animal studies of attachment

Question 1

lorenzos research

Answer 1

ethologists conducted animal studies of relationships between neborn animals and their mothers

observations informed pscyhologists understanding of caregiver-infant attachment in humans

Question 2

imprinting - lorenz

Answer 2

attach to and follow the first moving object they see

Question 3

aim - lorenz

Answer 3

investigate imprinting in geese

Question 4

procedure - lorenz

Answer 4

randomly divided a clutch of goose eggs

hatched half in incubator - saw lorenz as the first moving object

half hatched with mother in natural environment

observed their behaviour

also put all goslings in an upturned box and allowed them to mix

observed their behaviour when he removed the box

Question 5

findings - lorenz

Answer 5

incubator group followed lorenz everywhere

control group hatched in the presence of their mother- followed her

when two groups mixed up the control group continued to follow the mother and the experimental group followed lorenz

calaled imprinting

lorenz identified a critical period in which imprinitng needs to take place

if imprinting does not occur within that time lorenz found that the chicks did not attach themselves to a mother figure

Question 6

sexual imprinitng - lorenz

Answer 6

also investigated the relationship between imprinitng and adult mate preferences

observed that birds imprinted on a human would often alter display courtship behaviour towards humans

Question 7

conclusion - lorenz

Answer 7

imprinting is an innate process

useful for survival

critical period is dependent on and varies across species

early attachment relationships predicts future bonds

Question 8

lorenz evaluation - strength

Answer 8

research support

existence of support for the concept of imprinting

Regaling and Vallortigara supports lorenz idea of imprinting

chicks were exposed to the simple shape combinations that moved such as a triangle with a rectangle in corny

a range of shape combination were then moved in from of them and they followed the original one most closely

this supports the view that young animals are born with an innate mechanism to imprint on a moving object present in the critical window of development as predicted by lorenz

Question 9

lorenz evaluation - limitation

Answer 9

generalisability to humans

ability to generalise findings and conclusions from birds to humans

mammals attachment system is quite different than birds and more complex

example - mammals attachment is a two-way process so it is not just the young who become attached to their mothers but also the others show an emotional attachment to their young

means that it is probably not appropriate to generalise lorenz ideas to humans

Question 10

Harlows research - importance of contact comfort

Answer 10

observed that newborn monkeys kept alone in a bare cage often died but that they usually survived if given something soft like cloths or cuddle

Question 11

harlows research - procedure

Answer 11

tested the idea that a soft object served some of the functions of a mother

in one experiment he reared 16v baby monkeys with two wired model mothers

in one condition milk was dispensed by the plain wire mother

second condition the milk was dispensed by the cloth covered mothers

Question 12

harlows research - findings

Answer 12

baby monkeys cuddled the cloth covered mother in preference to the plain wire mother

sought comfort from the cloth one when frightened regardless of which mother dispensed milk

showed that contact comfort was more importance to the monkeys than food when it came to attachment behaviour

Question 13

harlows - maternally deprived monkeys as adults

Answer 13

harlow and colleagues also followed the monkeys who had been deprived of a real mother into adulthood and see if this early maternal deprivation had a permanent effect

found severe consequences

monkeys reared with plain wire mothers only were the most dysfunctional

even those reared with a cloth covered mother did not develop normal social behaviour

deprived monkeys were more aggressive and less sociable and they bred ess often , being unskilled by mating

when they became mothers some of the deprived monkeys neglected their young and others attacked their children

even killing them in some cases

Question 14

critical period for normal development

Answer 14

harlow concluded that there was a critical period for attachment formation

a mother figure had to be introduced to a young monkey within 90 days for the attachment to form

after this time attachment was impossible and the damage done by early deprivation became irreversible

Question 15

harlow evaluation - strength

Answer 15

real-world value

important real-world applications

examples - helped social workers and clinal psychologists understand that a lack of bonding experience may be a risk factor in child development

allowing them to intervene to prevent poor outcomes for children’s

we also now understand the importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos and breeding programmes in the wild

means that the value of harlows research is not just theroretial but also practical

Question 16

evaluation harlow - limitation

Answer 16

generalisability to humans

the ability to generalise findings and conclusions from monkeys to hmans

Rhesus monkeys are much more similar to hmans than Lorenz’ birds and all mammals share some common attachment behaviours

however the human brain and human behaviour is till more complex than monkeys

means that it may not be appropriate to generalise harlows findings to humans