Animal studies of attachment Flashcards
Define imprinting.
Innate readiness to develop a strong bond with the mother. Occurs in a specific period of time soon after birth.
Outline procedure of Lorenz’s study into attachment.
Divided clutch of gosling eggs into 2 groups: one left with natural mother, one in an incubator. Incubator group first living thing they saw was Lorenz, mother group was mother. Marked his group, mixed the groups with him and the mother present.
Outline findings of Lorenz’s study.
Group that saw mother first quickly followed her, same for Lorenz’s group.
What did Lorenz conclude about imprinting and attachment?
Identified a critical period where imprinting must happen for it to take place at all. Found that imprinting is irreversible and long-lasting. Affects choice of sexual partner later in life.
Outline procedure of Harlow’s study into attachment.
2 wire monkeys with different heads - one wrapped in cloth. 4 infant monkeys had milk bottle on wire monkey, 4 on cloth. Time spent with each mother recorded. Observations on monkey’s behaviour when frightened recorded.
Outline findings of Harlow’s study into attachment.
All spent more time with cloth mother. When bottle on wire, they spent short time there to feed then return to cloth. When frightened, ran to cloth over wire.
What did Harlow conclude about attachment?
Infants do not develop an attachment to the person who feeds them, but to the person offering contact comfort. Motherless monkeys develop socially and sexually abnormal. There are critical periods for these effects, and the reversal of them.
(A03) What is the main weakness with both animal studies of attachment?
Difficult to generalise to humans. Differ by conscious decisions and free will. Needs more research on humans. But may be unethical.
(A03) Who adapted the theory of imprinting and what did they suggest?
Guiton found he could reverse imprinting in chickens - used to mate with rubber gloves, now with other chickens. More ‘plastic and forgiving’ mechanism. ‘Sensitive’ period rather than critical?
(A03) What is an experimental issue with Harlow’s research?
Confounding variable - two heads also different. Varied systematically with IV (cloth or no cloth). Results may be due to head rather than cloth. Lack of internal validity.
(A03) Was Harlow’s study ethically justified?
Ethical - not humans but also not monkeys? Lasting emotional damage. But helped develop better understanding of attachment and better care for infants. Social benefits outweigh unethical costs?
