Animal Studies Flashcards
define imprinting
5
an innate readiness to develop a strong bond to the mother
usually takes place during the first few hours after birth and if it does not happen then, it probably never will
a technique used by animals to keep safe and survive
similar to attachments in humans as it binds a young animal to a caregiver in a special relationship
does not occur in humans because we are not mobile from birth and do not need to rely on ourselves to survive as it’s done for us by caregivers
2 key animal studies
Lorenz (1935)
Harlow (1959)
KEY STUDY: Lorenz (1935)
procedure
3
took a clutch of gosling eggs and divided them into two groups — one group was left with their natural mother while the other group was placed in an incubator
when the incubator eggs hatched, the first living/moving thing they saw was Lorenz and they soon began following him around (they had imprinted on him)
to test the effect of imprinting, he marked his gosling group and put them pack in the group with their natural mother
KEY STUDY: Lorenz (1935)
findings
4
Lorenz’s goslings quickly divided from the other group and continued following him around — they showed no signs of recognising their natural mother
concluded that imprinting must take place during a critical period of up to 2 days and if they do not imprint in this time then they probably never will
noted that imprinting is irreversible and long lasting
early imprinting has an impact on later mate preferences (known as sexual imprinting) — animals will choose to mate with the same kind of object upon which they imprinted
x3 Lorenz evaluation points
research support
imprinting criticisms
animal studies
LORENZ EVALUATION
research support
6
a study by Guiton (1966) supports Lorenz’ findings and demonstrates imprinting in animals
he found that chicks exposed to yellow gloves for feeding imprinted on them during their first few weeks
this supports the view that young animals will imprint on any moving thing present during the critical period, which Lorenz demonstrated with his goslings
Guiton also found that the male chickens went on to try and mate with the gloves which suggests that early imprinting is linked to later reproductive behaviour
therefore, this supports Lorenz’s findings which also suggested that early imprinting affects later mate preferences
consequently, Lorenz’s study can claim reliability and may have increased usefulness in explaining attachment behaviour in animals
LORENZ EVALUATION
imprinting criticisms
4
Lorenz claimed that imprinting is irreversible but it is now understood that this is not the case
for instance, Guiton (1966) found that he could reverse the imprinting of the chickens who tried to mate with the yellow gloves
he was able to make them engage in normal sexual behaviour by making them spend time with their own species
this challenges Lorenz’s belief that imprinting is irreversible and long lasting, meaning that his study may be limited in its ability to explain attachment in animals and should be viewed with caution when doing so
LORENZ/HARLOW EVALUATION
animal studies
4
animal research aims to use animals to explain human behaviour by generalising the results to humans
this is problematic as humans are vastly different to animals — we do not imprint like they do as we are not mobile from birth, we form attachments differently and more of our behaviour is governed by conscious decisions
therefore, the findings of animal studies may not be representative of human behaviour, especially how we form attachments, so it is not suitable to generalise such findings to human beings
the study may have limited ability to explain attachments in humans due to its reliance on animals and should be viewed with caution when doing so
KEY STUDY: Harlow (1959)
procedure
5
created 2 wire ‘mother’ monkeys with different heads and bodies — one was bare wire and the other was covered in soft cloth
8 infant rhesus monkeys were studied for 165 days
4 of the monkeys had their milk bottle attached to the cloth covered mother while the other 4 monkeys had their bottle on the wire mother
measurements were made of how long each infant spent with their ‘mothers’
observations were also made of the responses of the infants to being frightened by a mechanical teddy bear
KEY STUDY: Harlow (1959)
findings
6
all of the monkeys spent most time with the cloth covered mother, regardless of whether this mother had the feeding bottle or not
if the wire mother had the bottle, the monkeys spent enough time there to feed and then returned to the cloth mother
when frightened they all clung to the cloth mother and kept one foot on the cloth mother for reassurance when playing with new objects
suggests that attachments are formed to those offering comfort rather than those offering food
long lasting effects — monkeys grew up to be socially abnormal, they froze or fled when approached by other monkeys and were also sexually abnormal and did not show normal breeding behaviour or cuddle their own young
like Lorenz, he found that there is a critical period for these developments — the monkeys could recover from these effects before 3 months old if they returned to their natural habitat but after 6 months these effects seemed to be irreversible
x3 Harlow evaluation points
confounding variables
animal studies
research support
HARLOW EVALUATION
confounding variables
4
a limitation of Harlow’s study is that there may have been confounding variables that interfered with the results
for example, the two mother monkeys had different heads which may have had an effect on which mother the monkeys spent most time with
the cloth covered mother may simply have had a more attractive head while the wire mother’s head may have been frightening, so the monkeys may have avoided it for that reason
therefore, this reduces the internal validity of the findings and limits their ability to explain attachment behaviour in animals
HARLOW EVALUATION
research support
5
a strength is that support comes from research by Schaffer and Emerson
Schaffer and Emerson found that infants were not always strongly attached to the person that feeds them and that the quality of the relationship is more important
more strongly attached infants had caregivers who responded sensitively to signals whereas weakly attaches infants has caregivers who failed to interact
supports Harlow’s findings as it suggests that attachments are formed to those offering comfort rather than those offering food, attachments are not necessarily based on feeding bonds
this gives Harlow’s study reliability which increases its ability to explain attachments
