Lesson 4- Animal studies of attachment Flashcards
Why are animal studies important in terms of attachment?
They help explain attachment in humans
What is imprinting & when does it occur?
Imprinting- when new born 👶/animal attaches to 1st living thing 👀 after birth
- Happens during critical period (crucial as if ✖️ occur then attachment never formed)
Which psychologist studied birds for attachment?
Lorenz
What was Lorenz’s bird study method?
Method:
1) Lorenz split large clutch of goose eggs into 2 batches- 1 hatched 🐣 naturally by mother & other hatched 🐣 in incubator (Lorenz was 1st moving object goslings encountered)
2) Lorenz marked all goslings to determine naturally 🐣 or incubated ones & placed them under upturned box- box removed & following behaviour recorded
What were the findings of Lorenz’s bird study?
Findings:
1) Immediately after birth- naturally 🐣 goslings followed mother BUT incubated goslings followed Lorenz around- incubated goslings showed ✖️ bond with natural mother
2) Bonds irreversible after imprinting occurred within 4-25 hours after hatching (critical period)
What is sexual imprinting & what was it shown in Lorenz’s bird study?
Observed 🐦 imprinted on human-> courtship 🏃♂ on humans
What are the evaluation points of Lorenz’s bird study?
👎- imprinting is reversible- Lorenz stated initially that imprinting irreversible BUT in fact is reversible as shown by Guiton (1966)- found that chickens 🐓 🏃♂ of mating with yellow gloves 🧤 reversible after spending time with own species
👍- research support of imprinting- Guiton (1966) demonstrated that chicks exposed to yellow rubber 🧤 to feed them during 1st few weeks became imprinted 🧤-> attempted mating (sexual imprinting)
👎- difficult to generalise to humans- mammalian attachment system different from 🐦 e.g. mammalian mothers show ⬆️ emotional attachment to young than 🐦
👍- further research support by Lorenz- case study Lorenz (1952) described peacock 🦚 reared in reptile 🦎 house of zoo … 1st moving objects were tortoises 🐢-> courtship 🏃♂ towards 🐢 (sexual imprinting)
Which psychologist studied monkeys for attachment & when did he do so?
Harlow (1959)
What was the method used in Harlow’s monkey study?
Method:
1) New born 🐵 separated from 🤰 & raised in cages
2) 16 baby 🐵 used- 4 in each of 4 conditions:
- Cage containing wire mother producing 🥛 & towelling mother producing ✖️ 🥛
- Cage containing wire mother producing ✖️ 🥛 & towelling mother producing 🥛
- Cage containing wire mother producing 🥛
- Cage containing towelling mother producing 🥛
3) Time spent with each mother & feeding time recorded
4) 🐵 frightened with loud noise to test for mother preference during stress
5) Larger cage ALSO used to test 🐵 degree of exploration
What were the findings of Harlow’s monkey study?
Findings:
1) 🐵 preferred contact with towelling mother despite wire mother producing 🥛
2) Monkeys only with wire surrogate mother had diarrhoea (sign of distress)
3) When frightened by loud noise- 🐵 clung to towelling mother when available
4) In larger cage conditions- 🐵 with towelling mothers explored ⬆️ & visited surrogate (wire) mother ⬆️
5) … 🐵 have innate, unlearned need for contact comfort … suggests attachment concerns emotional security ⬆️ than food (🥛)
6) … contact comfort associated with ⬇️ levels of stress & willingness to explore- indicates emotional security
When was Harlow’s 2nd study conducted?
1965
What was the method used in Harlow’s 2nd study?
Method:
1) Raised newborn 🐵 in total isolation from other living beings for 3, 6, 12 or 24 months
2) Harlow devised apparatus called ‘rape rack’ (female 🐵 raised in isolation tied & forcibly mated)
What were the findings of Harlow’s 2nd study?
Findings:
1) 🐵 displayed signs of psychological 🧠 disturbance (hugging own bodies & rocking repetitively)
2) Fearful 😧 of other 🐵 – had ✖️ social interaction other than to attack them
3) Harmed themselves (biting arms, legs & pulling out own hair)
4) 🐵 when adult had ✖️ ability to engage in sexual courtship
5) Awful parents- abusing & neglecting their babies- 1 mother chewed off own baby’s 🦶& fingers whilst another crushed baby’s head to pulp
6) … suggests that social interactions essential for normal social & emotional development
- NOTE- effects of total isolation reversible- Harlow and Suomi (1972) raised 4 newborn male 🐵 in total isolation for 6 months & placed each one with normally raised 3-month old female ‘therapist’ 🐒 for 2 hours 3 times a week- gradually ⬆️ contact ⏰
After 12 months 🏃♂ almost normal & by 3 years of age totally recovered- able to live among normally raised 🐵
What are the evaluation points of Harlow’s study?
👎- Ethical issues- Harlow’s study couldn’t be done with humans & questioned whether should be done with 🐵- created lasting emotional harm as 🐵 later found it difficult to form relationships with peers & many 🐵 in his experiments died- ALSO- Sackett (2002) (student of Harlow’s)- believes Harlow’s research so unethical that American animal Liberation movement born out of it
👍- Theoretical Value – allowed psychologists to understand human- infant attachment & research showed that attachment ✖️ occur due to being fed by a mother figure BUT due to contact comfort- ALSO- showed importance of quality of early relationships for later social development (ability to hold adult relationships & successfully rear 👶- internal working model)
👎- ✖️ generalised to humans- human 🏃♂ governed by conscious decisions and we ✖️ attain how animals make decisions- animal studies useful pointer in understanding human 🏃♂ as Schaffer & Emerson’s study also showed that human 👶 ✖️ attach to who feeds them
👍- Practical value- important practical applications include helping social workers understand risk in 👶 neglect & abuse & … intervene to prevent it, care of captive 🐵 in zoos & breeding programmes necessary for need of proper attachment figures for baby 🐵 … argued that benefits outweigh costs to animals involved in study
