animal studies of attachment

animal studies of attachment

1. Lorenz's research

   • imprinting
     • as a child a new born duck followed him around
       • procedure
         • randomly allocated half of the geese eggs to the mother and the other to himself
       • findings
         • control group = mother goose
         • experimental group = Lorenz
         • when they wee mixed they both followed the some person/ goose
       • attach & follow the first moving object they see
         • happens during the critical period
           • different time for different species
   • sexual imprinting
     • imprinted on human = show sexual desire to humans

2. Harlow's research

   • the importance of contact comfort
     • babies left alone died whereas with a cloth to cuddle didn't
     • procedure
       • 16 baby monkeys
         • half to cloth mother
         • half to wire mother with milk
     • findings
       • preferred cloth to milk when scared
   • maternally deprived monkeys as adults
     • did not develop normal social behaviour
     • more aggressive
     • bred less - unskilled at mating
     • neglected their offspring - even killed them
   • the critical period for normal development
     • within 90 days for monkeys
     • early deprivation would be irreversible

3. evaluation - Lorenz

   • generalizability to humans
     • mammalian attachment is different to birds
       • cannot be generalised to humans
     • humans can attach at any age but less easily
   • some of his observations have been questioned
     • Guiton
       • attached chickens to yellow rubber gloves
         • they tried to mate
           • but learned to mate with chickens
     • impact of sexual imprinting is not permanent

4. evaluation Harlow

   • theoretical value
     • attachment does not develop as a result of being fed but from contact comfort
     • profound effect on human mother infant attachments
     • important for social development and relationships
   • practical value
     • helped social workers to intervene and prevent child neglect & abuse
     • importance of captive animal attachments
       • and breeding programmes
   • ethical issues
     • the monkeys suffered greatly
       • however were the findings sufficient enough to justify this

5. evaluation +

   • can Harlow's findings be applied to humans
     • monkeys ore similar than geese
       • but how similar