Animal Studies of Attachment

Question 1

who did the study of imprinting & when?

Answer 1

lorenz (1935)

Question 2

lorenz method

Answer 2

• interacted with hatchlings of greylag geese
• half of eggs raised with mum & half raised in an incubator with lorenz being the first thing they saw

Question 3

lorenz results

Answer 3

• they became attached to the first moving thing they encountered
• tried to mate with humans as they grew up
• unable to recognise adult members of its own species

Question 4

lorenz conclusion

Answer 4

• primary bond of imprinting was formed immediately & irreversible
• must be done during stage of development = 12-17hrs
• only present in some species of birds

Question 5

who did the wire monkey experiment & when?

Answer 5

harlow (1958)

Question 6

harlow method

Answer 6

• monkeys separated from their mothers at 6-12hrs & raised with surrogate mothers made of either wire mesh or wood covered in cloth
• 1 mother equipped with food

Question 7

harlow results

Answer 7

• even when the wire mother was the source of food, the monkeys spent more time with the cloth one

Question 8

harlow - interaction with others

Answer 8

• introduced to other normal monkeys
• showed inappropriate social behaviour, delinquency
• aggressive & couldn’t form normal relationships

Question 9

harlow implications

Answer 9

• negligent/abusive parents
• either didn’t nurse, comfort or protect their young
• OR violently bit/injured their young

Question 10

what does harlow’s experiment suggest?

Answer 10

• importance of mother/child bonding
• LT psychological & physical effects of delinquent/inadequate attentiveness to child needs

Question 11

EVALUATION - lorenz positive

Answer 11

RESEARCH SUPPORT
- guiton (1966) = leghorn chicks exposed to yellow rubber gloves for feeding during the first few weeks, became imprinted on the gloves
- chickens later tried to mate with gloves

Question 12

EVALUATION - lorenz negative

Answer 12

CRITICISMS OF IMPRINTING
- guitton (1966) = found he could reverse the imprinting - after spending time with their own species, they could engage in normal sexual behaviour with other chickens

Question 13

EVALUATION - harlow negative 1

Answer 13

CONFOUNDING VARIABLE
- the different heads!!!
- varied systematically
- cloth mum had a more monkey-like head so may explain this
- lacks internal validity

Question 14

EVALUATION - harlow negative 2

Answer 14

ETHICS
- questioned whether it shouldn’t’ve been done with monkeys
- created lasting emotional harm
- HOWEVER it had a sig effect on our understanding of attachment & study had been used to offer better care for primates & humans

Question 15

EVALUATION of both studies

Answer 15

it isn’t wise to generalise animal studies to human behaviour