Animal studies

• Precocial animals - Animals born late in their development and can act independently soon after birth.
• Altricial animals - Animals who continue development after brith.
• Lorenz (1935)

  Discovered goslings imprint on the first things they see. When he reintroduced the goslings he hatched to their biological al mother, they followed him while the goose’s remaining children followed her.
• Imprinting in humans

  • Human babies are born helpless so they cannot demonstrate imprinting like goslings.
  • However hospitals suggest kangaroo care for premature babies and encourage skin to skin contact (forming an early emotional bond)
  • There is no research to suggest incubator babies have problems with attachment later in life.
• Who theorised cupboard love?

  Dollard and Miller in 1950
• Harry Harlow

  • Separated rhesus monkey’s from their mothers soon after birth and reared them with two surrogate mothers.
  • One was made of terry towelling with a monkey like face, while the other was a metal frame with milk inside.
  • When a wind up toy was put in the cage to scare the monkey they clung to the cloth mother.
  • Baby monkey’s spend on average 17-18 hours on the cloth mother and only 1 hour on the feeding mother.
• Harlow’s theory contradicts cupboard love theory as the monkey’s appeared got more attached to the mother that provided comfort rather than food.
• Strengths of the research

  • More ethical than human studies
  • Lorenz shows importance of imprinting
  • Harlow goes against cupboard love theory
  • Harlow‘s experiment was a lab study
  • Lorenz’s study was high in ecological validity and low in demand characteristics (field study)
• Weaknesses of the research

  • Anthropomorphism - human babies are not like geese or monkeys (specifically geese which are precocial)
  • Ethics breached - no protection from harm, no consent, no right to withdraw
  • Generational problems with Harlow - the monkey’s could not form secure relationships with their children in later life
• Drive Reduction

  • Hunger is a primary driver for attachment (an innate biological motivator)
  • Attachment is a secondary driver (learnt by association)
  • The goal of motivated behaviour is a reduction of the drive state