Animal studies of attachment Flashcards
define animal studies
animal studies in psychology are studies carried out on non-human animal species rather than on humans, either for ethical or practical reasons - practical because animals breed faster and researchers are interested in seeing results across more than one generation of animals
define the term ethologist
Are researchers who promote the use of naturalistic observations to study animal behaviour. They focus on the importance of innate capacities and the adaptiveness of behaviour.
what was the aim of Harlow 1958
To study the mechanisms by which newborn rhesus monkeys bond with their mothers
Describe the method for the first experiment of Harlow’s monkeys 1958
(16 monkeys with both mothers)
He separated infant monkeys from their mothers immediately after birth and placed in a cage with two surrogate mothers, both made of wire but the second one was covered in a soft cloth. In the first group the plain wire mother provided the food in the form of an attached baby bottle containing milk. In the second the clothed wire mother provided the milk.
Describe the method for the second experiment of Harlow’s monkeys 1958
each had either the wire or the cloth mother
He modified the experiment and separated the clothed mother which provided no food, or the wire mother that did.
What was the difference in behaviour exhibited between monkey’s who grew up with surrogate mothers and those with normal mother
The monkeys that grew up with the fake surrogate mothers were:
- More timid
- Didn’t know how to act around other monkeys
- Easily bullied didn’t stand up for themselves
- had difficulty with mating
- The females were inadequate mothers
Describe the results for Harlow’s monkey experiment 1958
Experiment 2
All the monkeys drank equally and grew at the same rate but infants who had the cloth mother behaved differently than those who’d had a mother made of plain wire.
Describe the results for Harlow’s monkey experiment 1958
Experiment 1
Both groups of monkeys spent more time with the cloth mother regardless of if she provided the milk, the infant would only go to the wire one when they were hungry. Once fed it would return to the cloth mother for most of the day. If a frightening object was in the cage the infant took refuge with the cloth mother. This surrogate was more effective in decreasing the infant’s fear. It would explore more when it was present.
What additional factor did Harlow find after the critical period
The behaviours were only observed in the monkeys who were left with the surrogate mother for more than 90 days, for those who left after less than 90 days the effects could be reversed if placed in a normal environment.
what conclusion did Harlow come to
that for a monkey to develop normally they must have some interaction with an object to which they can cling during the first months of life (critical period).
Also that Maternal deprivation leads to emotional damage but that’s its impact can be reversed in monkeys
What were the maternally deprived monkeys like as adults
Harlow followed the monkeys who had be deprived of a real mother into adulthood to see if early maternal deprivation had a permenant effect
What were the results of maternally deprived rhesus monkeys in adulthood
The monkeys reared with wire mothers were the most dysfunctional, however when those reared with a soft toy as a substitute did not develop normal social behaviour. They were more aggressive and less sociable than other monkeys and bred less often, being unskilled at mating. As mothers some of the deprived monkeys neglected their young and others attacked their children in some cases even killing them.
(Evaluate) Weaknesses of Harlow’s Monkey experiment 1958
List
- Unethical - distress
- lacked internal validity
- hard to generalise to humans
Ethical issues
Evaluate Harlow’s Monkey experiment 1958
A weakness of this is that the monkeys suffered from severe emotional harm from being reared in isolation. This was evident when the monkeys were placed with a normal monkey (reared by a mother), they sat huddled in a corner in a state of persistent fear and depression.
In addition Harlow created a state of anxiety in female monkeys which had implications once they became parents. Such monkeys became so neurotic that they abused their own children.
weakness - validity
Evaluate Harlow’s monkey experiment 1958
The findings of the study lack internal validity due to the drastic difference of the heads of the monkey. This could then suggest that the monkeys possibly choose one wire monkey over the other as they preferred the physical appearance of one monkey over the other.
weakness - application
Evaluate Harlow’s monkey experiment 1958
A weakness of the experiment is that it is conducted on animals, this is a weakness because it is hard to generalise to humans which means that the findings have limited application.
Strength of Harlow’s monkey experiment 1958
Experiment 1 supports the evolutionary theory of attachment; in that it is the sensitive response and security of the caregiver that is important, rather than who feeds it.
What was the aim of Lorenz’s research 1935
to observe imprinting in goslings
define imprinting
An innate readiness to aquire certian behaviours during a critical or sensitive period of development
define critical period
The time within which an attachment must form if it is to form at all. Lorenz and Harlow noted that attachment in birds and monkeys had critical periods. Bowlby extended the idea to humans, proposing that human infants have a sensitive period after which it will be much more difficult to form an attachment.
Describe the method of Lorenz 1935’s research
Lorenz took a clutch of gosling eggs and divided them into two groups. One group was left with their natural mother while the other eggs were placed in an incubator. When the incubator eggs hatched the first living (moving) thing they saw was Lorenz.
He marked the two groups to distinguish them and mixed them together.
Lorenz then observes the geese to see who they follow him or the mother goose.
What were the results of Lorenz’s imprinting research 1935
These goslings quickly divided themselves up, one lot following their natural mother the other group following Lorenz. Lorenz’ brood showed no recognition of their natural mother. Lorenz noted that this process of imprinting is restricted to a very definite period of the young animal’s life, called a critical period. If a young animal is not exposed to a moving object during this early critical period the animal will not imprint.
What can we conclude from Lorenz’s research
It suggests that animals can imprint on a persistently present moving object seen within its first two days.
weakness - app
Evaluate Lorenz’s imprinting research 1935
A weakness is that Lorenz was interested in imprinting in birds, although some of his findings have influenced our understanding of human development there is a problem generalising findings from birds to humans. This means that the application of his findings is limited
weakness - further research
Evaluate Lorenz’s imprinting research 1935
Later researchers have questioned some of Lorenz’s conclusions for example that imprinting has a permanent effect on mating behaviour.
Guiton et al 1966 - found that chickens imprinted on yellow washing up gloves would try to mate with them as adults (as Lorenz would have predicted), but that with experience they eventually learned to prefer mating with other chickens.
This suggests that the impact of imprinting on mating behaviour is not as permanent as Lorenz believed.
Lorenz - sexual imprinting - 1952
Lorenz also investigated the relationship between imprinting and adult mate preferences.
He observed that birds imprinted on humans would often later display courtship behaviour towards humans.
In a case study he described a peacock who imprinted on a giant tortoise. As an adult the bord would only direct courtship behaviour towards giant tortoises. Lorenze concluded that this meant he had undergone sexual imprinting.
strengths
Evaluate Lorenz’s imprinting research 1935
High ecological validity as it was a field study.
and
Highly reliable as it has been repeated experimentally and noted anecdotally
