Animal studies

Animal studies

1. Harlow's research on monkeys

   • Created two wire mothers one wrapped with cloth
     • The monkeys developed stronger attachments with the cloth surrogate than wire regardless of if it had the feeding bottle
       • He then added a fearful stimulus
         • When in the cage the monkey would cling to the cloth before exploring the object
       • If the wire mother had the bottle then the monkeys only spent a short time getting milk and then went back to the cloth
   • Found that animals develop an attachment to the person offering contact comfort rather than the one with food
     • Had long lasting effects
       • Sexually abnormal and socially abnormal

2. The use of animals in research

   • It is hard to generalise from one species to another because the behaviours could be very different
   • Can influence policies and theories
   • Lorenz used precocial species that have their eyes open and can walk from birth so are different to humans

3. Ethics

   • Advantages
     • Some research designs can't be conducted on humans ethically
   • Disadvantages
     • Some see it as unethical to inflict suffering on animals when they can't consent

4. Lorenz's research

   • Took a clutch of gosling eggs and divided them into two groups
     • One group was left with their natural mother while the others were placed in an incubator
       • When the incubator eggs hatched the first living thing they saw was Lorenz so they started following him around
         • To test this effect of imprinting he marked the two groups and placed them together (both he and the natural mother were present
           • The gosling divided themselves up one following the natural mother and Lorenz's followed him
             • He noted that the period of imprinting was limited to a critical period of the animals life
               • 12-17 hours after hatching
               • If it is not exposed to a moving object it won't imprint
               • Imprinting is irreversible and long-lasting
     • Wanted to test if we were born with an innate need for care
       • Imprinting
         • An innate readiness to develop a strong bond with the mother which takes place during a specific time in development probably the first few hours after birth

5. Evaluation

   • Generalising to humans may not be justified
     • Much of human behaviour is governed by conscious decisions
       • But human experiments often mirror
         • Schaffer and Emerson that infants are not most attached to those who feed them
   • Characteristics of imprinting are disputed
   • Confounding variable
     • Harlow's experiment the heads had were different so could have preferred the head
       • Conclusions lack internal validity
   • Ethics
     • allows study left monkeys with lasting emotional harm
       • But it can be justified as it has significant effect as our understanding of attachment has been used to help give better care for infants