animal studies of attachment Flashcards
procedure of lorenz’s study
- used gosling eggs
- 1 group left with heir natural mother while other eggs placed in incubator
- when the incubator eggs hatched the first thing they saw was Lorenz and they soon started following him
- they had become imprinted on him
findings of Lorenz’s research
- first group followed mother and incubator group followed Lorenz
- this process of imprinting is restricted to a very definite period of the young animal’s life (critical period)
- if a young animal isn’t exposed to a moving object during this period they will not imprint
- suggests that animals can imprint on persistently present moving objects seen within it’s first 2 days
what several features of imprint did Lorenz notice
- it is irreversible
- it is long lasting
- this early imprinting had an effect on later mate preferences, sexual imprinting.
- animals will choose to mate with the same kind of object upon which they were imprinted
definition of imprinting
an innate readiness to develop a strong bond with the mother during a specific time in development, probably the first few hours after birth. If it doesn’t happen at this time it probably will not happen
procedure of Harlow’s experiment
- created two wire mothers with a different head.
- 1 mother was additionally wrapped in cloth
- 8 infant monkeys were studies for 165 days
- for 4 of the monkeys the milk bottle was on the cloth covered mother and on the plain wired mother for the other 4
- measurements were made of the amount of time each infant spent with the different mothers
- observation were also made on the monkeys response to being frightened
findings of Harlow’s research
- all 8 monkeys spent most of their time with the cloth covered mother whether or not this had the milk bottle
- the monkeys who fed from the wire mother only spent a short amount of time getting milk and then returned to the cloth covered monkey.
- when frightened all monkeys clung to the cloth covered mother
what did Harlow’s findings suggest
-that infants do not develop an attachment to the person who feeds them but to the person offering contact comfort
what were the consequences of the monkeys early attachment experiences (Harlow’s research)
- the motherless monkeys developed abnormally. They froze or fled when approached by other monkeys
- they didn’t show normal maying behaviour and didn’t cradle their own babies
- there was a critical period for theses effects
explain the research support for imprinting (Strength of Lorenz’s study)
- Guiton showed that chicks exposed to yellow rubber gloves for feeding them during their first few weeks became imprinted on the gloves.
- this supports the view that young animals aren’t born with a predisposition to imprint on a specific type of object but instead in any moving thing that is present during the critical period
- Guiton also found that the male chickens tired to mate with the gloves, showing that early imprinting is linked to later reproductive behaviour
explain weakness of Lorenz’s research that there may not be a critical period
- Sluckin relocated Lorenz’s work with ducklings but kept one in isolation well beyond the critical period (5 days) and found it was still possible to imprint of this ducking.
- he concluded that the critical period was actually a sensitive period
explain the weakness of Lorenz’s research that imprinting is reversible
- Guinton found that he could reverse the imprinting in chickens who had initially tried to mate with the rubber gloves.
- They were later able to engage in normal sexual behaviour
- Goes against the original concept that imprinting isn’t reversible
another supporting research for Lorenz’s study
- Immelmann arranged for zebra finches to be raised by Bangalese finches and vice versa.
- In later years,mw hen the finches were given a free choice, they preferred to mate with the species on which they had imprinted.
- Supports as Lorenz noted that animals, especially birds will choose to mate with the same kind of object upon which they were imprinted.
describe the weakness that there was a confounding variable in Harlow’s study
- the two mothers varied in more than 1 way of being cloth covered.
- the 2 heads were also different which acted as a confounding variable.
- possible that the reason why the monkeys preferred one mother to the other is because the cloth covered mother had a more attractive head
was Harlow’s study ethical ?
- created long lasting emotional harm as monkeys couldn’t form relationships with peers
- but it can be justified in terms of its significant effect it’s had on our understanding of the process of attachment
- the research from Harlow’s study has been used to offer better care for human infants
2 disadvantages of animal studies
- how far can we generalise animal studies to human behaviour ? much more of human behaviour is governed by conscious decisions . But Harlow’s study used monkeys which is the closest species to humans so is more justifiable
- no ethical guidelines for animals when Lorenz and Harlow’s research was conducted
