Lorenz + Harlow, animal studies of attachment

• define imprinting (Lorenz)


  - an innate readiness to develop a strong bond with the mother which takes place during a critical period

  - if an attachment isn't formed during this time, it probably will not happen at all
• Lorenz, prodecure

  - greylag geese eggs were randomly divided;half taken to be hatched by Lorenz in an incubator, half hatched naturally by the biological mother

  - by his theory, the goslings will imprint on Lorenz and their mother respectively (the first large moving object they observe)
• Lorenz, findings

  - incubator goslings imprinted onto Lorenz, following him around rather than the mother goose (+ viceversa)

  - when all the goslings were placed in a box and then released, the goslings who had imprinted on Lorenz found him and continued to follow him (+ viceversa)

  - Lorenz found a critical period of 32 hours;if a gosling did not imprint on a large moving object during this time,it lost its ability to imprint
• Lorenz, conclusions

  - suggests imprinting is a strong evolutionary feature of attachment, with imprinting being associated with the first large object visually seen
• Harlow, testing contact comfort (cupboard love theory), procedure


  - infant rhesus monkeys were removed from their biological mothers and placed in cages with surrogate mothers with 2 conditions

  - milk and wire (food but no comfort), no milk and towel (comfort but no food)

  - time spent with the mother was recorded, as well as which surrogate the infant ran to when frightened
• Harlow, findings

  - infant monkeys spent most of their time with the 'towel mother' (comfort),only visiting the 'food mother' when they needed to eat, but quickly returning to towel mother

  - returned to 'towel mother' when frightened, no access to towel mother showed sings of stress-related illness

  - found in follow-up studies that the maternal deprivation caused resulted in permanent social disorders in the monkeys as adults (difficulty in mating behaviour and raising their offspring)
• Harlow, conclusions


  - rhesus monkeys have a biological need for physical contact and will attach to whatever provides comfort, even in the presence of food - provides evidence AGAINST the cupboard love theory
• A03, extrapolation issues


  - the generalisation of animal behaviour to humans is problematic due to extrapolation issues

  - humans have way more complex cognitions and have various social and cultural experiences which inform their behaviour
• A03, practical applications


  - results from these studies have been developed by Bowlby and applied to early childcare

  - eg: after birth, immediate physical contact between the mother and their baby is now encouraged
• A03, Harlow

  - Harlow's findings on contact comfort have been used by Bowlby in developing the 'monotropic theory'

  - 'infants crave comfort from their mothers'; failure of this, Bowlby claims that human infants will grow into adults with poor socialisation
• A03, Lorenz

  - Lorenz's findings on the 'critical period' have been used by Bowlby to argue that there is a similar critical period for humans, 6 months

  - if an attachment does not form during this time, it will result in permanent social problems