Animal Studies of Attachment Flashcards
What are the 2 main animal studies of attahcment?
Lorenz (geese)
Harlow (monkeys)
What is imprinting?
When a new born baby attaches to the first living thing they see
What did Lorenz suggest about imprinting?
Babies can’t form attachments if imprinting doesn’t occur in the critical period (a day after birth)
Imprinting is irreversible & long-lasting
What did Lorenz’s do in his experiment?
Lorenz split geese eggs into 2 batches (how they hatched)
- one naturally by mother
- other in incubator seeing Lorenz as first living thing
Lorenz marked all the geese to know which geese were which
What were Lorenz’s findings?
After birth, all the geese followed the first living thing they saw
All geese place in upturned box and the geese from the incubator followed Lorenz instead of their mother when released
What are the strengths of Lorenz’s research?
Research support - Guiton (1966)
Case study (peacock)
What did Guiton (1966) find which supported Lorenz’s research?
Legborn chicks imprinted onto yellow gloves that fed them for the first week - also tried mating
What case study supports Lorenz’s research?
Lorenz (1952)
Peacock saw giant tortoises after hatching in a zoo
The peacock only displayed courtship behaviour to tortoises
What are the weaknesses of Lorenz’s research?
Guiton (1966) - imprinting was reversible after spending time with own species
Cannot generalise imprinting of birds to humans (mammals more emotional than birds)
What was Harlow’s research (1959)?
Used rhesus monkeys to investigate the “learning theory”
He placed the monkeys in a cage with a “mother” - 4 monkeys in each of the 4 conditions (milk, towel, no milk, no towel combos)
Harlow then scared the monkeys to find their mother preference
Large cage also used to test exploration
What did Harlow find in his research (1959)?
Monkeys preferred towel mother regardless of if it had milk or not
Monkeys with towel mother explored & visited their mother more (more emotional security)
What was Harlow’s second study (1965)?
Raised newborn monkeys in isolation for different periods of time
What did Harlow find in his second study (1965)?
Monkeys were psychologically disturbed- hugging own bodies & rocking
When placed with other monkeys, they were fearful and had no social interaction (attacked)
DEGREE OF DAMAGE CORRELATED POSITIVELY WITH TOTAL ISOLATION
Female monkeys (from iso) forcibly mated and abused their children
SOCIAL INTERACTIONS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
What are the strengths of Harlow’s research?
Theoretical Value - social learning theory disproved
Practical Value - help social workers understand risk of child neglect
How did Harlow’s research have theoretical value?
Shows that attachments don’t occur by feeding - SLT
Shows importance of early relationships for later life
How did Harlow’s research have practical value?
Helps social workers understand risk factors of child neglect - can prevent
Shows the importance and degree of care needed for animals in zoos & breeding programmes
What are the weaknesses of Harlow’s research?
Ethical issues - lasting emotional harm many died)
Cannot generalise to humans (conscious decisions)
