animal studies in attachment Flashcards
what does animal studies look at ?
- the formation of early bonds between non-human parents and their offspring
why is animal studies of interest to researchers ?
- attachment like behaviour is common to a range of species
what do animal observations help do ?
- help psychologist understand mother-infant attachments in humans
who were the 2 researchers who conducted animal studies ?
- Konrad Lorenz (1935)
- Harry Harlow (1958)
why were research into attachment conducted on animals ?
- on the basis that there is a biological similarity between animals and humans
if something is observed in
animal attachment behaviour would be..
it stands to reason that it could also be applied to humans
what did it seem more with animal studies ?
- ethical than when conducted on human participants
what are researchers interested in and hence use animals ?
-often interested in seeing results over a lifespan
- also practical advantages of using animals since they breed faster than humans do
define imprinting
a form of learning in which a newborn animal forms an attachment to the first moving object it sees during a critical period shortly after birth
when and how did Lorenz 1st observe imprinting ?
- Lorenz first observed the phenomenon of imprinting when he was a child
- a neighbour gave him a newly hatched duckling which followed him around
what was the aim of Lorenz’s study ?
- to examine the phenomenon of imprinting in non-human animals
what was the procedure of Lorenz’s study ?
- randomly divided a clutch of goose eggs-half raised with the mother + half in an incubator
- Lorenz was the 1st moving thing that the goslings saw after hatching
what was the findings of Lorenz’s study ?
- after hatching the incubator group followed Lorenz whenever he went
–> the control group followed the mother-even after mixing them up
what was the overall conclusion of Lorenz’s study ?
- the results suggest that imprinting is a form of attachment that is exhibited by birds that typically leave the nest early
- whereby they imprint onto the 1st large moving object they encounter after hatching
what is a critical period ?
- time period which imprinting must take place,or it won’t take place at all
- could be as little as a few hours
what happens if imprinting doesn’t occur at all ?
- if doesn’t occur within the critical period , then Lorenz found that the chicks didn’t attach themselves to a mother figure
describe what is meant by sexual imprinting in relation to Lorenz’s research
- Lorenz investigated the relationship between imprinting and adult male preferences
- imprinting would often lead to courtship behaviour later being displayed
- Lorenz (1952) reported a case of a peacock being reared in the reptile house of a zoo
- imprinted on giant tortoise - as the 1st moving thing the peacock saw after hatching where giant tortoises
- later the peacock would only show courtship behaviour towards giant tortoises
what was the aim of Harlow’s study ?
- to examine the extent to which contact comfort and food influences attachment behaviour in baby rhesus monkeys
what was the procedure of Harlow’s study ?
- 16 baby rhesus monkeys separate from their mother and reared with 2 ‘surrogate mothers’
- one was made of wire
- the other was wire covered in soft cloth and heated with 2 hot water bottles
what was the findings of Lorenz’s study ?
- the baby monkey spent most of their time with the
–> soft , cloth covered mother , regardless of where the milk was coming from - included reaching across from the cloth mother to the wire mother to get food
- babies sought comfort from the cloth mother e.g. when frightened REGARDLESS of which dispensed mil k
what was the overall conclusion of Lorenz’s study ?
- shows that contact comfort was more importance to the monkeys than food when it came to attachment behaviour
- suggests attachment is formed through an emotional need for security rather than food , WHICH is in contrast to the learning theory explanation
- creature comfort is vital for attachment
- ALSO for social development i.e. socialising , parenting etc
what is the importance of contact comfort ?
- Harlow observed that newborns kept alone in a bare cage usually died but that they usually survived if given something soft like a cloth to cuddle
what did Harlow find out about the effect of maternal deprivation ?
- monkeys deprived of a mother ‘suffered’ severe consequences (especially those reared with a wire mother)
- e.g. less sociable , more aggressive , bred less , neglected , attacked and sometimes killed their young
what was the critical period for monkeys in order for them to have ‘ normal development’ ?
- there was a critical period for this behaviour
- a mother figure had to be introduced to an infant monkey within 90 days for an attachment to form
- after this time attachment was impossible and the damage done by early deprivation became irreversible
