Animal studies of Attachment

Question 1

What were Lorenz’s Procedure and Findings?

Answer 1

• Lorenz randomly divided a clutch of goose eggs
• Half of the eggs were hatched with their mother goose in their natural environment and the other half in an incubator where the first moving object that they saw was Lorenz
• Incubator group followed Lorenz around, control group followed mother goose around

Question 2

What 3 things did Lorenz conclude?

Answer 2

Imprinting:
- Newly hatched goslings attached to first moving object they saw
Critical Period:
- Imprinting must occur a few hours after birth or does not happen
Sexual Imprinting:
- Birds show courtship behaviour towards whatever species they imprint on

Question 3

What were Harlow’s Procedure and Findings?

Answer 3

• Reared 16 baby monkeys with 2 wire mote=her with on covered in cloth
• In one condition milk was dispensed by the cloth-covered mother and in the other condition it was by the plain wire mother
• When afraid the monkey would go to the cloth mother regardless of who was dispensing milk
• ‘contact-comfort’ is more important than food

Question 4

What were 3 Conclusions Harlow made from his research?

Answer 4

Importance of contact comfort:
- chose cloth mother over wire one regardless of who produced milk
Maternal Deprivation:
- Monkeys brought up without a mother were dysfunctional as adults
Critical period:
- Monkeys had around 90 days to attach to a mother figure or they could not form an attachment

Question 5

What is one limitation of Lorenz’s research regarding generalisability?

Answer 5

• Bird attachment is vastly different to animal attachment. It is more complex e.g there is a two-way process so mothers become attached as well as the children. Not applicable

Question 6

Is there any ethical issues regarding Harlows study?

Answer 6

• Harlow’s research caused severe and long term distress to the monkeys and those he raised without a mother grew to be dysfunctional adults and so were permanently damaged by his research

Question 6

What is a counterpoint regarding generalisability in terms of Harlow’s research?

Answer 6

• Harlows study was done on mammals with the same two way attachment process as humans meaning his research may be more applicable