Evaluation

• Issues with extrapolation:

  -The experiment is done on animals. There were significant physiological and biological differences, humans have a bigger brain and have a more complex brain structure.

  -Also animals don’t have the same range of emotions.

  -Work cannot be fully extrapolated to explain humans attachment.

  -However, humans share 93% of their genome with rhesus monkeys which is more than humans do with Geese.
• Ethical issues:

  -Unethical treatment to the monkeys as they were seperated from their mother at birth and frequently frightened with fear inducing stimuli.

  -This affected the way the monkeys parented as some killed their offspring and has impaired social skills.

  -Hoever, there is the argument of cost vs benefit. The benefit of Harlow’s work outweighs the unethical treatment of the monkeys.
• Criticisms of imprinting:

  -Lorenz suggests imprinting lasts forever and is irreversible.

  -Guiton proved this wrong as he got chicken to imprint on rubber gloves and tried to mate with them. When introduced to other chickens and many engaged in normal sexual behaviour.

  -This suggests that imprinting can be reversed and is not a permanent as Lorenz suggests.