Lorenz

• What was Lorenz's method?

  -randomly assigned a clutch of geese eggs to 2 conditions

  -half were hatched naturally by their mother (control), half were hatched in an incubator by Lorenz (experimental)
• What were the findings of Lorenz's experiment?

  -when all chicks were mixed together, they chose to follow who had hatched them (imprinting)

  -Lorenz found that imprinting had to occur within a critical period

  -adult birds will also try to mate with whoever they imprinted on (sexual imprinting)
• What are the evaluative points for Lorenz's study?

  -low ecological validity: geese behaviour is less complex than human behaviour, so cannot be generalised

  -however, animal studies can gave useful insight into human behaviours, e.g. critical period in which attachments can form