animal studies of attachment

Question 1

explain the procedure for Lorenz and his study into imprinting?

Answer 1

• experiment, he randomly separated a clutch of goose eggs
• half hatched with the mother in their natural environment and the others with him in an incubator, he was the first moving object they saw
• behaviour was recorded

Question 2

explain the findings from Lorenz and his study into imprinting?

Answer 2

• incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere wheres controlled group followed mother
• when the two groups were mixed, control group still followed mother and vice versa= imprinting
• he identified a critical period and if imprinting doesn’t occur in the first few hours of hatching they will die as they cannot attatch

Question 3

evaluate generalisability to humans for Lorenz?

Answer 3

WEAKNESS

• although his findings have influenced understanding of human development
• generalisations cannot be made from birds to humans, they clearly attach differently and parenting is different as mammalian mothers are more emotional to their babies

Question 4

evaluate the questioning of the permanent effect of Lorenz’s observations?

Answer 4

WEAKNESS

• questioned his conclusion that imprinting has a permanent affect on mating behaviour
• Guiton found that chickens that had imprinted on yellow gloves would try to mate with them as adults but learnt to prefer other chickens
• shows its not as permanent as lorenz believed

Question 5

explain the procedure in Harlow’s research?

Answer 5

• reared 16 baby monkey’s in isolation with two surrogate wire ‘mothers’
• milk was dispensed by the wire mother, whereas the one made of cloth had no bottle
• time spent with each mother was recordd
• long term effects recorded

Question 6

explain the findings from Harlow’s research?

Answer 6

• found the monkey’s would cling to the cloth mother for up to 22 hours and only go to the wire one when forced by hunger
• when frightened also sought comfort from the cloth covered mother
• refutes the learning theory into attachment as they should’ve attached to the mother who fed them

Question 7

explain maternally deprived monkey’s as adults?

Answer 7

• monkey’s who only had the wire mother were the most dysfunctional
• those with the soft mother that dispensed milk were aggressive, less sociable, and bred less often than typical monkey’s
• as parents some killed and attacked their own children

Question 8

explain the critical period?

Answer 8

• both Harlow and Lorenz believed their as a critical period of 90 days
• if no mother figure was introduced in this time, attachment would be impossible and damage irreversible

Question 9

evaluate understanding of human mother-infant interaction for Harlow?

Answer 9

STRENGTH

• Harlow showed attachment doesn’t just develop as a result of being fed by mother but as a result of contact comfort
• also showed importance of early relationships for later social development.

Question 10

evaluate practical value for Harlow?

Answer 10

STRENGTH

• helped social workers understand the risk factors in children who faced abuse and neglect and how they should intervene and prevent this from happening
• aided understanding of relationships for captive monkeys

Question 11

evaluate ethical issues for Harlow?

Answer 11

WEAKNESS
-monkeys suffered greatly due to Harlow’s procedures
-species is considered similar to humans to be able to generalise findings, therefore it is assumed that their suffering was similar to what a human would face
HOWEVER…
-Harlow’s research and findings justified the means