Animal studies of attachment

Cards (19)

  • Animal Studies - look at formation of early bonds. Useful as attachment-like behaviour is across many species. Done for practical or ethical .
    • Practical - animals breed faster = can see behaviour over generations.
    • Ethical - separating human infants from caregiver is unethical.
  • Lorenz (1935) - Lorenz took 24 goslings eggs & separated them into 2 conditions. In 1 condition they hatched naturally and followed the mother (natural attachment). In the 2nd condition they hatched in an incubator and saw Lorenz first and developed an irreversible attachment with Lorenz.
  • Imprinting = bird species from birth, Goslings attach to the first moving object. Imprinting occurs within the first few hours post birth. Approximately 4-5 hours was there critical period which was permanent. Goslings that imprinted onto humans also had an effect on later mate preferences. Concluded that Goslings are programmed to imprint (innate), humans also have a critical period which is 2/2 1/2 half years.
  • Harlow (1958) - Wanted to investigate whether 16 rhesus baby monkey's prefer food or contact comfort. Monkeys were two-wire models: 1 was cloth-covered representing contact comfort, 2 was a plain wire monkey which dispensed milk. Babies cuddled with the cloth monkey in preference & sought comfort from it. Especially with frightened during numerous experiments e.g. scary machine robot which was in their cage. Contact comfort was vital.
  • Follow up in early adulthood, the maternally deprived monkey's became aggressive, less sociable & bred less & some mothers neglected their young & attacked their children to the extent of killing in some cases.
  • AO3: Animal Studies -
    • EV's as both the wire monkey's looked different. One may have been deemed unattractive.
    • Difficult to extrapolate findings as humans are more complex.
    • RS Schaffer + Emerson (1964) also found infants weren't most attached to the person who fed them but rather the one who gave them care. Cloth replicates feelings of 'care'.
    • Ethical issues, animals suffered & had long-lasting emotional effects that impacted their adulthood as well. The animals developed abnormally.
  • AO3: Animal Studies -
    • RLA e.g. social workers understand risks associated with neglect & how to prevent it, developed our understanding human mother-infant attachment e.g. comfort is important & quality of early relationships can impact later life.
  • AO3 Lorenz -
    • The usefulness of the study is supported by research regarding imprinting. Guiton (1966) used chicks and yellow rubber gloves to feed them during the critical period, and the chicks were imprinted on the glove. Suggests that young animals imprint on any moving thing present during the critical period of development. The chicks were then later found trying to mate with the yellow rubber glove. Can't extrapolate to humans
  • Lorenz -
    • goose eggs were randomly divided
    • half were hatched with the mother present (in natural environment)
    • half were hatched in an incubator with Lorenz present
    • the behaviour of all goslings was recorded
  • Harlow -
    • in a controlled environment, infant monkeys reared with two mother surrogates
    • plain wire mother dispensing food, cloth-covered mother with no food
    • time spent with each mother was recorded
    • details of fear conditions
    • long-term effects recorded: sociability, relationship to offspring, etc
    • Lorenz’s procedure and findings – goose eggs randomly divided; half hatched with the mother present (in natural environment); half in an incubator with Lorenz present; behaviour recorded; incubator group followed Lorenz, control group followed the mother; concepts of imprinting and critical period
    • Harlow’s procedure and findings – in a controlled environment, infant monkeys reared with two mother surrogates; plain wire mother dispensing food, cloth-covered mother with no food; time spent with each mother was recorded, preference for contact comfort over food; long-term effects on sociability and own childrearing style
  • Problems of generalising findings from animal studies to humans
    • Argument that, of the two, Harlow's study (mammalian species) may be more relevant to human experience
  • Imprinting/critical period for human attachment (Lorenz)
    'Window of opportunity' in which attachments must be formed otherwise this may lead to negative long-term consequences
  • Early neglect (Harlow)

    Long-term consequences of poor attachment in childhood for future relationships, eg with own children
  • Critical period
    May be more of a 'sensitive period' in humans as studies have demonstrated how children have been able to recover from early deprivation, eg Romanian orphan studies
  • Practical value of research

    • For social work, identifying risk factors in vulnerable children
  • Harlow's suggestion that contact comfort/sensitive responsiveness is more important than food
    Contradicts learning theory
  • Human studies
    • Schaffer and Emerson Glasgow study supports the idea that responsiveness may be more important than food