ANIMAL STUDIES OF ATTACHMENT Flashcards
who conducted animal studies into attachment
Lorenz
Harlow
what did Lorenz conducted in 1952?
a study on chicks for imprinting
how did Lorenz divide his eggs?
divided 12 eggs half with the mother and half in an incubator where the first moving thing that they saw was Lorenz
what were Lorenz’s findings?
the incubator group followed Lorenz and the control followed the mother
what did Lorenz’ identify?
found the critical period where imprinting needs to take place, if not when chicks didn’t attach themselves to a mother figure
apart from imprinting, what other type of imprinting did Lorenz’ find?
found sexual imprinting, birds acquire desirable traits required in a mate
what 2 conditions did Harlow split the 16 monkeys in?
milk dispensed from a plain wire mother
milk dispensed from a cloth-covered mother
what is the procedure for Harlow’s experiment?
measured monkeys reaction to frightening conditions
what did Harlow find?
found that monkeys cuddled with the cloth covered mother regardless of who dispensed the milk, also known as contact comfort
what does Harlow’s findings show?
the importance of contact comfort in attachment
what happened to monkeys who had been deprived of their mother?
suffered severe consequences, more aggressive, less sociable, and less skilled in mating
what is a limitation of animal studies in general?
the attachment system in birds is different to those in humans therefore it is difficult to generalise these findings
who supported Lorenz’s findings?
Guiton found chicks imprinted on yellow washing up gloves would try and mate with them, shows animals have innate mechanism to imprint of the first moving thing that they see during the critical period
who criticised Lorenz’s findings?
Guiton found that chicks who had imprinted on washing up gloves had learnt how to mate with their own kind, shows the effects of imprinting are not as long lasting as they think
a strength of Harlow’s research is that…
it has important practical application
