animal studies of attachment

• critical period for different animals

  geese = 12-17 hours

  rhesus monkeys = 90 days

  humans = 2-2.5 years
• Lorenz’s research - animal studies of attachment

  * randomly divided a large clutch of goose eggs so half hatched in their natural environment with their biological mother, and the other half with Lorenz in an incubator

  * incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere even when the clutch was mixed; same happened with the other group

  * imprinting has occurred
• what is imprinting

  bird species that are mobile from birth attach to and follow the first moving object they see
• when did Lorenz first experience imprinting

  as a child, his neighbour gave him a newly hatched bird that then followed him around everywhere
• Lorenz sexual imprinting

  * relationship between imprinting and adult male preferences

  * birds that imprinted on humans later displayed courtship behaviour toward humans

  * case study :

  • peacock hatched in a zoo imprinted on a giant tortoise
  • as an adult, this peacock would only direct courtship behaviour toward giant tortoises so has undergone sexual imprinting
• Harlow’s research

  * investigated the importance of contact comfort

  * 16 baby rhesus monkeys were given a wire model mothers which dispensed milk and a cloth covered mother

  * baby cuddled with cloth covered mother in preference to the wire mother, especially when frightened with a wire monster

  * contact comfort proved to be more important that food when is came to attachment behaviour

  * spent 1 hour with wire mother in a day

  * spent 18h with cloth mother in a day
• what happened to the rhesus monkeys in Harlow’s research

  * underwent maternal deprivation which had a permanent affect :

  • monkeys reared with wire model mothers were the most dysfunctional
  • neither monkeys with cloth or wire could develop normal social behaviour
  • monkeys were more aggressive and less sociable, bred less, neglected their young and attacked other children (one even killed their own) - no internal working model
• critical period in rhesus monkeys - Harlow’s research

  * 90 days - after this time period it became very difficult for an attachment to form as the damage had already been done

  * irreversible negative consequences if no attachment formed after the critical period
• four ao3 points - animal studies of attachment

  * generalisation to humans

  * real life application

  * ethical issues

  * nature v nurture debate
• ao3 real life application - animal studies of attachment

  understanding critical period + how attachments form in all animals, apply knowledge to real life scenarios. eg: ‘kangaroo mothercare’ increases skin to skin contact between mothers and their babies (contact comfort), so higher levels of oxytocin are produced and a stronger attachment is formed. + social workers taught to provide support to infants, creating a positive internal working model = good template for future relationships. increases validity of animal studies + allows some aspects to be generalised to human care.
• ao3 generalisability to humans - animal studies of attachment

  rhesus monkeys research can be applied to human attachment due to the fact they have a similar brain structure to humans have evolved in a similar way. over 90% of dna between the two species is shared and we have a similar social environment/heirarchy. however, different amounts of contact comfort may be needed + it‘s difficult to generalise Lorenz’s study as humans dont imprint, and humans also have a different critical period to both birds and monkeys.
• ao3 ethical problems - animal studies of attachment

  in Harlow’s research, none of the monkeys had any protection from harm which arises many ethical issues. almost all the monkeys showed signs of extreme distress including rocking + screaming. However, scientists said positives outweigh the negatives and results in a cost beneficial analysis. less unethical to deprive a monkey than a human baby due to the fact they have a shorter lifespan. means it is easier for a longitudinal study to occur as the monkeys grow up faster and we can see the long term effects of maternal deprivation.
• ao3 nature v nurture debate - animal studies of attachment

  both nature and nurture are needed for attachments to occur. nature plays a part when is comes to critical periods, because it affects the ability of an animal to form a first attachment. additionally, imprinting and oxytocin levels are also needed for survival due to attachment. however, nurture plays a part when who a bird attaches to is the first moving object they see. this is due to experience, and is different for every bird. additionally, the care given from the mother in animals can cause an (a)typical development