Animal Studies: Lorenz & Harlow TW

Question 1

“The aim of Lorenz’s research was to measure __________ in goslings”

Answer 1

Imprinting

Question 2

Which surrogate mother did Harlow find the monkey’s spent more time with? What did he conclude from this?

Answer 2

The cloth mother, suggesting that contact comfort is more important than food when forming an attachment.

Question 3

Lorenz identified a critical period. How long is this?

Answer 3

12-17 hours after hatching

Question 4

What was Harlow’s sample?

Answer 4

16 baby rhesus monkeys that were separated from their mothers at birth.

Question 5

HOW did Lorenz measure the critical period?

Answer 5

By varying the time between birth and seeing a moving object so he could measure the critical period of imprinting

Question 6

What method did Lorenz use?

Answer 6

Field experiment

Question 7

In Harlow’s study, both wire and cloth mother provided food - true or false?

Answer 7

FALSE

Question 8

What was Harlow’s aim?

Answer 8

To investigate whether food or comfort is more important in forming attachments

Question 9

How did Lorenz divide the goose eggs?

Answer 9

Random allocation

Question 10

Why did Harlow divide the goose eggs the way he did?

Answer 10

To avoid bias

Question 11

What examples of long term effects were recorded by Harlow?

Answer 11

Sociability and relationships with future relationships. Monkeys had difficulty forming relationships, struggled to mate and were often bullied. If they did become mothers themselves, they struggled to form attachments with their offspring and some even killed them.

Question 12

Harlow concluded…

Answer 12

Contact comfort is the most important factor when forming an attachment

Question 13

How were the surrogate mothers different in Harlow’s study?

Answer 13

One was made of cloth which provided NO food
The other was made of wire which DID provide food

Question 14

AO3: Why can Lorenz’s research be criticised for bias?

Answer 14

Because he recorded his OWN observations, so may have chosen to include findings that support his theory. This may decrease the internal validity of the research as it may not truly be measuring the effects of imprinting on attachment.

Question 15

Harlow found the monkeys spent less time with which mother?

Answer 15

Wire mother

Question 16

Who did the experimental group imprint upon in Lorenz’s study?

Answer 16

Lorenz

Question 17

Who did the control group imprint upon in Lorenz’s study?

Answer 17

Their natural mother (goose)

Question 18

What are 2 conclusions from Lorenz’s study…

Answer 18

1. Goslings imprint on first thing they see
2. There is a specific time period of 12-17 hours for attachment to take place with goslings, otherwise they will not attach at all.

Question 19

Harlow’s study took place in what type of environment?

Answer 19

Controlled / lab setting

Question 20

Lorenz’s study took place in what type of environment?

Answer 20

Natural environment / field experiment

Question 21

AO3: BOTH Lorenz and Harlow can be criticised for what issue?

Answer 21

Animal bias - human attachment behaviour may be more complex than animal attachment behaviour as human emotions are more sophisticated towards their offspring than animals.

Question 22

AO3: Lorenz and Harlow can be criticised for animal bias because…

Answer 22

They used samples of ONLY animals - geese / rhesus monkeys

Question 23

AO3: Animal bias is an issue because it means…

Answer 23

We may not be able to extrapolate / generalise findings to humans

Question 24

AO3: Harlow’s research can be praised for having…

Answer 24

Practical applications - the principles of the research findings that contact comfort is more important in the formation of attachment has been used in the real world to emphasise that child rearing needs go beyond caring for their physical needs.

Question 25

Lorenz studied attachment in gosling - true or false

Answer 25

False - Lorenz measured imprinting

Question 26

AO3: Why may Lorenz’s research have low internal validity?

Answer 26

As there may be researcher bias as Lorenz recorded his own observations. This means he may have left out details of goslings that did not imprint on him, for example.

Question 27

AO3: What 2 reasons may mean Harlow’s research has low external validity?

Answer 27

1. Controlled environment - may not be generalisable to real life
2. Animal bias - may not be generalisable to humans as human attachment more complex

Question 28

Harlow found that the rhesus monkeys spent more time with…

Answer 28

Cloth mother

Question 29

AO3: Why may Lorenz’s research suffer from poor external validity?

Answer 29

Animal bias - human attachment behaviour may be more complex than animal attachment behaviour therefore may not be generalisable to human infants.

Question 30

Identify the DV in Lorenz’s research;

Answer 30

DV = imprinting behaviours in geese

Question 31

Identify the IV in Lorenz’s research

Answer 31

IV = whether the geese hatched and saw their mother first, or Lorenz

Question 32

How did Harlow measure whether comfort or food was more important to the rhesus monkeys?

Answer 32

He measured how long the monkeys spent with each mother. He also looked at which monkey the mother returned to when frightened.

Question 33

AO3: Lorenz recorded his own findings. Why is this an issue?

Answer 33

Bias - lowers the internal validity because he may have not included data that didn’t fit his hypothesis. For example, if a gosling that hatched with him didn’t imprint on him.

Question 34

In what ways did the rhesus monkeys suffer psychological and emotional harm in Harlow’s research?

Answer 34

The rhesus monkeys were scared with loud noises, bullied by other monkeys, and found difficulties mating and raising their own offspring

Question 35

AO3: Why may Lorenz’s research have high external validity?

Answer 35

As it was a field experiment, taking place in a natural environment. The only thing Lorenz manipulated what the IV (who the goslings first saw when they hatched).

Question 36

How was sexual imprinting demonstrated by the Lorenz’s goslings?

Answer 36

Goslings who imprinted on humans would, as adult birds, attempt to mate with humans.

Question 37

Why are animal studies useful, rather than experimenting on humans?

Answer 37

Animal studies are useful when looking at topics that might be unethical or impractical to carry out on humans.