferences and it is irreversible.
What is sexual imprinting?
Animals (especially birds) will choose to mate with the same kind of object upon which they imprinted.
Describe the procedure of the study that shows evidence for imprinting
Lorenz (1952).
- Split a clutch of geese into 2 batches. One half hatched naturally with mother and the other hatched in incubator where Lorenz was the first moving object they encountered.
- Lorenz recorded their behaviour.
Describe the findings of Lorenz’s study.
Immediately after birth, the naturally hatched baby goslings followed their mother, while the incubator hatched ones followed Lorenz, showing no bond to the natural mother.
Later implications of Lorenz (1952)
These bonds proved irreversible and permanent. He found that the goslings that imprinted onto humans tries to mate with humans as adult birds.
What is the critical period in animals?
A mother figure has to be introduced to an infant within 90 days for an attachment to form. After this time the damage caused by early deprivation is irreversible.
Describe the procedure of the study that showed attachment is not based on the feeding bond
Harlow’s monkeys (1958)
Reared 16 baby monkeys with two wire ‘mothers’.
Condition 1= wire mother dispensed milk
Condition 2= cloth mother dispensed milk.
Measured time spent with each mother and observed reactions of monkeys when frightened.
Describe the findings of Harlow’s study.
Regardless of which mother dispensed milk, monkeys always preferred the cloth mother. They also sought comfort from the cloth mother when frightened. They spent 17-18 hours on the cloth mother. This shows that “contact comfort” was of more importance than food when it came to attachment behaviour.
What were some of the long-lasting effects of maternal deprivation on the monkeys?
Monkeys reared with wire mothers most dysfunctional but those reared with cloth mother did not develop normal social behaviour.
Grew up to be more aggressive and less social. They often neglected their young, with some even attacking/killing their own children.
1 Strength for Lorenz
1 Limitation for Lorenz
Additional research support for imprinting:
Guiton (1966)-found that chicks exposed to yellow rubber gloves whilst being fed during their first few weeks, became imprinted on the gloves.
It was accepted that imprinting is an irreversible process:
However, it is now understood that imprinting is a more ‘plastic and forgiving mechanism’.
Guiton (1966)- also found that he could reverse the imprinting in chickens that had initially tried to mate with the rubber gloves- later, after spending time with their own species, they were able to engage in normal sexual behaviour with other chickens.
1 Strength and 1 limitation (and counter) of Harlow’s Monkeys
Practical Implications:
It has helped social workers understand risk factors in child neglect and abuse and so intervene to prevent it. In addition the findings have been important in the care of captive monkeys- we now understand the importance of proper attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos and also in breeding programmes in the wild.
Ethical issues:
The baby monkeys were deliberately deprived from their mothers from birth and this created lasting emotional harm as the monkeys later found it difficult to form relationships with their peers. COUNTER - On the other hand, the experiment can be justified in terms of the significant effect it has had on our understanding of the processes of attachment and it has been used to offer better care for human (and primate) infants
