animal studies

• what are the two main animal studies

  lorenz

  harlow
• who famously studied geese

  konrad lorenz
• what does lorenz's study contradict

  the learning theory
• why does lorenzs study contradict the learning theory

  it shows that there must be a innate aspect to developing attatchments
• procedure of lorenzs geese study

  -took a clutch of geese eggs

  - divided them into two groups: one left with natural mother and one placed in an incubator

  - when the incubator eggs hatched the first alive thing they saw was lorenz + they started following him round

  
  

  to test the effect of imprinting

  - L marked the groups to distinguish them and placed them together in a place where both the natural mum and lorenz was present
• findings of lorenz study

  -the goslings in L's brood showed no recognition of their natural mother

  - L noted that the process of imprinting was restricted to a certain time period which he called a critical period

  - he found that the geese imprinted on the first moving thing they saw because this was adaptive to their survival

  - he identified a critical period in which imprinting needs to take place, the critical period can vary depending on species

  
  

  if imprinting doesnt happen in the critical period lorenz found that chicks remain without an attatchment to a mother figure
• long lasting effects of lorenz's study (can be used as ethical evaluation)

  -the process was long lasting and irreversible

  - L described how one goose used to sleep in his bed everynight

  - they didnt recognise natural mother

  
  

  later in life he noticed that they also had a changed sexual preference called sexual imprinting

  - animals will choose to mate with the same kind of object that they imprinted
• who studied monkeys

  harlow
• procedure of harlows experiment

  -baby monkeys were raised with two wire models as mothers

  - one mother dispensed milk (the wire mother)

  - the cloth covered mother dispensed no milk

  - he measured the time spent with each mother
• findings of harlows experiment

  the monkeys preferred the cloth covered mother

  - she proved 'contact comfort' over the wire mother providing food for the monkeys physical needs

  
  

  they spent 17-18 hrs a day with the cloth mother

  and less than 1 hour with the wire mother a day
• conclusion of harlows experiment

  this suggests that emotional needs / the need for comfort are more important than physical needs
• what were the long term effects of harlows study

  - the monkeys with the cloth mothers did not develop normal social behaviour

  - the monkeys reared with the wire mother were the most dysfunctional, they were aggressive and less sociable and bred less often for typical monkeys

  - when they became mothers, the monkeys neglected their young and some attacked their own children - killing them in some cases
• negative evaluation of harlows study

  the two heads were different

  - the two stimulus (the mothers) varied in more ways than just providing diff needs

  - the cloth mother had a head more like a monkey

  - the wire mother had a head less like a monkey

  - this acts a confounding variable because it varied systematically and it may be that the monkeys preferred a mother who appeared more like a monkey and not due to the needs they provide

  
  

  ethics

  - the experiment would not be allowed under todays ethical guidelines

  - the monkeys were permanently affected by the study

  
  

  ecological validity

  - cant be generalised very well to humans as monkeys are not humans eg monkeys dont conform to certain social pressures

  - however monkeys are closer to humans than birds (lorenz) so it can be generalised perhaps more than that
• how does harlows study undermine the learning theory

  because the monkeys prefer comfort than food unlike the learning theory which suggests that food/physical needs are associated with the mother to create love
• what is systematic variation

  differences in performance created by a specific experimental manipulation