Animal studies

• Lorenz


  Studied geese
• Method

  -Goose eggs divided randomly.

  -Half hatched with mother present, half in incubator with Lorenz present.

  -Once hatched, 2 groups mixed up, Lorenz observed who they followed.

  -Varied time between birth and seeing moving object so could measure critical period.
• What is critical period?

  Time period for imprinting, must take place or wont at all

  Takes as little as a few hours.
• Details of dv

  Behaviour recorded.
• Results

  Geese followed first moving object they see, during a 12-17 hour critical period after hatching.
• Criticisms of imprinting

  Difficult to generalise findings of imprinting to humans as birds and mammals have different relationships with their young.

  Mammalian mothers tend to show more emotion than birds.
• Harlow

  Monkey study
• Method

  Controlled environment, infant mothers with 2 mother surrogates.

  Plain wire mother dispensing food.

  Cloth covered mother, no food.
• Details of dv

  Time spent with each mother.

  Long term effects recorded: sociability, relationships to offspring.
• Results

  Spent more time with cloth mother compared to wire mother

  Showed attachment behaviours towards cloth covered surrogate mothers when frightened.
• Stengths- similarity

  Humans and monkeys similar

  Green states that on a biological level at least, all mammals have the same brain structure as humans, only difference is the size and number of connections.
• Important practical applications

  Harlow's research found implications for childcare. Due to the importance of early experiences on long term development, vital for all children's needs are catered for, taking care of a child's physical needs alone is not sufficient.
• Weakness

  Results cannot be generalised to humans
• Confounding variable weakness

  The two surrogate mothers also differed in terms of heads. Because these were different, may as a confounding variable as it varied systematically with the IV.

  Therefore can confuse results and questions internal validity of the study.
• Ethics

  Created lasting emotional harm to the monkeys and later found difficulty in forming relationships.

  Some monkeys went on to neglect and in some cases, kill its own offspring.