attachment - key studies Flashcards
why do we study animals?
-early research into attachment was usually done on animals as there is biological similarity between animals and humans
↳ if something was observed in animal attachment behaviour, it stands to reason that it could also be applied to humans
-research studies using animal subjects are often seen as more ethical than when conducted with human participants
-researchers are often interested in seeing results over a life span → there are practical advantages of using animals since they breed faster than humans do
which animal studies were conducted?
-lorenz (1935)
-harlow (1959)
the aim of lorenz’s study:
to examine imprinting in animals
what is imprinting?
where the offspring follows and forms an attachment bond to the first large moving object they see after birth
the method of lorenz’s study:
-lorenz conducted an experiment where he randomly divided goose eggs into two batches
-one batch, the control group, was hatched naturally by the mother
-the second batch, the experimental group, were placed in an incubator (lorenz made sure he was the first large moving object that the goslings saw after hatching)
-whether the goslings followed lorenz or the mother goose was recorded
-lorenz then marked the goslings with the conditions they were in & put them in an upside down box
-the box was then removed and whether the goslings followed lorenz or the mother goose was recorded again
the results of lorenz’s study:
-lorenz found that straight after birth the naturally-hatched goslings followed their mother goose, whereas the incubator-hatched goslings followed Lorenz
-when the upside-down box was taken away, the naturally-hatched goslings moved immediately towards their mother, while the incubator-hatched goslings followed lorenz, showing no attachment to their biological mother
-the chicks who saw lorenz before anything else, followed him as if he was their mother
-when they were adult, they performed mating displays to him, and ignored other geese (sexual imprinting)
lorenz’s study: imprinting facts
-imprinting only occurred within a critical period, 0-32 hours after hatching
-this relationship persisted over time and proved to be irreversible
what has lorenz’s research told us about attachment in real life?
-there is a critical period when attachment should be formed, like the imprinting of geese (if the attachments aren’t formed within this time, they will be weaker / won’t form)
-attachment is biological & irreversible
-attachment in early life has an impact on adult relationships
criticisms of lorenz’s research:
-an issue with lorenz’s work is generalising the result to humans
-later research has cast doubt onto some of the conclusions
-it was questioned whether or not there actually was a critical period
-ethical issues
ao3 / criticism - an issue with lorenz’s work is generalising the result to humans
P - an issue with lorenz’s work is generalising the result to humans
E - lorenz only studied geese → we can’t generalise the results to humans since we can’t conclude that they would behave in exactly the same way
↳ the attachment formation in mammals appears to be very different to
that of bird species with parents, with the added ability of being able to form attachments beyond the first few hours after birth
L - whilst some of lorenz’s findings have greatly influenced our understanding of development and attachment formation, caution must be applied when drawing wider conclusions about the results
ao3 / criticism - later research has cast doubt onto some of the conclusions
P - later research has cast doubt onto some of the conclusions that lorenz drew from his research
E - guiton et al. (1966) found that chickens would imprint on yellow washing up gloves if that was the largest moving object they first saw after birth and that, in turn, they would then try to mate with that object in adulthood
↳ guiton et al. disagreed with lorenz’s predictions that this relationship persists and is irreversible since, with experience, the chickens could eventually learn to prefer mating with other chickens instead
L - suggests that the effects of imprinting may not be as permanent as initially thought
ao3 / criticism - critical periods were questioned
P - sluckin (1966) questioned whether there actually was a critical period
E - sluckin performed a replication of lorenz’s research, using ducklings, he successfully imprinted them onto himself, but kept one duckling in isolation well beyond lorenz’s
reported critical period (up to five days)
↳ he found it was still possible to imprint this youngster
L - this suggests that the critical period is either longer than lorenz thought or sensitive period
ao3 / criticism - ethical issues
P - ethical issues
E - once imprinting has occurred within a human, the geese believe they can only mate with lorenz (they performed mating rituals to lorenz rather than other geese)
↳ the experiment had prevented the geese from reproducing
L - there are therefore ethical issues which may affect the life of the geese
the aim of harlow’s study:
to examine the extent to which contact comfort and food influences attachment
behaviour in baby rhesus monkeys
the sample of harlow’s study:
sixteen baby rhesus monkeys
the four caged conditions of harlow’s study:
1) wire mother dispensing milk and ‘towelling mother’ with no milk
2)wire mother with no milk and ‘towelling mother’ dispensing milk
