Animal Studies of Attachment- Lorenz Flashcards
What is the question to ask yourself when learning about animal studies of attachment?
Can we fully understand attachments in humans by studying animals?
What year did lorenz carry out his investigation?
1935
What was Lorenzo’s aim?
-Animal study (Geese) to investigate the mother- infant attachment (imprinting)
What is imprinting?
Forming attachment with the first moving object they see
What was Lorenz’s procedure?
-Lab experiment + randomly divided clutch gosling eggs into 2 groups and marked the eggs to distinguish their group
-Control and experimental group
What was Lorenz’s control group?
-Half of the eggs were left with the mother goose in their natural environment
What was Lorenz’s experimental group?
Half of the eggs were placed in an incubator (away from mother) When they hatched the first moving object they saw was Lorenz.
How did Lorenz test the effects of imprinting?
-Marked the two groups to distinguish them and placed them together- both lorenz and natural mother were present
How did Lorenz study immediate imprinting?
-All goslings were released and the parent they followed was recorded
How did Lorenz study any long term effects?
He followed the geese into adulthood to see if early maternal deprivation had a permanent effect
What were the findings for imprinting?
-Experimental group (saw lorenz first) followed him (as if he were their mum) and appeared to have formed a rapid attachment to him
-In contrast- ctrl group followed their bio mum
What did lorenz find after he put all the goslings together? (imprinting findings)
the two groups separated to go to their respective mothers- half to the goose and half to lorenz
What were the long-term effects of imprinting?
-process of imprinting is irreversible and long lasting
-also found that early imprinting had an effect on later mate preferences called sexual imprinting
What were the findings for critical period?
-L identified a critical period in which imprinting needed to have taken place
What did lorenz find if imprinting doesn’t occur in the critical period?
chicks did not attach themselves to a mother figure
