Animal Studies Of Attachment Flashcards
Lorenz Procedure
Divided clutch of goose eggs. Half with mother in natural envirnoment and half in incubator where they saw Lorenz as first moving object.
Lorenz Findings
Incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere and other group followed their mother. When two groups were mixed, it was still the same.
Lorenz Imprinting
Where birds that are mobile from birth attach to the first moving object they see. Critical period of few hours after birth.
Harlow Procedure
16 baby rhesus monkeys with 2 wire model mothers. 1 condition was milk with plain wire mother and the other model was the cloth covered mother.
Harlow Findings
Monkeys cuddled soft object in preference to wire one and sought comfort from cloth one when frightened. Contact comfort more important than food when it came to attachment.
Maternally Deprives Monkeys as Adults
When monkeys with both model mothers: aggressive, less sociable and unskilled at mating.
This is due to the mothers neglecting the young and sometimes attacking them.
Critical Period for Monkeys
90 days.
Weakness (Guiton et al)
Lorenz conclusions was questioned. Found chickens imprinted on yellow washing up gloves and they would try to mate with the gloves. But eventually learned to prefer mating with other chickens. Shows impact of imprinting on mating isnt as permanent as Lorenz believed.
Strength
Theoretical value. Harlow showed that attachment doesnt develop as result of being fed but contact comfort.
Strength
Practical value. Harlow’s exp helpes social workers understand risk factors in child neglect and so intervene to stop it.
Weakness
Ethical value. Monkeys suffered greatly during exp. Monkeys are similar to humand meaning their feelings are human like.
Weakness
Generalisability to humans. Cant generalise Lorenz’s findings to humans. Mammals show more emotion than birds. Inappropriate to generalise.
