anminal studies

• what is imprinting

  a rapid leaning process that takes place early in the life of a social animal and established a behaviour pattern
• what is an example of a social animal

  a goose
• what is an example of a behaviour pattern

  recognition of and attraction to its own kind or substitute
• what did Lorenz do

  • divided 12 goose eggs
  • half hatched with the mother goose and half hatched in an incubator where the first thing they saw was lorenz
  • he mixed all the goslings together to see whom they would follow
  • the incubator group followed lorenz
  • the control group followed the mother
• what did lorenz conclude from his study

  there is a critical period in which imprinting need to take part eg a few hours after hatching
• what happens if imprinting does not take place in the critical period

  chicks did not attach to the mother
• what did lorenz found out about sexual imprinting

  it occurs where the birds acquire a template for the desirable characteristics of a mate
• what is a strength of Lorenz's study (PEEL) (imprinting)

  P - a strength is support for the concept of imprinting

  E -another researchers found that chicks imprinted on a yellow washing up glove and would try and mate with them as an adult

  E - young animals are born with an innate mechanism to imprint on a moving object

  L - this suggests that there is an innate mechanism causing a young animal to imprint on a moving object
• what is a limitation of Lorenz's study (PEEL) (generalizing findings)

  P - one limitation is generalizing findings and conclusions from birds to human

  E - the mammalian attachment system is quite different from that in birds

  E - for example mammalian mothers show more emotional attachment to their young

  L - this means that it is not appropriate to generalize Lorenz ideas to humans
• what did Harlow do

  • reared 16 rhesus monkeys with 2 wired mothers
  • in 1 condition, milk was dispensed by a plain wire mother and in the 2nd condition the mother was covered in cloth to provide comfort
  • the monkeys displayed a strong preference for the cloth mother over the wire mother spending up to 20 hours a day on the cloth mother only going to the wire mother for food
• what did harlow study suggest

  contact comfort was of more importance than food when it came to attachment behaviour
• how did the monkeys in harlows study act as adults

  the monkeys that had been deprived of their real mothers suffered severe consequences they were more aggressive, less sociable and less skilled in mating than other monkeys
• what is a strength of harlows study (PEEL) (practical application)

  P - a strength is that harlow's research has important practical application

  E - is has helped social worker understand risk factors in child abuse and so intervene to prevent it

  E - we also now understand the importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos and breeding programs in the wild

  L - the usefulness of harlow's research increases its value
• what is a limitation of harlows study (PEEL) (ethics)

  P - harlow faced severe criticism for the ethics of his research

  E - rhesus monkeys are used due to them being very similar to humans and share an ancestor therefore the monkeys are likely to suffer similarly and suffer distress and anxiety

  E - this is highly unethical and breaks the ethical issue protection from harm, during psychological studies the ps should come to no physical or psychological harm and the monkeys do as they are purposely scared to see their reaction

  L - this suggest harlows reaseach was extremely unethical and should not have been conducted
• what is a limitation of harlows study (PEEL) (humans)

  P - one limitation is generalizing finding and conclusions from animal studies to humans

  E - although monkeys are more similar to humans than lornez geese they aren't humans

  E - humans develop speech like communication which may aid the form of attachment

  L - this suggests it is not appropriate to generalize lorenz and harlows ideas to human attachments