Animal Studies of attachment

Question 1

When was Lorenz study

Answer 1

1935

Question 2

Who conducted a study on goslings

Answer 2

Lorenz

Question 3

How did Lorenz study imprinting

Answer 3

Took a group of gosling eggs and split them into two groups, one in an incubator and one with their natural mother. When the incubated goslings hatched the first moving thing they saw was Lorenz

Question 4

What did Lorenz do to test the effects of imprinting

Answer 4

He placed the two groups of goslings back together with both Lorenz and the natural mother present. Lorenz marked the two groups to distinguish them. He found that the goslings quickly divided up to follow their previous parent. They had no recognition of their natural mother

Question 5

Did Lorenz goslings recognise their natural mother

Answer 5

No, they had no recognition of their natural mother

Question 6

What is imprinting

Answer 6

An innate readyness to develop a strong bond with their mothers at a certain point in development

Question 7

What period was imprinting limited to

Answer 7

A very specific period, which for the goslings was within the first two days

Question 8

What did Lorenz call the specific imprinting period

Answer 8

The critical period

Question 9

What happens if an animal is not exposed to a moving object in the critical period

Answer 9

It will not imprint

Question 10

What animals did Lorenz find wouldn’t imprint on humans

Answer 10

Curlews

Question 11

What are did Lorenz find the characteristics of imprinting to be

Answer 11

Long lasting and irreversible

Question 12

What evidence did Lorenz have that imprinting was long lasting and irreversable

Answer 12

One of the geese would sleep in Lorenz bed each night

Question 13

How did imprinitng affect mating and what is this called

Answer 13

The animals will choose to mate with the same kind of object they imprinted on, called sexual imprinting

Question 14

Who supports Lorenz study (mostly)

Answer 14

Guiton

Question 15

What did Guiton do

Answer 15

Demonstrated imprinting in animals. Leghorn chicks who were exposed to a yellow glove whilst being fed for the first few weeks of life would imprint on the glove. Later they tried to mate with the glove. Supports the view that animals are not born with a predisposition to imprint on a specific object and sexual imprinting

Question 16

What did Guiton find

Answer 16

Support for imprinting and a lack of predisposition to imprint on a specific object, as well as sexual imprinting

Question 17

What is an issue with Lorenz conclusions over imprinting

Answer 17

Guiton found that imprinting was reversable, managing to reverse imprinting on chickens who tried to mate with the yellow glove. By spending time with their own species they were able to engage in normal sexual behaviour

Question 18

What does Guiton’s ability to reverse imprinting suggest

Answer 18

That imprinting may not be very different from other kinds of learning that is done rapidly without concious effort but also reversable

Question 19

Who found that imprinting was reversable

Answer 19

Guiton

Question 20

What did Harlow try to demonstrate using their study

Answer 20

That attachment was not based on a feeding bond between mother and infant

Question 21

How did Harlow conduct their study

Answer 21

Created two wire mothers with different heads. One was wrapped in soft cloth. Eight infant monkeys were studied for 165 days, for four the milk bottle was on the cloth mother, and for the other four it was on the wire one. Measurements were made of the amount of time the monkey spent with each mother, their response to being frightened was also observed

Question 22

How many monkeys were used in Harlow’s experiment

Answer 22

8 monkeys

Question 23

How long were Harlow’s monkeys observed for

Answer 23

165 days

Question 24

What did Harlow find

Answer 24

That all 8 monkeys spent the most time with the cloth covered mother, even if the milk was on the other one. Those who fed from the wire mother spent a little time with the wire one feeding then returned to the other one. They also ran to the cloth mother when frightened

Question 25

What do Harlow’s findings suggest

Answer 25

That monkeys don’t form attachments based on feeding but contact comfort

Question 26

What were the consequences of Harlow’s study on the monkeys

Answer 26

All monkeys developed abnormally, froze or fled when approached by other monkeys. Sexually abnormal as they didn’t display normal mating behaviour and did not cradle their own babies.

Question 27

How could long term consequences be avoided for Harlow’s monkeys

Answer 27

If they spent time with their peers before three months, the critical period

Question 28

When did the monkeys from Harlow’s study not recover

Answer 28

They could not recover from having six months with only a wire mother

Question 29

What is an issue with Harlow’s wire mothers

Answer 29

The heads on the monkeys were different, which may have acted as a confounding variable. This means it lacks internal validity

Question 30

What is an issue for Harlow’s research and animal studies in general

Answer 30

Not possible to generalise behaviour to humans, as much more of our behaviour is governed by concious decisions, compared to monkeys who are governed by instinct. However Shaffer and Emmerson found that infant’s were not attached to who fed them, so there is support for similar behaviour in humans

Question 31

Who supports the findings of Harlow’s study even if animal behaviour is not generalisable to humans

Answer 31

Schaffer and Emmerson, found that humans become attached to whoever shows them the most sensitivity

Question 32

What is an obvious issue with Harlow’s study considering the monkeys

Answer 32

It is unethical, even when done on monkeys. Caused lasting emotional harm to monkeys who couldn’t form relationships with peers. Could be justified by arguing the knowldge gained outweighed the cost

Question 33

How can Harlow’s study be justified

Answer 33

Benefit’s outweigh cost