animal studies (Lorenz and Harlow)

• Lorenz's research - imprinting - aim and method


  AIM - aimed to observe formation of attachment in Greylag Geese

  METHOD - Lorenz divided a number of goose eggs randomly into two groups - 1. half replaced under their mother so first thing they would see when they hatched was the mother goose (control group) - 2. other half placed in incubator and first thing they saw when hatched was Lorenz (experimental group)
• Lorenz's research - imprinting - findings and conclusion


  FINDINGS - when incubator eggs hatched, first moving thing they saw was Lorenz, soon started following him around - test effect of imprinting, Lorenz marked 2 groups to distinguish them and placed them together with himself and mother - found goslings divided, 1 following natural mother and other following Lorenz - Lorenz's geese no recognition of mother as Lorenz became imprinted parent

  CONCLUSION - animals imprint mental image of first moving object they see within hours of being born - process of attachment must be instinctive
• LORENZ EVALUATION - Guiton


  Leghorn chicks exposed to yellow rubber glove that fed them during first few weeks after hatching - found glove imprinted on chicks - young animals aren't born with a predisposition to imprint on specific object but any moving thing that is present during critical window of development
• Lorenz evaluation - difficult to generalise to humans


  humans and animals differ in important ways - e.g. much more human behaviour governed by conscious decisions unlike animals such as geese and monkeys - we can't assume that animals and humans form complex emotional bonds in the same way - more research needed to aid our understanding
• Harlow - rhesus monkeys - aim and method


  AIM - to test the learning theory of attachment (attachment are formed primarily through food)

  METHOD - 8 baby monkeys reared with 2 wire model mothers - 1. plain wire mother which gave milk - 2. cloth covered mother which didn't give milk - amount of time spent with each mother recorded - monkeys frightened to test for mother presence during stress
• Harlow - rhesus monkeys - findings and conclusion 


  FINDINGS - observations of monkey's responses made for 165 days - found all 8 monkeys spent most time with cloth covered mother and found to reach over to wire mother for food whilst still clinging to cloth mother - when playing with new objects monkeys often kept one foot on cloth covered mother for reassurance

  CONCLUSION -contact comfort more important than food when it came to attachment behaviour - monkeys had innate unlearned need for contact comfort, suggested attachment concerns emotional security more than food
• HARLOW EVALUATION - ethical issues


  study created lasting emotional harm as monkeys later found it difficult to form relationships with peers being referred to by Harlow as socially abnormal - lack of protection from harm, monkeys put under great deal of psychological stress which they wouldn't have experienced in normal everyday lives - goes against ethical code of conduct - However, species considered similar enough to humans to be able to generalise findings which means their suffering was presumably quite human like
• HARLOW EVALUATION - high control over variables 


  research conducted in controlled setting of laboratory which allowed extraneous variables to be controlled - e.g. time each monkey was allowed to spend with wire mothers could be controlled - high internal validity - however, criticised for using different head on each mother, may have given cloth mother more appealing appearance to infant monkey, confounding results and making them invalid
• HARLOW EVALUATION - practical applications


  research given insight into attachment that has had important applications in many practical contexts - e.g. we now understand importance of proper attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos and in breeding programmes in wild - real benefit to peoples lives in the real world