Animal Studies Of Attachment

Question 1

Lorenz (1935)

Answer 1

Method- took a clutch of gosling eggs laid at the same time, split them in half and one half were given back to the mother while the other half hatched in an incubator and saw Lorenz first!
-they were marked to see which was which
Found- the ones who saw Lorenz first followed him which the others followed the mother.
-imprinting seemed to happen between 4-25 hours after hatching.
Conclusion- supports the idea that attachment formation may have biological basis as a tenancy to imprint occurs so early that it seems to be programmed in to them

Question 2

Harlow and Zimmerman (1959)

Answer 2

Aim- investigate whether a baby monkey is more likely to become attached to a fake mother that fed it than a fake mother that was soft.

Method- 16 newborn monkeys separated from their mother at birth and put with the two mothers.

Found- monkeys spent much longer with the soft mother than food mother

• when scared it ran to the soft one
• if it was scared and only the food mother was there it just cowered in the cage.

So- comfort is more important than than being fed when it comes to an attachment.

Question 3

Harlow (1965) - isolation monkeys

Answer 3

-investigated the effects of raising monkeys in isolation for up to 24 months.
Found- they were very disturbed as adults.
- they harmed themselves
- very scared of other monkeys
- they became parents but harmed their infants
- those isolated for only 6 months could recover by 3 years old.