Animal Studies of Attachment Flashcards
Lorenz goose experiment
Lorenz used an independent measure ans divided the eggs of geese into two groups. One group were hatched in the incubator with Lorenz and the other group naturally with the mother (IV) Those hatched by the mother followed her around and those hatched by Lorenz followed him around. Both groups therefore copied the behaviour of the 1st thing they saw. This is known as imprinting which happened during the critical period (crucial for brain development). Lorenz noted in later life the geese impacted mate preference choosing to mate with the most similar thing to who they imprinted on.
What is imprinting
Some species of animal for, attachments to the first large moving object that they meet
Klaus and Kennel - skin to skin contact importance
Early skin to skin contact = closer bonds
Babies used to be separated from mother to allow them to recover and rest after delivery.
G1 - saw baby after delivery and for feeds
G2 - extended contact and more skin to skin
G2 showed more sooting behaviour eg cuddling, closer proximity.
Sensitive period
Evaluation of Lorenz - imprinting
Strength - research support for imprinting - Guiton demonstrated that leghorn chicks exposed to yellow rubber gloves became imprinted on the glove and the male chick later tried to mate with the gloves. Similar to Lorenz with it being the first thing that they saw. However there are clear differences between humans and animals and they need imprinting in a critical period to protect from predators but babies can’t walk so instead have a sensitive period that is still needed for warmth and safety.
Criticism - imprinting isn’t as permanent as Lorenz thought. He believed it was irreversible as the mixed goslings still followed Lorenz but it might not be fixed and he may not have given them enough time as Guitton found that he could reverse imprinting on chickens by getting them to spend time with their own species and they engaged in normal mating behaviour. However humans don’t imprint so we have to use animals as it would be unethical on humans but we can generalise the idea Rhys we are born with certain abilities to form attachments
Harlow study of attachment - Rhesus monkeys
Aim - to test the cupboard theory that babies love mothers because they feed them
Method - Infant rhesus monkeys were separated from biological mother and placed in cages with surrogate mothers. One surrogate mother provided milk but no comfort made from wire and the other provided comfort as the wire was covered in cloth but did not provide food. Time spent with the mother was recorded as well as which they ran to when scared by a mechanical bear.
Findings - infant monkey spent most time with cloth mother only visiting food mother briefly to eat but then returning back to the cloth mother for comfort and when they were frightened. Monkeys without cloth mother showed signs of stress ans self harm. There were permanent social disorders caused by maternal deprivation such as difficulty in mating behaviour and raising offspring
Conclusion - rejects cupboard lobe theory and monkeys have biological need for the physical contact
Evaluation for animal studies
LIMITATION - humans and animals are biologically different - humans have wernickes and Broca’s area responsible for language production and comprehension which animals don’t have
STRENGTH - animals have to be used for ethical reasons but still unethical to use animals as harm was caused
STRENGTH - research support for Lorenz with Guitton
