ANIMAL STUDIES

    Cards (16)

    • Lorenz: Aim
      Investigate imprinting in baby geese
    • Lorenz: Method
      > Randomly divided 12 goose eggs
      > half hatched with their mother in the natural environment
      > the other half hatched in a incubator where the first moving object they saw was lorenz
      > their behaviour was recorded
    • Lorenz: result
      > Incubator group followed lorenz everywhere and became distressed when separated from him. The control group followed the mother
      > Critical period of 32 hours. If no attachment developed after 32 hours is it unlikely any attachment will develop
      > Bonds proved to be irreversible, even when put in an upturned box and mixed up the incubator goslings would follow lorenz and the control group would follow the mother
    • Lorenz: conclusion
      > Goslings are biologically programmed to imprint on the first moving object they see
      --> this has consequences for both short and long term survival
      > The birds would choose to mate with objects similar to their imprinted object
    • Imprinting definition
      > Form of attachment where offspring follow the first large moving object they see
    • Internal Working Model Definition
      A mental representation / schema of the relationship with the primary attachment figure which serves as a template for future relationships
    • Guiton et al (1966)
      > Found chickens could imprint on yellow washing up gloves and would try to mate with them as adults
      --> Also suggests young animals are born with an innate mechanism to imprint on a moving object present in the critical period
      > However Guiton also found that with experience that they learnt to mate with their own kind
    • Harlow's monkeys: aim
      To test the learning theory of attachment by comparing attachment behaviours in baby monkeys
    • Harlow's monkeys: Method
      > 16 monkeys separated from their mothers shortly after birth and placed in cages with two surrogate mothers
      --> CONDITION ONE = 8 monkeys could get milk from the wire mother
      -->CONDITION TWO = 8 monkeys could get milk from the cloth mother
      > Monkeys preferences to each mother measured
      > Harlow also measured the monkeys reactions to more frightening situations, such as strange situations and noise making teddy bears
    • Harlow's monkeys: conclusion
      Rhesus monkeys have an innate, unlearned need to form an attachment for contact comfort and this was more important then food
    • Critical period
      a specific time / phase within an attachment must form or else it never will
    • sensitive period
      An attachment has an ideal time interval to develop but it can still occur outside of this time but with more difficulty
    • Privation
      Failure to form an attachment with a significant person
    • Harlow's monkeys: results
      > Both groups spent more time with the cloth mother
      > Condition two group would only go to the wire mother when hungry, once fed they would return to the wire mother
      > Sought comfort from the cloth mother when frightened
      > When playing with new objects the monkeys often kept one foot on the cloth mother
    • What happened to the monkeys who were left with the surrogate mothers for more than 90 days?
      > As adults they suffered severe social and emotional consequences, they were aggressive, less sociable and less skilled at mating then the mother monkeys
      --> They also neglected and sometimes killed their offspring
      > For those left less than 90 days the effects could be reversed and placed in a normal environment where they could form attachments
    • Evaluation
      _ = unethical --> if monkeys are so similar to humans, should this research be carried out?
      _ = reductionist / generalizability --> humans more complex then geese
      + = Research support = guiton et al, Schaffer and Emerson
      +/_ = Lab experiment
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