4. Animal Studies

• 1. Animal Studies - Lorenz

  Lorenz (1952):

  • Randomly divided goose eggs - 1/2 natural environment (mother); 1/2 to hatch w/ him (incubator).
  • 1st moving object goslings saw = Lorenz.
• 1a. Animal Studies - Lorenz

  Lorenz (1952) - Results:

  • Incubator group followed him everywhere; natural group stayed w/ mother.
  • Evidence of imprinting.
  • Identified ’critical period’; brief as hrs after birth.
  • If no imprinting in critical period = no attachment formed.
• 1b. Animal Studies - Lorenz

  Lorenz (1952) - Sexual Imprinting:

  • Geese imprinted on Lorenz, so showed courtship/mating behaviours towards humans.
• 2. Animal Studies - Harlow

  Harlow (1958):

  • Soft object serve similarly to mother?
  • 16 baby rhesus monkeys.
  • 2 wire model ‘mothers’.
  • Milk dispensed, plain-wire mother (1st con).
  • Milk dispensed, cloth-covered mother (2nd con).
• 2a. Animal Studies - Harlow

  Harlow (1958) - Results:

  • Preference to cloth-covered mother; sought comfort when frightened.
  • Contact comfort more important than food/milk.
• 2b. Animal Studies - Harlow

  Harlow (1958) - Results pt2:

  • Followed monkeys deprived of real mother into adulthood, did maternal deprivation have permanent effect?
  • Dysfunctional/social abnormalities.
  • Aggressive.
  • Neglected their young.
  • Critical Period = 90 days or damage irreversible.
• Animal Studies (Evaluation)

  Strength (Lorenz):

  P - support for imprinting.

  E - Regolin + Vallortigara (1995), chicks exposed to moving shapes.

  E - when saw new combinations, followed original closely.

  L - young animals born w/ innate mechanism to imprint on moving object present in critical period.
• Animal Studies (Evaluation)

  Limitation (Lorenz):

  P - can’t fully generalise findings from birds to humans.

  E - mammalian attachment system more complex than birds.

  E - mammals attachment = two-way process.

  L - lacks generalisability.
• Animal Studies (Evaluation)

  Strength (Harlow):

  P - real-life application.

  E - Howe (1998), helped social workers/clinical psychologists, lack of bonding experience risk in child development.

  E - also understand importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos/breeding programmes.

  L - research not just theoretical, but practical.
• Animal Studies (Evaluation)

  Limitation (Harlow):

  P - can’t fully generalise findings to humans.

  E - rhesus monkeys more similar than geese; mammals share common attachment behaviours.

  E - human brain + behaviour more complex than monkeys.

  L - lack generalisability.
• Animal Studies (Evaluation)

  Limitation (Harlow):

  P - caused severe/long-term distress for monkeys.

  L - ethical issues.