Animal studies of attachment Flashcards
What key study was conducted in 1952?
Lorenz’s gosling study into imprinting
What was the aim of Lorenz’s study?
To demonstrate and provide evidence for an innate imprinting mechanism
What was the procedure of Lorenz’s study?
Randomly divided a clutch of goose eggs
Half of the eggs hatched with the mother
Half of the eggs hatched in an incubator - Lorenz was the first living thing they saw
Lorenz observed their behaviour and then their later courtship behaviour
What were the findings of Lorenz’s study?
The incubator group followed Lorenz
The natural group followed the mother
Lorenz found a critical period, as little as two hours in some species, in which time they had to imprint or they wouldn’t attach at all
Lorenz found sexual imprinting occurred - birds showed courtship behaviour to humans
What are the evaluation points for Lorenz’s study?
Issues generalising from birds to humans
There is further research support for imprinting - Guiton et al. Chicks that imprint on washing gloves would try to mate with them
Lorenz’s conclusion were questioned - Guiton et al. - chicks eventually learnt to prefer mating with other chicks
What was the key study conducted in 1958?
Harlow’s study into the importance of contact comfort
What were the aims of Harlow’s study?
He wanted to observe the effects of maternal deprivation and investigate if a soft object would serve some of the functions of a mother
What were the procedures of Harlow’s study?
He reared 16 rhesus monkeys
Half of the monkey’s had milk dispensed by a wire model mother
Half of the monkey’s had milk dispensed by a cloth covered model mother
Monkey preferences were measured
(Frightening situations were also tested)
What were the findings of Harlow’s study?
Monkeys preferred contact comfort to food
There is a critical period for normal development
Maternal deprivation has a permanent effect - aggressive, less sociable, killed offspring
What are the evaluation points for Harlow’s study?
Important practical applications - helps social workers realise risk factors in child neglect
Harlow criticised for ethical issues
Issue generalising from monkeys to humans
