Animal Studies of Attachment Flashcards
1
Q
explain the experiment lorenz did to investigate imprinting
A
- he randomly divided a large clutch of goose eggs into two batches
- one group hatched naturally with their mother
- the other group hatched in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was Lorenz
- the incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere whereas the natural group followed their mother
- these bonds proved to be irreversible
2
Q
what is imprinting
A
where bird species that are mobile from birth attach and follow the first moving object they see
3
Q
explain the study which supports the idea of sexual imprinting
A
lorenz
- peacock had been reared in a reptile house of a zoo
- first moving objects they saw were tortoises
- as an adult this bird would only direct courtship behaviour towards the tortoises
4
Q
what animal did harlow study
A
rhesus monkeys
5
Q
explain the procedure of harlows research into the importance of contact comfort
A
- he reared 16 baby monkeys with two wire model ‘mothers’
- the monkeys were put in 1 of 2 conditions
- conditions resulted in:
1. cage containing a wire mother producing milk and a towelling mother producing no milk
2. cage containing wire mother producing no milk and towelling mother producing milk - the amount of time speant with each mother, feeding time and mother preference during stress (loud noise) was recorded
6
Q
what were harlows findings
A
- the monkeys cuddled the cloth mokey in preference to the plain wired monkey when frightened regardless of which mother dispensed milk
- this showed that contact comfort was more important than food
7
Q
what did harlow say the critical period was
A
90 days
8
Q
explain the research harlow did into how being maternally deprived affected monkeys as adults
A
- monkeys who were only with a wire mother had diarrhoea, a sign of stress
- even those who had a cloth mother did not develop normal social behaviour. They were more aggressive and less sociable
