Animal studies

• Imprinting in animals:

  • Lorenz (1935) - Investigated imprinting in geese. He took a large clutch of goose eggs and let half of them hatch with the mother and the other half hatch with him. The half that saw Lorenz first followed him immediately as they would usually the mother (imprinting).

  Imprinting must occur within the critical period of attachment (first 30 months of life) after which an attachment is not possible. Failure to form an attachment has irreversible consequences.
• Sexual imprinting has the same concept where animals will display sexual attachment to the first moving object they see. Lorenz reported a case of a peacock who was born surrounded by turtles and so only desired to mate with them later in life.
• Limitations of Lorenz's study:

  • Low ecological validity - Findings cannot be generalised because mammalian attachment systems are different to that of birds because they can form attachments at any time in their lives and at greater emotional intensities. Therefore, such findings have low ecological validity because they can't be generalised beyond the research setting that they were found.
• Limitation of Lorenz's study:

  • Limited explanation - Sexual imprinting is not as permanent as theorised by Lorenz. Guiton et al demonstrated that chickens who imprinted on washing up gloves eventually learned to mate with chickens instead, despite the initial imprinting. This means that learning and experience are more important factors in attachment information than imprinting.
• 'Cupboard love' theory:

  • Harlow (1958) - Demonstrated the importance of contact comfort with Rhesus moneys and 2 'Iron maidens'. The researchers found that when the monkeys were found, regardless of which wire monkey was giving food, the baby would always seek comfort in the cloth-bound mother. This led to the conclusion that contact comfort was more important than food in the development of attachment.
• Strengths of Harlow's study:

  • Significant practical value - His research demonstrated the importance of attachment figures in intellectual stimulation, alongside contact comfort, meaning that zoos should ensure that animals have the opportunity to form such attachments to have a healthy development.
• Limitations of Harlow's study:

  • Ethical breaches - Long-term psychological harm inflicted upon the monkeys, in the form of later difficulties in mating and forming secure attachments, which Harlow most likely envisioned. In such cases, a cost-benefit analysis should be conducted.
• Strengths of Lorenz's study:

  • Practical application - Findings on the critical period in geese influenced Bowlby's argument that there is a similar critical period for humans (6-30 months).