Attachment: Animal studies

Question 1

Lorenz (1952) - The Geese Study

Answer 1

Divided a clutch of goose eggs so half hatched naturally and half hatched in an incubator and Lorenz was the first moving object they saw - he compared the behaviour of both
He found that the incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere and the control group followed the goose everywhere. When the 2 groups were mixed the control group continued to follow the mother and the experimental group followed Lorenz
Suggests that there is a critical period in which imprinting takes place - this period depends on species but may be as short as 2 hours
Babies also have a critical period in which attachments must take place

Question 2

Lorenz (1952) - Sexual imprinting

Answer 2

Lorenz observed that birds imprinted on a human would later display courtship behaviour towards humans
Lorenz described a peacock that’s first sight had been of a giant tortoise, and as an adult it would direct courtship behaviour towards giant tortoises
This suggests attachments have an affect on behaviour later in life as they teach infants appropriate behaviour

Question 3

Harlow (1958) - Rhesus monkey study

Answer 3

Harlow researched 8 rhesus monkeys caged from infancy, with wire food dispensing mothers and cloth covered surrogate mothers to investigate which of the two would have more attachment behaviours directed towards it - he measured the amount of time spent with each surrogate mother
He found that separated infant monkeys would show attachment behaviours towards the cloth mother when frightened and were willing to explore a room of toys when the cloth monkey was present but not when the food monkey was present
This suggests that contact comfort is of more importance than food when it comes to attachment
Human babies also seek comfort more than food or biological needs

Question 4

Harlow (1958) - maternally deprived monkeys as adults

Answer 4

Harlow followed the monkeys who had been deprived as a real mother and found that they were more aggressive, less sociable, unskilled at mating and some neglected their young, even killing them
This suggests that if babies are deprived of healthy attachments, this impacts their ability to behave naturally when they are older

Question 5

Strengths of animal studies into attachment

Answer 5

Harlow’s research shows the importance of comfort in parent-infant relations and shows that attachment does not develop as a result of being fed but as a result of being comforted, which has practical application as parents can adapt their techniques to this

Question 6

Weaknesses of animal studies into attachment

Answer 6

The animals used were not humans and so may not apply to humans
There are ethical issues as the monkeys suffered greatly
Lorenz/ research is contradicted by other research done at the time (Guiton) and so it lacks concurrent validity