animal resources

• Animal studies of attachment

  Research by Lorenz and Harlow to understand attachment in animals and apply it to humans
• Be able to


  1. Describe animal research into attachment

  2. Understand how animal research can be applied to explain and understand human attachment

  3. Evaluate the use of animal research in psychology
• Why do we study animals in Psychology?

  They have been used to look at the formation of early bonds between non-human parents and their offspring. Psychologists are interested in this because attachment like behaviour is common to a range of species and so animal studies can help us understand attachment in humans.
• Konrad Lorenz


  • One of the most prominent ethologists
  • First observed the phenomenon of imprinting when he was a child and a neighbour gave him a newly hatched duckling that then followed him around
• Lorenz (1935) procedure


  One clutch of goose eggs divided into two groups: 1. Left with mother. 2. Placed in an incubator - the first thing this batch saw when they hatched was Lorenz, and they soon started to follow him around = Imprinting
• Lorenz (1935) findings


  • The geese divided themselves up - one followed natural mother, the other followed Lorenz
  • Imprinting is restricted to a definite period of time (Critical Period). If the animal has not seen a moving object within the critical period, it will not imprint
  • Imprinting is similar to attachment in that it binds the young to a caregiver
  • Imprinting is irreversible
  • Sexual Imprinting - later mates are chosen based upon the object they imprinted on
• Sexual Imprinting


  • Lorenz (1952) described a peacock that had been reared in the reptile house of a zoo where the first moving object the peacock saw was the tortoise. As an adult this bird would only direct courtship behaviour towards giant tortoises!
• Harlow (1959) aim


  To demonstrate that attachment is not based on the feeding bond between mother and infant (as predicted by Learning Theory)
• Harlow (1959) procedure


  Monkey has a choice of two mothers: contact comfort or food?
• Harlow (1959) findings


  • They became most attached to the cloth mother, but never formed a real attachment
• Harlow's research


  • Supports the importance of bonding between mother/main carer and baby
  • The monkeys who were not shown affection or could not cuddle with the cloth mother had trouble gaining weight thus leading researchers to believe that affection has a large impact on a child's development
• Attachment occurs with the person whom feeds the infant (cupboard love theory)
• How Harlow's research helped

  It helped develop the knowledge that attachment is not based on feeding but on contact comfort
• How Lorenz's research can be applied to human attachment

  Imprinting is similar to attachment in that it binds the young to a caregiver
• Describe Harlow's research into attachment

  Harlow gave monkeys a choice between a wire mother that provided food, and a cloth mother that provided comfort. The monkeys became most attached to the cloth mother, showing attachment is not just about feeding.
• How Harlow's research has been applied to child development

  It supports the importance of bonding between mother/main carer and baby, and shows that affection has a large impact on a child's development
• Outline the procedure used in one study of animal attachment

  Lorenz divided a clutch of goose eggs into two groups - one left with the mother, one placed in an incubator. The goslings in the incubator imprinted on Lorenz when they hatched.