attachment: animal studies Flashcards
Lorenz: what is imprinting
when a bird species who are mobile from birth attach and follow the first moving object they see within a critical period
what did Lorenz aim to study
the mechanisms of imprinting
how did Lorenz study imprinting
split large clutch of goose eggs into 2 batches, one batch hatched naturally and the other was incubated, Lorenz marked all goslings to categorise them, for the incubated batch Lorenz made sure he was the first moving object the goslings saw and recorded their behaviour
what did Lorenz find about the natural goslings in his study
natural goslings = immediately after birth followed mother
what did Lorenz find about the incubated goslings in his study
incubated goslings = followed Lorenz, showed no bond to their mother
what did Lorenz suggest about the bonds formed
bonds were irreversible
How long did Lorenz suggest the critical period was
imprinting happened within a few hours of birth (4-25) which he considered the critical period
what did Lorenz find later on when it comes to mating
goslings that imprinted on humans also tried to mate with humans (sexual imprinting)
what did Lorenz conclude from his study
imprinting has a critical period and is needed to form an attachment
ao3: how does Lorenz’s study have research support
Segolin + Valloritaga (1995) : exposed chicks to simple moving shapes, found when they were shown variety, they followed the similar shapes which shows birds have an innate mechanism to imprint during the critical period
ao3: how does Lorenz lack generalisability
mammals do not imprint, their attachment behaviour is very different e.g. its a 2 way process
what did Harlow aim to study
mechanisms by which new born monkeys bond to mother through food or comfort
how did Harlow study attachment in monkeys
he tested the idea that soft objects serves some functions of a mother
how many baby monkeys did Harlow use and what type of mothers did they have
he used 16 baby monkeys separated at birth and reared them through 2 ‘wire model mothers’ (one plain and one cloth covered)
how long did Harlow study the monkeys for
165 days
what did Harlow find about the wire mother vs the cloth mother
less favoured, monkeys spent significantly more time with the cloth mother regardless of wether milk was provided
what mother did Harlow find the monkeys refuged to if a frightening object was placed
the cloth mother ‘contact comfort’
what did Harlow find in his follow up study
the monkeys with the wire mother were the most dysfunctional
which did Harlow find was more important : contact comfort or food
contact comfort
what did Harlow conclude about monkeys attachment
monkeys have an innate, unlearned need for comfort and prefer emotional security over food
ao3: how did Harlows study have real world value
it has helped social workers and psychologists understand lack of bonding experience may have on children in later life, more likely to intervene to prevent a poor outcome of childs life
ao3: how might Harlows study be generalisable to humans
monkeys are the most similar animals to humans and all mammals are thought to share attachment behaviours
ao3: what contradicts Harlows study being generalisable to humans
humans brains are much more complex than monkeys brains
ao3: how does Harlows study have ethical issues
his research caused severe and long term distress to the monkeys, several even died
