Animal Studies Of Attachment Flashcards
Who were the psychologists that did animal studies
Lorenzs and Harlow
What were the 2 types of things Lorenz studied
Imprinting and sexual imprinting
When and what did Lorenz first observe
The phenomenon of imprinting when he was a child
What did Lorenz use for his study and where did he get it from
He used geese which he got from his neighbour
What type of experiment did lorenz set up
Classical experiment in which he divided a large clutch of goos eggs randomly
What was the procedure of Lorenzs experiment
He randomly divided the goose eggs. Half were hatched with the mother goose in their natural environment. The other half wold hatch in an incubator and see Lorenz as the first moving object
What were Lorenzs findings
The incubator group followed Lorenz wherever he went however the control group would follow her, even when the groups were mixed up
What was the phenomenon of Lorenzs study’s findings
This phenomenon is called imprinting
Describe the phenomenon of imprinting
Whereby the bird species that’s re mobile from birth attach to and follow the first moving object they see
What did Lorenz identify in terms of imprinting
He identified that there is a critical period in which imprinting need to take place
What did Lorenz say about if imprinting doesn’t occur within a certain time
They won’t form an attachment to a mother figure
What was something else that Lorenz investigated
Sexual imprinting
What is sexual imprinting
The relationship between imprinting and adult male preferences
What did he observe with the birds in relation to humans
They would often later display courtship behaviour towards humans
What animal did Lorenz use as his case study for sexual imprinting
Peacocks developing direct courtship towards giant tortoises which lead to the conclusion that the peacock has undergone sexual imprinting
What is a strength of Lorenzs research
Existence of support for the concept of imprinting which was done by regaling and vallortigara which did a study that supported the view that young animals were born with an innate mechanism to imprint on a moving object present in the critical period of development
What is a limitation of Lorenzs study
There is a lack of generalisability due to the different systems between mammals and birds as mammalian attachment system is a lot more complex than of birds which means it isn’t that appropriate to generalise Lorenz ideas to humans
What did Harlow research
Understanding attachment with monkeys and the effects of neglection and deprivation
What are the 3 areas he studied
.the importance of contact comfort
.maternally deprived moneys as adults
.the critical period for normal development
What did Harlow observe
That newborns kept alone in a bare cage often died but they usually survived if they have something soft to cuddle with
What was the procedure of Harlow study
He reared 16 baby monkeys with 2 wired models mothers and in one condition milk was dispersed
What was the finding of harlows research
That the baby monkeys cuddled the cloth covered mothers rather than the plain wire mother and sought comfort from them when frightened regardless of which dispensed milk
What did the findings of harlows research show
That contact comfort was of more importance to the monkeys than food when it came to attachment behaviour
Other than contact comfort, what else did Harlow study about animal attachment
If there was a permanent effect of maternal deprivation
How did Harlow research the effect of maternal deprivation
They followed the monekeys who has ben deprived of a ‘real’ mother into adulthood
What was the degree of findings
Severe consequences
What was the findings for monkeys which reared with plain-wire mothers
They were the most dysfunctional
What was the findings for monkeys which reared with a cloth covered mother
Didn’t develop normal social behaviour
What were the differing chacateristics of maternally deprived monkeys and normal monkeys
More aggressive, less sociable, breed less, unskilled at mating, neglect their children (some even attack and end up killing them)
What was a similarity between Harlows and Lorenzs study
They both identified that there is a critical period for normal development
What was harlows finding about the critical period of normal development
A mother figure had to be introduced to a young monkey within 90 days for an attachment to form
What happens if there is not mother figure present within 90 days
Attachment was impossible and the damage done by early deprivation became irreversible
What is the strength of harlows study
The real world value- it helped social workers and clinical psychologists understand ow a lack of bonding experience can be a risk factor in child development and so this way they know whether they should intervene and help as a result of neglect ion/deprivation
What is a limitation of harlows research
There is a lack of generalisability from moneys to humans despite rhesus monkeys being mammals, the human brain and behaviour is still a lot more complex than of monkeys and so it wouldn’t be appropriate to generalise to humans
