Animal studies of attachment

Question 1

Key study: Lorenz (1935)

What did Lorenz use in his study?

Answer 1

A clutch of gosling eggs

Question 2

Key study: Lorenz (1935)

What did Lorenz divide the gosling eggs into?

Answer 2

• One left with their natural mother

- Others placed in an incubator

Question 3

Key study: Lorenz (1935)

What/ who was the first thing that the goslings put in an incubator saw?

Answer 3

Lorenz

Question 4

Key study: Lorenz (1935)

What did the goslings hatched from an incubator do ?

Answer 4

Follow Lorenz around

Question 5

Key study: Lorenz (1935)

How did Lorenz test the effects of imprinting?

Answer 5

• Marked the two groups
• Placed the together
• Both groups had become imprinted

Question 6

Key study: Lorenz (1935)

What were the findings of Lorenz experiment of impriniting?

Answer 6

Goslings divided themselves up, one following the natural mother
Other group followed Lorenz

Question 7

Key study: Lorenz (1935)

How did Lorenz’s goslings react to the natural mother?

Answer 7

They had no recognition of her

Question 8

Key study: Lorenz (1935)

What did Lorenz suggest about the time period of imprinting?

Answer 8

That the time period is very short, and CRITICAL

Question 9

Key study: Lorenz (1935)

What did Lorenz suggest happened if an animal isn’t exposed to a moving object during this early period?

Answer 9

Then it would not imprint

Question 10

How is imprinting similar to attachment?

Answer 10

It binds a young animal to a caregiver in a special relationship

Question 11

What was one feature Lorenz noted for imprinting?

Answer 11

The process is irreversible and long lasting

Question 12

What did Lorenz suggest about mate preferences and imprinting?

Answer 12

Early imprinting had an effect on later mate preferences, sexual imprinting
Animals will choose to mate with the same kind of object which they were imprinted

Question 13

Key Study: Harlow (1959)

What did Harlow create for his experiment?

Answer 13

Two wire mothers

- With difference heads

Question 14

Key Study: Harlow (1959)

What were the differences between the two wire mothers?

Answer 14

One was wrapped in a soft cloth the other was not

Question 15

Key Study: Harlow (1959)

What kind of animal did Harlow use?

Answer 15

Eight infant rhesus monkeys

Question 16

Key Study: Harlow (1959)

How long were the monkeys studied for?

Answer 16

165 days

Question 17

Key Study: Harlow (1959)

What were the independent variables of the two wire mothers?

Answer 17

• 4 monkeys had the soft mother with a milk bottle attached

- 4 monkeys had the wire mother with a milk bottle attachment

Question 18

Key Study: Harlow (1959)

What did Harlow measure?

Answer 18

The amount of time each infant spent with the two different mother’s

Question 19

Key Study: Harlow (1959)

What else did Harlow observe?

Answer 19

Monkey’s infants’ responses when frightened

Question 20

Key Study: Harlow (1959)

What were the monkey’s scared with?

Answer 20

A mechanical teddy bear

Question 21

Key Study: Harlow (1959)

What did Harlow find?

Answer 21

All eight monkeys spent the most time with the cloth covered mother - whether it had the feeding bottles or not
- Monkeys whose wire mother had the bottle spent very little time there and quickly returned back to the cloth mother

Question 22

Key Study: Harlow (1959)

What happened when monkeys were frightened?

Answer 22

All monkeys clung to the cloth mother

Question 23

Key Study: Harlow (1959)

What do Harlow’s findings suggest?

Answer 23

Infants do not develop an attachment to the person who feeds them but to the person offering contact comfort

Question 24

Key Study: Harlow (1959)

How did the motherless monkeys, even those who did have contact comfort, develop?

Answer 24

They developed abnormally

Question 25

Key Study: Harlow (1959)

How were the monkeys abnormal?

Answer 25

• Socially abnormal, Froze or fled when other monkeys came close
• Sexually abnormal, they did not show normal mating behaviour and did not cradle their own babies