Animal studies of attachment Flashcards
Outline the procedure of Lorenz’s Animal study (1952)
-divided a clutch of goose eggs
-1/2 of eggs were hatched with goose mother: control group
1/2 of eggs hatched in an incubator with Lorenz as the first person they saw
What is imprinting?
the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life
-bird following the first moving object the see
What is Sexual imprinting?
-The animal a bird imprinted too after hatching is also the one they display courtship to
-peacock reered in reptile house sexually imprinted to giant tortoise
-Lorenz proposed this is irreversible
Outline the findings of Lorenz animal study
-Incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere and the control group followed the goose mother. This stayed the same even when the groups mixed.
-Lorenz identified a critical period of a few hours and if imprinting does not occur in this time the geese will not form an attachment.
What is the evaluation for Lorenz’s study
Research support of imprinting: Regolin and Vallortigara (1995) made chicks exposed to simple shape combinations that move - e.g. triangle with rectangle in front. The chick followed the original shape closely
-HOWEVER: contradictory findings by Guitton (1996) showed that sexual imprintation on yellow washing gloves is reversible through conditioning and experience - preferred mating with other chicks
Generalisability to humans: attachments in birds and humans are very different. Attachment in humans is a two way relationship, not just the child that forms an attachment, but also the mother to their child. This means it is not appropriate to generalise Lorenz’s findings to humans.
Outline Harlow’s Animal Study into attachment (1958)
-Harlow tested the idea that soft objects provide functions of a mother
-16 rhesus monkeys with 2 wired model mothers
-1st condition: milk dispensed by wired mother
-2nd condition: milk dispensed by cloth mother
Outline the findings of Harlow’s animal study
-Monkeys cuddled cloth mother in preference to wired mother and sought comfort from cloth mother when frightened regardless of which one dispensed milk
-Shows contact comfort more important than food for attachment
-Monkeys with plain mother dispensing milk were most dysfunctional but both conditions the monkeys did not develop normally : killed offspring and were violent and unsocial
-Harlow concluded that they had a critical period of 90 days for an attachment to form
What is the evaluation for Harlow’s research?
-real world application: helped social workers and clinical psychologists understand that a lack of bonding experience may be a risk factor in child development allowing them to intervene and prevent poor outcomes (Howe 1998). Helpful for understanding the importance of attachment figures in zoos aswell. This means Harlow’s research is not just theoretical but practical.
-generalisability to humans: monkeys are closer than geese but still cannot completely explain attachment in humans. This means you cannot generalise Harlow’s research to humans.
-Ethical issues- severe and long-term distress to the monkeys.
