Attachment- Animal Studies Flashcards
What did Lorenz find?
Geese automatically attach to the first moving thing they see after hatching and follow it around (imprinting)
What did Lorenz do in his study?
- Randomly divided a clutch of goose eggs
- Left one group with mother and put one group in an incubator
What did Lorenz observe?
Incubator eggs imprinted on Lorenz and group 1 of eggs imprinted on mother
What happened when Lorenz put the 2 groups of goslings together?
Both groups went off in search for ‘mothers’
What is the critical period?
Time period when goslings imprint on ‘mothers’- 13-16 hours after hatching
Why is imprinting unlikely to happen in humans?
Attachments take longer to develop and we don’t automatically attach to particular things
What was Harlow’s study?
- Laboratory experiment with rhesus monkeys
- Two surrogate ‘mothers’
- One mother made of wire mesh and another made of cloth
What were the results of Harlow’s study?
Monkeys sought comfort from the cloth monkey regardless of which dispensed milk
What was the conclusion from Harlow’s study?
Infant monkeys formed an attachment with a figure that provided comfort and protection and growing up in isolation affected development
What is the evaluation from Harlow’s study?
- Lab experiment so strict control over variables
- Can’t generalise to humans
- Ethical problems
- Lacks ecological validity
