Animal Studies

• Who investigated imprinting in geese and when?

  Lorenz (1935)
• What was the procedure for Lorenz' research?

  • Split a large clutch of goose eggs into two conditions:

  1. hatched naturally by mother (control)
  2. hatched in an incubator, with Lorenz being the first large moving object they encountered (experimental)

  • Behaviour was recorded
  • Then Lorenz marked all the goslings to determine which batch they were from and placed them under an upturned box so they couldn't see, then removed the box and observed who they'd respond to first (mother or Lorenz)
• What were the findings from Lorenz' research?

  immediately after hatching:

  • goslings hatched by mother followed the mother
  • goslings hatched in incubator followed Lorenz

  when released from upturned box:

  • goslings hatched naturally followed the mother
  • goslings hatched in incubator followed Lorenz

  --> bonds were irreversible
• What were the conclusions from Lorenz' research?

  attachments are formed as a result of imprinting onto the first moving object they see --> rapid formation of attachment in animals
• Who investigated attachment in monkeys and when?

  Harlow (1959)
• What was the sample for Harlow's research?

  16 baby rhesus monkeys separated from mothers 6-12 hours after birth, divided into 4 cages (diff conditions)
• What was the procedure for Harlow's research?

  • mother substitutes were either harsh 'wire mother' or soft 'towelling mother'
  • conditions included:

  1. wire mother producing milk, towelling mother not producing milk
  2. wire mother not producing milk, towelling mother producing milk

  --> measured amount of time spent with each mother & time spent feeding

  • fear inducing stimulus was also introduced to test for mother preferences when stressed
• What were the findings from Harlow's research?

  • monkeys preferred towelling mother, regardless of whether she provided milk or not
  • when frightened, monkeys clung to towelling mother when it was an option
  • monkeys in the 'wire mother producing milk' condition (with no option for towelling mother) had diarrhoea --> sign of stress
• What were the conclusions from Harlow's research?

  Attachments are developed based on contact comfort and not based on food
• What is the evaluation for Lorenz' research?

  :( issues of generalising to humans --> attachment system is different in birds than humans

  :( research evidence to criticise Lorenz' idea of long lasting consequences (Guiton, 1966) - chickens who imprinted on yellow washing up gloves and tried to mate with them as adults learned to prefer mating with other chickens eventually through experience.
• What is the evaluation for Harlow's research?

  :) Applications - helps social workers to understand risk factors in child neglect/abuse so they can intervene

  :( Ethics - monkeys suffered greatly --> monkeys considered similar enough to humans so they suffered human-like?