animal studies of attachment

Question 1

what is lorenzs research

Answer 1

imprinting
set up classic experiment randomly divided large clutch goose eggs
half eggs hatched with mother oose inn natural environment
other half hatched in incubatory where first moving object they saw was lorenz
incubator group followed lorenz everywhere whereas control group followed mother goose
when two groups mixed up control group still followed mother and others still followed lorenz
bird species mobile from birth attach to and follow first moving object they see
identified critical period imprinting needs to take place-few hours after birth
if imprinting doesnt occur within this time lorenz found chicks did not attach themselves to mother figure

relationship between imprinting and adult male preferences
birds imprinted on human later display courtship behaviour towards humans
case study- described peacock that had been reared in reptile house of zoo where first moving objects were giant tortoises, as adult bird only direct courtship behaviur towards giant tortoises
peacock undergone sexual imprinting

Question 2

what is harlows research

Answer 2

tsted idea soft object serves some functions of mother
reared 16 baby monkeys with two wire odel mothers
milk dispensed by plain wire mother or milk dispensed cloth covern mother
baby monkeys cidded mloth covered mother in preference to plain wire mother and sought comfort from cloth when frightened
contact comfort more of importance than food when it came to attachment behaviour

monkeys deprived of real mother into adulthood to see if early maternal deprivation had permanent effect
monkeys reared with plain wire mother most dysfunctional
cloth covered mother-did not develop normal social behaviour
more aggressive and less sociable than other monkeys
bred less often
when become mothers- neglected their young and others attaked their children

critical period within 90days
after this time attachment impossible and damage done by early deprivation became irreversible

Question 3

research support (lorenz eval)

Answer 3

existence of support for the concept of imprinting
regolin and vallortigara supports-chicks exposed to simple shape combinations that moved, range of shape combinations moved in front of them and they followed the original most closely
supports view young animals are born with innate mechanism to imprint on moving object present in critical window of development predicted by lorenz

Question 4

generalisability to humans (lorez eval)

Answer 4

ability to generalise findings and conclusions from birds to humans
mammalian attachment system different and more complex than that in birds
mammal attachment- two way process
not appropriate to generalise lorenzs ideas to humans

Question 5

real world value (harlow eval)

Answer 5

important real world applications
helped social workers and clinical psychologists understand that a lack of bonding experience may be risk factor in child development allowing them to intervene to prevent poor outcomes
understand the importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos and breeding programmes in the wild
value of research is not just theoretical but also practical

Question 6

generalisability to humans (harlow eval)

Answer 6

ability to generalise findings and conclusions from monkeys to humans
rhesus monkeys more similar to monkeys than birds
all mammals share common attachment behaviour
human brain more complex than that of monkeys
may not be appropriate to generalise findings to humans