Attachment: Lesson 10 - Lorenz (1935)

Question 1

What did Lorenz want to investigate?

Answer 1

Imprinting

Question 2

What was the procedure of Lorenz (1935)

Answer 2

• Lorenz (1935) took a clutch of Gosling (Goose) eggs and divided them into two groups
• One group was left to hatch with their natural mother present, while the other eggs were placed in an incubator
• When the eggs in the incubator hatched the first moving thing they saw was Lorenz
• Lorenz marked the two groups to distinguish between them and placed them all together again

Question 3

What were Lorenz (1935) findings?

Answer 3

• The Goslings quickly divided themselves up, one group following their natural mother and the other (the ones from the incubator) following Lorenz
• The Goslings that had been in the incubator showed no recognition of their natural mother
• Lorenz found that that this process of imprinting is restricted to a very definite period of a young animal’s life, called a critical period
• If a young animal is not exposed to a moving object during this early critical period then the animal will not imprint
• Animals imprint on consistently moving objects during their first two days. Imprinting is similar to attachment in that it binds an animal to a caregiver in a special relationship
• Lorenz (1935) had to teach the goslings how to swim and they would always return to him when he called

Question 4

Long term effects of Lorenz’s study

Answer 4

• Lorenz (1935) noted several features of imprinting, for example the process is irreversible and long lasting
• One of the Geese that imprinted on him, called Martina, used to sleep on his bed every night

Question 5

Evaluation of Lorenz (Gutton’s chickens imprinting onto rubber gloves) (+)

Answer 5

+ Other studies support the idea that animals are born with an instinct to attach to the first moving object they see
+ Gutton (1966) demonstrated that chickens exposed to yellow rubber gloves during feeding in their first few weeks of life imprinted on the gloves

Question 6

Evaluation of Lorenz (unethical) (-)

Answer 6

• This study could be considered unethical
• Goslings were separated from their mothers and so did not learn the behaviours they would usually learn, such as normal mating behaviour

Question 7

Evaluation of zlorenz (imprinting is more reversible than he thought - Gutton’s chickens) (-)

Answer 7

• Imprinting is more reversible than Lorenz thought
• Gutton (1966) found that he could reverse the imprinting in chickens that had initially tried to mate with the yellow rubber gloves
• After spending time with their own species they were able to engage in normal sexual behaviour with other chickens