Lorenz's Geese Study AO3

Question 1

What are the strength of Lorenz’s study?

Answer 1

• can be applied to humans accoriding to Seebach, who found that computor users exhibit baby duck syndrome (where they’re attached to their first operating system so they reject others)
• it has research support from Regolin and Vallotagara

Question 2

Explain Regolin and Vallotagara’s study as support for Lorenz’s study.

Answer 2

• they showed chicks a series of shape combinations (triangle on top of a square for example)
• majority of the chicks followed the first one they saw (imprinted)

Question 3

What are the weaknesses of Lorenz’s study?

Answer 3

• birds are quite different from humans, for example mammal mothers are more attached to their offspring than birds, so findings may not be generaliable
• There is research that counters Lorenz’s, for example Guiton et al found that eventually the chickens that they made imprint on other gloves eventually learn to prefer mating with chickens which shows the effects of imprinting are not perimnant like Lorenz suggests