Lorenz study -imprinting Flashcards
what is imprinting?
a form of attachment in which offspring follow the first large moving object
what was the aim of Lorenz’s study?
to investigate the mechanisms of imprinting where youngsters follow and form an attachment with the first large moving object that they meet
what was the procedure of Lorenz’s study?
- Split a clutch of greylag goose eggs into two batches one of which hatched naturally and one of which hatched in an incubator with lorenz being the first moving object they saw
- following behavior was then recorded
- he then marked all of the goslings so he could determine which had been naturally had and which had been incubator hatched and placved them under an upturned box
- box removed and following behaviour recorded
what were the finding’s of Lorenz’s study?
- immediately after birth naturally hatched goslings followed their mother whereas incubator hatched followed Lorenz
- when released from upturned box naturally hatched went to their mother incubator hatched went to Lorenz
- Lorenz noted how imprinting only occured betweren a critical period of 4 to 25 hours after birth
what are the conclusions of Lorenz’s study?
imprinting is a form of attachment, exhibited mainly in nidifugous birds (those that leave the nest early) whereby close contact is kept with the first large moving object they see
what is the evaluation of Lorenz’s study?
-the fact that imprinting is irriversable suggests that ability is under biological control, as learned behaviours can be modified by experiene
what is another evaluation point of Lorenz’s study?
- extrapolation issues with animal studies - the attachment behaviour of geese is not necessarily those of humans
humans = altrical (born at an early stage of development)
animals = precocial (born at an advanced stage of development)
evaluation 3 of Lorenz’s study?
the fact that imprinting only occurs within a set time period influenced bowlby’s idea of critical period in human babies.
