Animal studies of attachment: Lorenz & Harlow 🐒🪿

• What do some psychologists spend their entire careers studying?

  Animal behavior
• Why can studying animal behavior be useful for understanding human behavior?


  Because studies on animals can be conducted that wouldn't be possible on humans
• What are some ethical concerns regarding animal research?

  It can be problematic ethically and due to the different mental experiences of animals and humans
• Who are the two influential researchers mentioned regarding attachment?

  Konrad Lorenz and Harry Harlow
• What did Konrad Lorenz investigate in his research on animal behavior?

  • Investigated imprinting in graylag geese
  • Tested what made animals imprint
  • Found critical period for imprinting (32 hours)
• What is imprinting as observed in Lorenz's study?

  It is when young animals follow the first moving object they see
• What did Lorenz find about goslings that were hatched by their mother versus those he hatched?

  The goslings followed their biological mother, while those he hatched imprinted on him
• What did Lorenz's experiment reveal about the limits of imprinting?

  There is a critical period of about 32 hours for imprinting to occur
• What was Harry Harlow's experiment focused on regarding attachment?

  • Tested the "cupboard love" theory of attachment
  • Used infant monkeys and two surrogate mothers (one wire, one cloth)
  • Found monkeys preferred the cloth mother for comfort over the wire mother for food
• What did Harlow's experiment reveal about infant monkeys' attachment preferences?

  They spent more time with the cloth mother for comfort
• What did Harlow do to test the attachment of infant monkeys in his experiment?

  He frightened them with a mechanical monkey to see which surrogate mother they would run to