Animal studies of attachment

Question 1

What was Lorenz’s procedure (1952)?

Answer 1

• Classic experiment
• randomly divided large clutch of goose eggs
• Half hatched with mother goose in natural environment
• Other half hatched with Lorenz’s as first moving object they saw

Question 2

What was Lorenz’s research findings?

Answer 2

• Incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere
• control group followed mother everywhere
• Even when mixed they followed first moving object they saw

Question 3

What did Lorenz call what he saw and what was the critical period?

Answer 3

• what he found was called imprinting, whereby birds attach to and follow first moving object they see
• critical period for imprinting to occur was few hours or it may not happen at all

Question 4

What did Lorenz also investigate and explain?

Answer 4

• Sexual imprinting > relationship between imprinting and adult mate preferences
• imprinting on a human would often lead to courtship behaviour towards human

Question 5

What did Lorenz describe in a case study that supports sexual imprinting?

Answer 5

• A peacock being reared in the reptile house of a zoo, which imprinted on giant turtles and showed courtship behaviour towards them

Question 6

What was Harlow’s research procedure (1958)?

Answer 6

• tested the idea that a soft object serves some functions of a mother
• Harlow removed 16 baby Rhesus monkey from their mothers and reared them with two surrogate mothers
• 1st condition: milk was dispensed by the plain wired mother
• 2nd condition: milk was dispensed by the cloth covered mother

Question 7

What was Harlow’s research findings and conclusions?

Answer 7

• Monkeys preferred cloth covered mother& sought comfort from cloth mother when frightened
• concluded that contact comfort was more important to monkeys than food

Question 8

What consequences did maternally deprived monkeys suffer as adults?

Answer 8

• Harlow followed monkeys into adulthood, to see effect of maternal deprivation and found monkey were:
• less sociable
• more aggressive
• unskilled at mating
• when they did mate some killed their young

Question 9

What is the critical period for attachment formation for monkeys?

Answer 9

• mother figure introduced within 90 days or attachment is impossible and damage done is irreversible

Question 10

What is a strength of Lorenz’s research?

Answer 10

• research support for the concept of imprinting
• Regolin and Vallortigara - exposed chicks to simple shape combinations that moved such as a triangle with a rectangle in front
• when exposed to a range of combinations they followed the original one most closely
• supports that young animals are born with innate mechanisms to imprint on a moving object present

Question 11

What is a limitation of Lorenz’s research?

Answer 11

• can’t generalise findings from birds to humans
• Attachment formation is different & more complex e.g. mammalian attachment is a two-way process as it’s not just the young that become attached but also mothers
• results and conclusions can’t necessarily be extrapolated to human population

Question 12

What is a strength of Harlow’s research?

Answer 12

• real world application
• Howe > Harlow’s research has helped social workers & clinical psychologists understand that a lack of bond attachment may be a risk factor in child development
• Allows them to intervene to prevent poor outcomes
• also understand importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos & breeding programmes
• practical value

Question 13

What is a limitation of Harlow’s research?

Answer 13

• can’t generalise findings & conclusions from monkeys to humans
• although mammals share some common attachment behaviours, human brain and human behaviour is much more complex than monkeys
• many not be appropriate to generalise these findings

Question 14

Why may Harlow’s research be considered unethical?

Answer 14

Primates considers human like> stands to reason effects of psychological harm endured similar to human babies