animal studies in attachment

• why animal studies were used?

  • in early 20th century number of ethologists conducted animal studies of relationships between infant animals & mothers
  • has been suggested that what is true for an animal is also true for human
  • has previously been considered more ethical way of researching attachment than using humans
• name the 2 researchers for animal studies?

  1. harlow - rhesus monkeys
  2. lorenz - goslings
• what is imprinting?

  • when bird species that are mobile from birth follow first moving object they see
• aim of lorenz study 1935?

  • investigate imprinting in baby geese
• method of lorenz study 1935?

  • took clutch of geese eggs & divided into 2 groups
  • g1 - left with natural mother (control)
  • g2 - placed in incubator (experimental)
  • made sure that when eggs hatched he was first moving object they saw
  • then marked goslings - which group of eggs they had hatched from & let them out together
• results of lorenz study 1935?

  • control followed mother goose everywhere
  • 2nd group only followed lorenz
  • each gosling went straight to its mother figure
  • 2nd group showed no recognition of their real mother
• conclusion of lorenz study 1935?

  • goslings are programmed to imprint onto 1st moving object they see
  • highlights rapid formation of attachment in animals
• long lasting effects of lorenz's study?

  • there was a relationship between imprinting & adult mate preferences
  • birds that imprinted would try mate with same species they imprinted on
• example of sexual imprinting?

  • peacock which was hatched in reptile house imprinted on giant tortoise
  • as an adult tried to copulate with giant tortoises
• can we generalise results of lorenz's study to humans?

  • nature of attachments in human & geese very different
  • geese imprint on 1st moving object they see
  • is a survival mechanism to deter potential predators
  • human infants form attachments for whole series of more complex reasons
  • generalising results is difficult
• aim of harlow's study 1959?

  • investigate nature of attachment in baby monkeys
• method of harlow's study 1959?

  • 16 rhesus monkeys separated from mothers immediately after birth
  • placed in a cage with 2 surrogate mothers
  • 8 monkeys with wire mum
  • 8 with soft cloth mum
  • 1 made from wire & other wrapped in soft cloth
  • food (milk) attached to wire mother & to soft cloth
  • were studied for various lengths of time
• results of harlow's study 1959?

  • all monkeys spent most of time cuddled to soft cloth mother even if no milk there
  • infants of 2nd group would only go to wire mother when hungry
  • once fed would return to cloth mother
  • if scary object placed in cage infant took refuge with soft cloth mother
• conclusion of harlows study 1959?

  • monkeys develop attachment based on contact-comfort not based on food (cupboard love)
• long lasting effects of harlows study?

  • monkeys who were deprived during c.p of real mother had many effects
  • monkeys reared with wire mother were most dysfunctional
  • monkeys reared with cloth mother did not develop normally
  • were more aggressive & couldnt socialise with other monkeys
• X of animal studies?

  1. contradict evidence of lorenz's research from guiton et al 1966
  2. problems generalising animal behaviours to humans
  3. ethical issues
  4. confounding variables influenced harlow's research
• * practical applications for animal studies?

  • harlow showed not forming att can lead to severe dysfunction in later life
  • has helped us in real world to benefit children
  • social workers used h research to understand risk factors in child neglect & abuse so can intervene & prevent it
  • e.g neglected child can be placed in care system/adopted - ensures they receive appropriate care to enable them to form att bonds with mother figure.
  • findings of research have been utilised to support human infants in real world
• X evidence to contradict lorenz's research?

  • guiton et al 1966 found young chicks imprinted on yellow washing up gloves & would try mate with them as adults
  • with experience they learnt to prefer mating with other chickens.
  • proposes impact of imprinting on mating behaviour & later relationships not permanent as originally believed
  • must be other important factors when forming att at birth
• X problems generalising to humans?

  • lorenz interested in imprinting in geese
  • attachment style of mammals quite different from that in birds
  • e.g mammalian mums show more emotional att to infants that do birds
  • harlow studied monkeys which are more similar to humans
  • are still huge differences such as cognitive abilities/use of language/social systems
  • concepts such as imprinting & contact-comfort may not be applicable to all species
  • difficult to generalise findings of research to att in humans
• X ethical issues?

  • pro - benefit to study animal att instead of humans would be far too unethical to carry out research on human infants
  • since would involve maternal deprivation to see att behaviour
  • breaks guideline of protection from harm
  • con - if its too unethical to study human att then should be same for animals
  • h research very unethical as monkeys deprived from mothers
  • may have experienced distress & potential psychological harm
  • ? integrity
  • can be argued that animals have right to not be studied/harmed in pursuit of academic conclusions for human benefits
• X cvs influenced harlows research?

  • 2 stimulus objects varied in more ways than being cloth covered/not
  • heads of 2 mothers varied alot
  • cloth mothers face resembled an actual monkey
  • may have acted as cv as monkeys may have bonded with cloth mum & sought refuge not because provided comfort but instead was more familiar
  • ? internal
  • cvs impacted results
  • difficult to establish cause & effect relationship between importance of contact-comfort & formation of att bond