3) wire mother dispensing milk
4) towelling mother dispensing milk
(in condits 3&4, the monkeys hadn’t seen the mothers in each other condit)
the method of harlow’s study:
harlow constructed two surrogate mothers: one wire mother and a ‘towelling mother’
-baby rhesus monkeys were used across the four caged conditions
-the amount of time the baby rhesus monkeys spent with each mother was recorded & how long they spent feeding at each one
stress:
↳ to test for mother preference during periods of stress, the monkeys were startled with a loud noise and their responses recorded
exploration:
a larger cage was used in some conditions in order to observe the degree of exploration by the baby rhesus monkeys
variations & findings of harlow’s study:
wire mother giving food vs cloth mother giving food:
-monkeys spent more time with the cloth mother (even if she had no milk). the infant would only go to the wire mother when hungry
↳ once fed it would return to the cloth mother for most of the day
scaring the monkeys:
–monkeys ran to cloth mother regardless of whether dispensing food
removing each mother:
-monkey cried more when the cloth mother was removed
exploration version:
-monkeys were too scared to explore when wire mother present, but found confidence to explore when cloth mother was present
rhesus monkeys: critical period
-harlow concludes that the critical period for a mother figure to be introduced to the baby monkey to form an attachment is 90 days.
-if an attachment is not made with the mother figure during the critical period of 90 days then attachment is impossible and the damage of early maternal deprivation is irreversible
define critical period:
a set time in which imprinting must occur or it never would do so
define sensitive period:
a time period best for imprinting
to perform, beyond this time attachments could still be formed
adult behaviours of the baby rhesus monkeys:
-those reared with just the wire mother were the most dysfunctional
-but even those with cloth mother had abnormal social behaviour in adulthood
-aggressive & less sociable
-neglectful / aggressive parenting of young
-bred less often
-unskilled mating behaviour
conclusion of harlow’s study:
-harlow concluded that baby rhesus monkeys appear to have an innate drive to seek contact comfort from their parent
-this suggests that attachment is formed through an emotional need for security rather than food, which is in contrast to the learning theory explanation
-contact comfort provided by the mother
→ more willing to explore their surroundings, lower levels of stress
what important point was found from harlow’s study?
the importance of bonding between caregiver and baby
Spike is a zookeeper who specialises in the care of monkeys. He has just been asked by the police to take charge of a 15-day-old orphan monkey called Poppy who was rescued from a home where she was kept alone in a cage with a soft towel. When Spike first meets the baby monkey, Poppy clings to the towel and screams in fear when she sees she is in a new environment. The police ask Spike what would have been the effect on Poppy had she not been rescued and what sort of future she can look forward to at the zoo.
…
based on Harlow’s research how would Poppy’s social development have probably turned out if she had not been rescued?
poppy likely would have grown up to be aggressive, lack social urges, struggle to breed and be a poor parent, due to a lack of emotional connection
referring to Harlow’s research, suggest how Spike should proceed with Poppy. how good are her chances of healthy development?
because she is still in the sensitive stage, it is possible for poppy to form a good attachment. spike should provide her with emotional comfort, by putting her with another adult surrogate mother monkey, therefore he still has good attachment
strengths of harlow’s research:
-it has practical applications
ao3 / strength: harlow’s research has practical applications
P - harlow’s research has practical applications
E - there are applications which are used in the care of captive wild monkeys in zoos or breeding programs to ensure they have adequate attachment figures as part of their care
↳ harlow also showed the importance of the quality of early relationships for later social development
L - this shows that harlow’s work has both theoretical and practical value
criticisms of harlow’s research:
-generalising the results from monkeys to humans isn’t possible
-ethical issues
ao3 / criticisms - a limitation is generalising the results from monkeys to humans
P - a limitation is generalising the results from monkeys to humans
E - monkeys are more similar to humans than geese, but they are still not humans
↳ eg: human babies develop speech like communication which may help develop
the formation of attachment in humans
L - this affects the external validity of harlow’s work
ao3 / criticisms - ethical issues (+ however)
P - harlow was criticised heavily for the ethics of his research on baby rhesus monkeys
E - harlow’s procedures were very stressful for the monkey participants, especially as the stress was long-term
L - therefore the study was abusive towards animals
however: harlow’s research has practical
applications that have benefitted large numbers of humans and animals
↳ therefore, it could be argued that the studies were justified
what does learning theory propose?
that all behaviour is learned rather than innate
what does learning theory explain?
