Attachment Animal studies

Question 1

Lorenz’s animal attachment study, imprinting

Answer 1

In the 1930s Lorenz wanted to investigate the mechanisms of imprinting, this is when a new born baby (human or animal) attaches to the first living thing they see at birth. This happens soon after birth and in the critical period and after this according to Lorenz they can not form another attachment

Lorenz split a clutch of goose eggs into two, one group was hatched by its mother and one an incubator and Lorenz made sure he was the first thing that group say. He marked the geese so he could tell which group they where from and then recorded all of their behaviour. The natural born geese followed their mother wound after birth, the incubator geese never followed Lorenz. He also laced them all under an bid and then removed the box, the natural born geese returned to their mother immediately while the incubator geese went to Lorenz. These bands proved to be irreversible.

Lorenz also observed that birds that imprinted into humans would display courtship behaviour and he found that these bonds where long lasting and irreversible.

Question 2

Lorenz’s research evaluation

Answer 2

+) other studies have shown that importing could halogen between them and other sore cues supporting Lorenz’s findings, such as Guiton showing that chickens exposed to rubber gloves at birth imprinted to them and the chicken tried to mate with the gloves later, thus means that it underwent sexual imprinting.

• ) the nature of imprinting is disputed with it used to be seen as an image if object being shadow stamped irreversibly on the nervous system. Now it is understood that imprinting can be reversed such as when Guiton’s chicken who stoped mating with the yellow gloves after spending time with other chickens.
• ) It is hard to generalise the experience of birds to humans as mammalian imprinting systems are very different, as mammalian carers show more attachment to their young and and have been debated to be able to form attachments at any time not just in a critical period.

Question 3

Harlow’s monkey research methods

Answer 3

Harlow used rhesus monkeys to see if attachments are formed mostly through food, new born monkeys where raised on their own in cages with only a baby blanket in. They became distressed whenever they became detached from it mirroring the reaction normal monkeys have when separated from their mother. This suggests its not association with food that drives attachment. He wished to test learning theory,

He compared 4 groups of baby monkeys
1)group has a wire mother producing milk and a towelled mother with no milk
2) wire mother with no milk and towelled mother with milk
3) a wire mother with milk
4) towelled mother with milk
They recorded feeding time and the amount of time spent with each mother. They frightened the monkeys with loud noises to test for mother preference when stressed, a larger cage was made to test their degree of exploration

Question 4

Harlow’s monkey research findings

Answer 4

The monkeys preferred contact with the towelling mother when given a choice regardless of milk production.
Monkeys with a wire mother where more stressed ( has diarrhoea, a sign of stress)
Monkeys all ways clung to a towelled mother during stress if available
The monkeys with the towelled mother explored more and visited their mother more often

This shows the monkeys have a need for contact comfort that is not leaned, attachment is more about emotional security then food security.
Contact comfort shown to give more emotional security

Harlow did a similar study in which monkeys where raised in isolation for up to 2 years and then released to other monkeys but could not properly interact socially becoming very violent.
However studies show that if exposed to social contact over time isolated monkeys could live aside normal monkeys shun suggesting that social interaction is essential for emotional and social development but the effects of isolation are reversible

Question 5

Harlow evaluation

Answer 5

+) the studies showed that contact comfort is a key reason why attachment may occur, and how the quality of early relationships effect later societal development such as getting a job or having children.

+) it has practical value, it has helped social workers understand the dangers of child neglect and abuse. Also important for the care of captive monkeys in zoos so the it could be seen that the benefits outweigh the costs

• ) the study is seen as unethical as it lead to lasting emotional harm for monkeys as they could nit build relationships well with normal monkeys, and many of the monkeys died afterwards.
• ) it is hard to generalise his findings to humans as our behaviour is more to do with conscious decisions however the findings that feeding does not necessary lead to attachment was shown in Schaffer and Emerson’s studies suggesting they could help us understand parts of human behaviour.