Attachment: Animals Studies

Question 1

When was Lorenz’s geese experiment??

Answer 1

1952!

Question 2

Describe the method of Lorenz’s geese experiment!

Answer 2

• To investigate imprinting
• Half goose eggs hatched with mother
• Half hatches with Lorenz
• Both groups followed whoever they saw first when hatched
• 2 groups mixed but geese still followed the same person

Question 3

What’s imprinting??

Answer 3

instinctual phenomenon which keep new-born animal close to its parent.
An animal forming an attachment to the first moving object it sees when born.

Question 4

What were the 2 findings of Lorenz’s geese experiment??

Answer 4

• Imprinting is an innate phenomenon that ensures goslings survive (attachments are biologically programmed into species)
• Sexual imprinting = peacock hatched in tortoise enclosure, attached to giant tortoise, later tried courtship with another tortoise

Question 5

Describe the method of Harlow’s monkey experiment!

Answer 5

• Investigated the importance of contact comfort
• Reared 16 baby monkeys with 2 wired mothers
• 1 mother made of plain wire (and dispensed milk)
• 1 mother covered with soft cloth

Question 6

What were 2 findings of Harlow’s monkey experiment??

Answer 6

• Maternal deprivation has severe consequences (monkeys were more aggressive, less sociable and less skilled at mating and mother monkeys killed or abandoned babies)
• Critical period for attachment formation is 90 days

Question 7

Discuss the generalisability of the animal studies! (AO3)

Answer 7

Low generalisability:
- Anthropomorphic bias (human characteristics applied to non-human entities)
- Difficult to apply findings to complex human behaviours and emotional attachments

Question 8

What are the real-life applications of Harlow’s monkey experiment?? (AO3)

Answer 8

Howe (1998) -> Helped social workers understand risk factors in child neglect and abuse (and intervene to prevent them).

Also important for care of captive monkeys (at zoos and breeding programmes)

Question 9

What is a weakness of Lorenz’s geese study??

Answer 9

Mammalian mothers show more emotional attachment than birds do. Mammals can form attachments any time whereas birds can’t.

Question 10

What year was Harlow’s monkey experiment??

Answer 10

1958

Question 11

What are the critical periods for:
- Humans
- Geese
- Monkeys

Answer 11

Humans: 2-3 years (Bowlby proposed 5 years though)
Geese: First few minutes of hatching
Monkeys: 90 days

Question 12

Harlowe’s monkeys: Which mother did they spend most time with?

Answer 12

The cloth mother. They would only go to the other mother for food and when in an unknow environment or around a frightening object, they stayed on the cloth mother.

Question 13

Are the 2 animal studies reductionist or holist??

Answer 13

Reductionist (they both reduce human characteristics to one animal/behaviour)

Question 14

Are the 2 animal studies nature or nurture??

Answer 14

Nature & nurture
Geese: Nature (imprinting is natural), nurture (attachment depends on what they saw first, they attach to whatever object is shown first to them)

Monkeys: Nature (clinging is natural, go for comfort regardless