attachment - animal studies

Question 1

descrbe the sample size of Lorenz’z research (1)

Answer 1

clutch of goose eggs

Question 2

describe the finsings of Lorenz’s research (2)

Answer 2

1. incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere and other group followed mother everhwere even when both groups mixed - this is known as imprinting
2. identified critical period for which imprinting must take place in

Question 3

what was Lorenz able to conclude from his research (2)

Answer 3

1. birds imprint to first moving object they see - innate trait
2. if imprinting doesnt occur within critical period then chicks wont attach themselves to mother figure

Question 4

how many monkeys were involved in Harlows research ? (1)

Answer 4

16

Question 5

describe the purpose of the cloth and wire mother in Harlow’s research (2)

Answer 5

• cloth mother - provide comfort
• wire mother - dispense milk

Question 6

describe the findings of Harlow’s research (4)

Answer 6

• spent more time w cloth mother
• only went to wire mother for food
• always went to cloth mother when scared w robot
• as adults monkeys displayed dysfunctional behavior: timit, inadequate mothers, difficulty mating, unpredictable w other monkeys

Question 7

what did Harlow use to scare the monkeys in his research ? (1)

Answer 7

robot

Question 8

what are the 4 evaluation points for animals studies of attachment (4)

Answer 8

❌ both unethical
- experienced maternal deprivation
- harlow monkeys displayed dysfunctional behavior as adults

❌ cant generalise to humans
- Lorenz - birds vvv diff to humans
- Harlow - even tho humans and monkeys are similar thei still arent the same

✅ Harlow - practical applications - social worker
- understand effects of mat dep + importance of comfort in forming attachments
- social workers can identify signs + intervene

✅/❌ Lorenz - research eveidence / contradicting
- chicks that imprinted on yellow wasdhing up gloved tried mating w them as adults
- shows animals arwe born w innate mechanism to imprint on first moving object they see

CA: this was only temporary as chickens quickly learnt to mate w other chickens