Animal Studies of Attachment

• Researchers: Animal Studies of Attachment


  • Lorenz (1935)
  • Harlow (1958)
• Imprinting

  When an animal will strongly attach to the first object (usually the mother) that they encounter and will then follow this object
• Aim: Lorenz (1932)

  Lorenz aimed to investigate the mechanisms of imprinting
• Procedure: Lorenz (1935)

  • Lorenz took a large clutch of goose eggs and kept them until they were about to hatch out.
  • Half of the eggs were then placed under a goose mother, while Lorenz kept the other half in an incubator beside himself for several hours.
  • When the geese hatched the young birds regarded Lorenz as their mother and followed him accordingly. The other group followed the mother goose
• Findings: Lorenz (1935) geese study

  Lorenz found that geese imprint on the first moving object they see, during a 12-17 hour critical period after hatching, suggesting that attachment is innate and programmed genetically
• Consequences of imprinting

  • Imprinting has consequences, both for short term survival, and in the longer term forming internal templates for later relationships
  • Imprinting occurs without any feeding taking place
  • If no attachment has developed within 32 hours it’s unlikely any attachment will ever develop
• How did Lorenz ensured that imprinting had occurred

  • Lorenz put all the goslings together under an upturned box and allowed them to mix
  • When the box was removed the two groups separated to go to their respective 'mothers' - half to the goose, and half to Lorenz
• Supporting research: Imprinting takes place within a critical period


  • Hess (1958) showed that although the imprinting process could occur as early as one hour after hatching, the strongest responses occurred between 12 and 17 hours after hatching, and that after 32 hours the response was unlikely to occur at all. 
  • Lorenz and Hess believe that once imprinting has occurred it cannot be reversed, nor can a gosling imprint on anything else.
• Conclusions: Lorenz' geese study (1935)

  • The process of imprinting is a strong biological feature of attachment in certain birds and occurs based on the first object