ANIMAL STUDIES

• animal studies

  • psychological studies carried out on non-human species for ethical or practical reasons
  • practical because animals breed faster and researchers are interested in seeing results over many generations
• imprinting

  specialised form of learning during a short sensitive period
• Lorenz's study (1935)

  • pps = clutch of unhatched ducklings
  • control = half the eggs were hatched with their mother goose in their natural environment
  • environmental = half the eggs were hatched in an incubator where they first saw Lorenz
• Lorenz (1935) results

  • control group = followed mother everywhere
  • environmental group = followed Lorenz everywhere
  • even when mixed up, both group followed their original 'mothers'
  • suggests that... bird species that are mobile from birth, IMPRINT and attach to the first moving object they see
  • if imprinting doesn't occur within that time then the chicks don't attach themselves to a mother
• Harlow's (1959) study

  • pps = baby monkeys
  • baby monkeys were removed from their mothers at birth and raised with a wire mother, and a cloth covered mother for 165 days
  • conditions = milk was dispensed from wired mother while no milk was dispensed from cloth covered mother
  • baby monkeys spent more time on the cloth covered monkey
• Harlow's (1959) results

  • baby monkey sought comfort from the cloth covered mother when frightened
  • when playing with new objects, monkeys kept one foot on the cloth covered mother for reassurance
  • this suggests ..... 'contact' comfort was of more importance to the monkeys than food when it comes to attachment behaviour
• Harlow's experiment left detrimental effects towards the monkeys

  1. more aggression
  2. less sociable
  3. bred less often as unskilled at mating
  4. neglected their own young
• strength of Lorenz study

  evidence supported by other studies

  • Guiton found that chickens imprinted on yellow washing up gloves and tried to mate with them as adults
  • this is important as it supports the idea that animals imprint and become attached to the first object they see
• limitation of Lorenz study

  validity of Lorenz' study has been questioned

  • with experience the chickens began mating with other chickens and began to prefer it
  • can be argued that the impact of imprinting on mating behaviour is not permanent
• limitation of Harlow study

  the ethics of his research are questioned

  • monkeys suffered greatly as he removed them from their mothers and permanently damaged them
  • this is a problem as they suffered long term effects
• strengths of Harlow study

  the experiment can be justified

  • we can generalise the findings to human behaviour
  • can be argued that the it was sufficiently justified and important as it taught a lot about human behaviour
• limitation of animal studies

  difficult to generalise the findings to human behaviour

  • mammalian mothers show a more emotional attachment to their young than birds - and mammals may be able to form attachments at any time
  • this is a problem because it isn't appropriate to generalise results to human behaviour
• limitation of animal studies

  • studies have found observations of animal behaviour are mirrored in human behaviour
  • for example: Schaffer and Emerson found that infants formed the strongest attachment to the person who responded the most sensitively to their needs
  • it can be argued that animal's studies act as a pointer for understanding human behaviour
  • conformation should always be sought with humans