Attachment - Animal Studies

Question 1

What are animal studies used to look at?

Answer 1

The formation of early bonds between non-human parents and their offspring

Question 2

Why can animal studies help us understand attachment in humans?

Answer 2

Because attachment is common to a range of species

Question 3

Who is Lorenz?

Answer 3

One of the most prominent ethnologists (animal researcher)

Question 4

When did Lorenz first observe imprinting?

Answer 4

When he was child

Question 5

How did Lorenz gain an interest in imprinting?

Answer 5

A neighbour gave him a newly hatched duckling that began to follow him around

Question 6

What two groups did Lorenz divide the gosling eggs into?

Answer 6

1 group left with their natural mother
1 group placed in an incubator

Question 7

When the incubator eggs hatched, what was the first thing the goslings saw?

Answer 7

Lorenz

Question 8

When the natural mother eggs hatched, what was the first thing they saw?

Answer 8

Their mother

Question 9

What did Lorenz record once the goslings hatched?

Answer 9

The behaviour of all the goslings

Question 10

What did the goslings do once they hatched? IMPRINTING

Answer 10

They proceeded to follow the first moving object they saw during the critical period

Question 11

Critical period

Answer 11

The first 12-17 hours of the goslings’ life

Question 12

What suggests that attachment is innate and genetically programmed?

Answer 12

The group born with their natural mother followed their mother goose. The group born in an incubator followed Lorenz

Question 13

What do the results of Lorenz’s study support?

Answer 13

It supports having a biological basis for an attachment is adaptive

Question 14

Consequences of imprinting

Answer 14

Has consequences for short-term survival

Question 15

What does imprinting occur without?

Answer 15

Without any feeding taking place

Question 16

When will an animal not imprint?

Answer 16

The animal will not imprint if it hasn’t seen a moving object during the critical period

Question 17

When may it be unlikely for any attachment to develop?

Answer 17

If no imprint has developed in 32 hours

Question 18

Imprinting is… (adjective)

Answer 18

Reversible

Question 19

Sexual imprinting

Answer 19

Later mates chosen based upon the object they imprinted on

Question 20

Courtship behaviour

Answer 20

Set of display behaviours in which an animal attempt to attract opposite sex

Question 21

Where does a young animal learn the characteristics of a desirable mate from?

Answer 21

The object it imprinting on

Question 22

What did Guiton find about sexual imprinting?

Answer 22

Animals aren’t born with predisposition to only imprint on specific things, but on any moving thing present in the critical period

Question 23

How did Guiton research sexual imprinting using chicks?

Answer 23

He exposed them to yellow rubber gloves for feeding them during first fear weeks and they became imprinted on the gloves. They were found to later try and mate with the glove

Question 24

Evaluation point of Lorenz research: generalising

Answer 24

No research has done to suggest that this links to humans

Question 25

Evaluation point of Lorenz research: Sexual imprinting

Answer 25

Guiton stated that he could reverse this and later found chickens were able to engage in normal sexual behaviour with other chickens

Question 26

Evaluation point of Lorenz research: Influential findings

Answer 26

Findings enabled other psychologists (Bowlby) to further explore the critical period

Question 27

What was the aim of Harlow’s research?

Answer 27

To demonstrate attachment is not based on the feeding bond

Question 28

What animal did Harlow investigate?

Answer 28

Monkeys

Question 29

What did Harlow do with 16 monkeys?

Answer 29

He separated them from their mothers immediately after birth and placed them in cages with access to 2 surrogate mothers

Question 30

What were the two surrogate mothers made out of?

Answer 30

Once made out of wire and the other one was made out of wire covered in soft cloth

Question 31

Surrogate

Answer 31

Substitute

Question 32

How were the 16 monkeys separated?

Answer 32

8 monkeys could get milk from wire mother and 8 monkeys could get milk from the cloth mother

Question 33

How many days were the monkeys studied by Harlow for?

Answer 33

165 days

Question 34

Who did both groups of monkeys spend the most time with?

Answer 34

The cloth mother - even though she had no milk for one group

Question 35

When would an infant go to the wire mother?

Answer 35

Only when they were hungry

Question 36

Who would the infant take refuge with if a frightening object was placed in the cage?

Answer 36

The cloth mother

Question 37

Result of monkeys left for 90 days or more in the cage?

Answer 37

They turned out aggressive and the females became inadequate mothers

Question 38

Effects for monkeys left in cage for less than 90 days

Answer 38

The effects could be reversed

Question 39

Long lasting effects of Harlow’s research: Social abnormalities

Answer 39

Monkey’s froze or fled when approached by other monkeys

Question 40

Long lasting effects of Harlow’s research: Sexual abnormalities

Answer 40

Monkey’s didn’t show normal mating behaviour and didn’t cradle their own babies

Question 41

Evaluation of Harlow’s research: Ethical concerns

Answer 41

Study created lasting emotional harm for monkeys

Question 42

Evaluation of Harlow’s research: Valuable insight

Answer 42

Provides valuable insight into development of attachment and social behaviour

Question 43

Evaluation of Harlow’s research: Confounding variables

Answer 43

2 white heads of wire and cloth monkey were very different