Animal studies of attachment Flashcards
describe animal studies
in the 20th century a number of ethologists conducted animal studies of the relationships between new-born animals and their mothers
these observations informed psychologists’ understanding of caregiver-infant attachment in humans
describe lorenz’s (1952) research
lorenz set up an experiment where he randomly divided a large clutch of goose eggs, half the eggs were hatched with the mother goose in their natural environment, the other half hatched in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was lorenz
describe lorenz’s findings
the incubator group followed lorenz everywhere whereas the control group followed the mother goose
this phenomenon is called imprinting - whereby bird species that are mobile from birth attach to and follow the first moving object they see
lorenz identified a critical period in which imprinting needs to take place, this can be as breif as a few hours after birth
describe sexual imprinting
lorenz also investigated the relationship between imprinting and adult mate preferences
he observed that birds that imprinted on a human would often display courtship behaviour towards humans
what is the research support for lorenz’s concept of imprinting (STRENGTH)
regolin and vallortigara (1955) - chicks were exposed to simple shape combos that moved, such as a triangle with a rectangle in front
the chicks followed the original combo most closely
therefore, the view that young animals are born with an innate mechanism to imprint on a moving object is supported
what are the issues with generalising to humans (LIMITATION)
the mammalian attachment system is quite different and more complex than in birds
in mammals, attachment is a two-way process, the mothers also show an emotional attachment to their young
therefore, it may not be appropriate to generalise lorenz’s ideas to humans
describe harlow’s research, the importance of contact comfort
harlow observed that new-born animals kept alone in a bare cage often died but they usually survived if given something soft to cuddle
harlow reared 16 baby monkeys with two wire model ‘mothers’, in one condition milk was dispensed by the plain-wire mother whereas in the second the milk was dispensed by the cloth-covered mother
harlow found the baby monkeys cuddled the cloth-covered mother in preference to the plain-wire and sought comfort when frightened
this shows that ‘contact comfort’ was of more importance to monkeys than food with attachment behaviour
describe maternally deprived monkeys as adults
harlow followed the monkeys into adulthood to see if early maternal deprivation had a permenant effect
the monkeys reared with plain-wire mothers were the most dysfunctional
both were more agressive and less sociable than other monkeys and they bred less, being unskilled at mating
when they became mothers, some neglected their young and attacked their children
describe the critical period for normal development
like lorenz, harlow concluded that there was a critical period for attachment formation
a figure had to be introduced to a young monkey within 90 days for an attachment to form
describe the real-world value of harlow’s research (STRENGTH)
it has helped social workers and clinical psychologists understand that a lack of bonding experience may be a risk factor in child development
also understand the importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos
therefore, the value of harlow’s research is practical
what are the issues with generalising harlow’s findings to humans (LIMITATION)
rhesus monkeys are much more similar to humans than lorenz’s birds, however the human brain and behaviour is still more complex than that of monkeys
therefore, it may not be appropriate to generalise harlow’s findings to humans
