Animal Studies Of Attachment - Evaluation

Question 1

What are limitations of Harlow’s animal studies?

Answer 1

Difficult to generalize findings from monkeys to humans
- mammals share attachment behaviours BUT human brains/behaviours more complex than monkeys

Unethical: psychological harm of monkeys through purposely scaring them and making feel distressed
- (severe and long term distressed used in experiments and not letting them out into the wild)

Question 2

What is a limitation of Lorenz’s animal studies?

Answer 2

Difficult to generalize findings from birds to humans due to the complexity of mammalian attachment systems.

In mammals, attachment is a 2 way process (reciprocity and interactional synchronicity)

Question 3

What is one strength of Harlow’s animal studies?

Answer 3

Important real-world applications in assisting social workers/clinical psychologists understand the risks of lack of bonding.

means they can intervene and prevent poor outcome
- can understand the importance of attachment figures for monkeys in zoos and breeding programs

Question 4

What is one strength of Lorenz’s animal studies?

Answer 4

Support for imprinting (innate mechanism to imprint on a moving object in critical period) - Regolin and Vallortigara

Chicks exposed to simple shape combinations that moved
- range of shape combinations were then moved infront of them
- followed the original most closely