-how infants learn to become attached to their primary caregiver through the process of either classical conditioning or operant conditioning
what else is learning theory called?
cupboard love theory:
-the main principles of this explanation for attachment focuses on food
-it is thought that infants will form an attachment to whoever feeds them
-the strongest attachments will be with those who provide the most primary care (whoever looks after and feeds)
classical conditioning:
learning through associaion
classical conditioning & human attachment (steps)
1) before conditioning, food is an produces relief from hunger/pleasure
2) before conditioning, the caregiver produces no conditioned response at all from the child
3) during conditioning, the child associates the caregiver who feeds them with the food
4) through many repeated pairing, the caregiver becomes a conditioned stimulus who is associated with the pleasure from feeding
↳ this results in the caregiver eliciting a relief from hunger from the child
(an attachment forms)
classical conditioning & human attachment (simple steps)
food (UCS) → pleasure (UCR)
mother (NS) → no response
food (UCS) + mother (NS) → pleasure (UCR)
mother (CS) → pleasure (CR)
operant conditioning
learning through consequences
what is drive reduction theory?
(& how does it relate to infants)
1) an animal is uncomfortable
2) this creates a drive in them to reduce this discomfort
(a hungry infant has a drive to reduce the accompanying discomfort)
positive reinforcement & human attachment:
(steps)
1) when an infant feels hunger, it has a drive to reduce these unpleasant feelings and cries
2) crying leads to a response from the caregiver (e.g. feeding)
↳ this creates a feeling of pleasure as the hunger drive is reduced, this is rewarding for the baby
3) the behaviour that led to being fed is more likely to be repeated in the future because it was rewarding. (food becomes the primary reinforcer)
4) as long as the caregiver provides the correct response, crying is reinforced,
the baby will then cry for comfort, and the caregiver will respond with comforting behaviour
5) attachment occurs because the child seeks the person who can supply the reward
6) this reinforcement is reciprocal since the caregiver also experiences a reward in the form of negative reinforcement
negative reinforcement & human attachment:
(steps)
-the caregiver receives negative
reinforcement because the crying stops (escaping something unpleasant is reinforcing)
-feeding/comforting a baby avoids the crying so it is likely to be repeated
ao3 / issues & debate - learning theory
-the learning theory explanation suggests that attachments are the result of learning through classical / operant conditioning
↳ supporting a nurture based view of behaviour
-therefore, such theories are reductionist as they reduce complex behaviour (formation of attachments) to a simple stimulus-response association
criticisms of learning theory:
-learning theory is undermined by research by Harlow
-learning theory is refuted by research from lorenz
-methodological issues with the research evidence for learning theory
ao3 / criticism - learning theory is undermined by research by Harlow
P - learning theory is undermined by research by Harlow
E - he found that baby rhesus monkeys spent more time with a soft towelling monkey which provided no food, in comparison to a wire monkey that provided food
↳ this shows that baby monkeys do not form attachments based on presence of food alone and prefer contact comfort
L - these findings conflict with the cupboard love theory
ao3 / criticism - learning theory is refuted by research from Lorenz
P - learning theory is refuted by research from Lorenz
E - he found that upon hatching, baby geese followed the first moving object they saw
↳ this process (imprinting) appears to be innate (as they would have no time to learn this behaviour)
L - this shows that non-human animals demonstrate some inborn attachment behaviours to aid survival which goes against the idea that we ‘learn’ to attach to a caregiver because they feed us
ao3 / criticism - there are methodological issues with the research evidence for learning theory
P - there are methodological issues with the research evidence for learning
theory
E - much of the supporting research, for example, Pavlov’s research on dogs
and Skinner’s research with rats and pigeons is criticised for its over-reliance on animals
↳ psychologists argue that behaviourist
explanations provide an oversimplified account of attachment formation, which is in fact a complex emotional bond between a human infant and their caregiver
L - as a result, the learning theory explanation may lack validity since it is
difficult to generalise animal findings to humans with confidence that they would behave in the same way
