Animal studies

• Lorenz - imprinting study procedure

  Lorenz randomly divided a large clutch of goose eggs. One half were hatched with the mother in their natural environment and the other half hatched in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was Lorenz. He mixed all the geese together to see who they would follow. Lorenz also observed birds and their later courtship behaviour.
• Lorenz - imprinting findings

  The incubator group followed Lorenz and the control group followed the mother. Lorenz identified a critical period in which imprinting needs to take place e.g. a few hours after hatching. If imprinting does not occur within that time, the chicks did not attach themselves to the mother figure. Sexual imprinting also occurs whereby the birds acquire a template of the desireable characteristics in a mate.
• Harlow - importance of contact comfort procedure

  Harlow reared 16 rhesus monkeys with the two wire model 'mothers'

  • Condition 1 - milk was dispensed by the plain wire mother
  • Condition 2 - milk was dispensed by the cloth covered mother

  The monkeys' preferences were measured. To measure attachment like behaviour, Harlow observed how the monkeys reacted when place in frightening situations. For example, Harlow added a noisy mechanical teddy bear to their environment. Harlow also continued the study thee monkeys who had been deprived of their real mothers into adulthood
• Harlow - importance of contact comfort findings

  Baby monkeys cuddled the cloth covered mother in preference to the plain wire mother regardless of which dispensed milk. This suggests that contact comfort was of more importance than food when it came to attachment behaviour. The monkeys sought comfort from the cloth covered mother when frightened. As adults, the monkeys who had been deprived of their real mothers suffered severe consequences like being more aggressive, less sociable and less skilled in mating than other monkeys.
• Evaluation

  One limitation of Lorenz's geese study is generalising from birds to humans. The mammalian attachment system is quite different from imprinting in birds. For example, mammalian mothers show more emotional attachment to their young. This means that it may not be appropriate to generalise Lorenz's ideas about imprinting to humans.
• Evaluation

  One strength of Lorenz's geese study is application to human behaviour. The concept of imprinting can explain some human behaviour. For example, baby duck syndrome in which computer users become attached to their first operating system. This means tat imprinting is a meaningful process in humans as well as birds.
• Evaluation

  One Strength is that Harlow's research has real world application. It has helped social workers understand risk factors in child abuse and thus intervene to prevent it. We also now understand the importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos and breeding programmes. This means that Harlow's research has benefitted both animals and humans.
• Evaluation

  One limitation of Harlow's monkey study is generalising from monkeys to humans. Monkeys are clearly more similar to humans than Lorenz's geese, and all mammals share some similarities in their attachment systems. However, they are not human and in some ways the human mind and behaviour are much more complex. This means that it may not be appropriate to generalise Harlow's findings to humans.