Animal Studies

• Lorenz(1935)- divided a group of Greylag geese eggs in to 2 conditions,one group hatched naturally with their mother the other hatched in an incubator with Lorenz.He found that the group which hatched naturally imprinted on the mother and the incubator group imprinted on him.He marked the geese so he knew which condition they were from and put them all under a box,when the box was removed the naturally hatched went straight to the mother the incubator hatched wen to Lorenz.
• Issues with using animals to study attachment in humans- ethical issues animals cant consent and it may harm them physically and emotionally,what applies to non-human species may not apply to human species,difference in nature and complexity of bond,human mother show more emotional attachment,DNA/brain size differences reduce generalisability.
• Harlow(1959)8 baby rhesus monkeys were used 4 in each condition

  Condition 1 wire mother with food and a cloth mother with no food

  Condition 2 wire mother with no food and a cloth mother with food

  The baby monkeys were then scared by the robot that made loud noises to measure the fear response.

  They also measured how long monkeys spent with each mother per day in hours.
• When looking at Harlow's study the question is asked whether it should have been conducted on monkeys.The monkeys couldn't consent to this and it created lasting emotional harm and they had difficulty forming relationships with peers.However,the study gave us lots of information on how to better care for infants.This suggests it can be viewed in either way as it doesn't challenge the results of the study. Therefore this study can be argued as a weak study of attachment as it was not ethical but also strong as it helped us to better infant care.
• A weakness of Lorenz's study is there are disputes over the characteristics of imprinting.For many years it was accepted that the effects of imprinting are irreversible. However Guitton,who found that leghorn chicks imprinted on a yellow rubber glove if it was present during feeding,found he could reverse the effects of this once the chicks spent time with their own kind.This suggests imprinting may not be different to any other kind of learning as learning can be reversed easily. Therefore this study can be seen as a weak study of attachment.
• Another weakness of Harlow's study is that there was a confounding variable.The two mothers varied in more than just if they were cloth covered or not,the 2 heads were different.The cloth mother had a more attractive head and it is possible the monkeys preferred this mother for this reason.This suggests the study didn't measure a preference for comfort or food but what the mothers looked like.Therefore the study lacks internal validity.
• A strength of Lorenz's study is that it has research support. Guitton in 1966 exposed leghorn chicks to yellow rubber gloves whilst feeding them for the first few weeks and they imprinted on them.This supports the view that young animals are not born with the predisposition to imprint on a specific objects but anything moving during the critical period.These findings support Lorenz's theory therefore it can be seen as valid.
• An issue with animal studies is that it is hard to extrapolate the data to humans. Human behaviour is governed by conscious decisions. Nevertheless,many animal studies have mirrored the studies in humans.For example Harlow is supported by Schaffer and Emerson's research.This suggests that animals can be a useful pointer but human research is needed for confirmation.Therefore this makes it difficult when using animals to study attachment as human research is needed for confirmation.
• Findings from Harlow's monkeys

  The baby monkeys spent around 18 hours a day with the cloth mother regardless of whether or not she had food.

  The monkeys also clung to the cloth mother when frightened

  The monkeys spent less than an hour a day with the wire mother and only went to it if they were hungry.