AO1- animal studies

• Lorenz aimed to investigate the mechanisms of imprinting.
• Lorenz took a large clutch of goose eggs and kept them until they were about to hatch out.
• Half of the eggs were then placed under a goose mother, while Lorenz kept the other half in an incubator beside himself for several hours.
• When the geese hatched the young birds regarded Lorenz as their mother and followed him accordingly.
• The other group followed the mother goose.
• Lorenz found that geese follow the first moving object they see, during a 12-17 hour critical period after hatching.
• This process is known as imprinting, and suggests that attachment is innate and programmed genetically.
• • Harlow (1958)- Harlow aimed to study the mechanisms by which new born rhesus monkeys bond with their mothers. 16 monkeys were separated from their mothers immediately after birth and placed in cages with access to two surrogate mothers, one made of wire and one covered in soft terry towelling cloth.
• Harlow (1958)

  • Eight of the monkeys could get milk from the wire mother
  • Eight monkeys could get milk from the cloth mother
  • The animals were studied for various length of time.
• Harlow (1958)

  • He found that (for the surrogate mother monkeys):

  1. They were much more timid (though monkeys with access to a cloth mother were less timid than those without, who were very distressed).
  2. They didn’t know how to act with other monkeys.
  3. They were easily bullied and wouldn’t stand up for themselves.
  4. They had difficulty with mating.
  5. The females were inadequate mothers.
• Harlow found therefore that it was social deprivation rather than maternal deprivation that the young monkeys were suffering from.  When he brought some other infant monkeys up on their own, but with 20 minutes a day in a playroom with three other monkeys, he found they grew up to be quite normal emotionally and socially.