animal studies

• Imprinting

  The phenomenon where bird species that are mobile from birth (such as geese and ducks) attach to follow the first moving object they see
• Lorenz's procedure

  Randomly divided a clutch of goose eggs, half hatched with their mother in their natural habitat and the other half hatched in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was Lorenz
• Critical period


  A time period, depending on the bird species, which can be as brief as a few hours after hatching (or birth), in which imprinting must occur or else chicks will not attach themselves to a mother figure
• Rhesus monkeys


  The species of monkeys used in Harlow's research
• Contact comfort


  The importance of a soft object for providing comfort and attachment, rather than just food
• Harlow used 16 baby monkeys in his research
• Harlow found that newborn monkeys kept alone in a bare cage usually died but tended to survive if given something soft like a cloth to cuddle
• Maternal deprivation


  The lack of a mother figure and the effects this has on an infant's development
• Maternally deprived monkeys as adults were more dysfunctional, aggressive, less sociable, and bred less often than typical for monkeys
• Limitations of animal studies


  • Difficulty generalising findings from animals to humans
  • Ethical issues around animal suffering
  • Differences between animal and human attachment systems
• Later researchers have questioned some of Lorenz's conclusions, such as the idea that imprinting has a permanent effect on mating behaviour
• Theoretical value of Harlow's research

  Contributed to psychologists' understanding of human mother-infant attachment and the importance of early relationships for later social development
• Practical value of Harlow's research

  Helped social workers understand risk factors in child neglect and abuse, and informed the care of captive monkeys