Lorenz's study (1935)

Lorenz's study (1935)

1. Procedure:

   • Clutch of gosling eggs and divided them into 2 groups - one with mother goose and one with Lorenz being the first thing they saw
     • Those who saw Lorenz first began following him around

2. Test effects of imprinting

3. Findings:

   • Put both groups into a room with himself and their natural mother, those imprinted on Lorenz ignored their natural mother and followed him around.
   • Process of imprinting is limited to a definite period of the goslings life - critical period
     • If infant is not exposed to a moving object in the critical period, it will not imprint at all
   • Some animals, i.e. curlews will not imprint on a human

4. Evaluation:

   • Research supporting imprinting
     • Guiton (1966) - leghorn chicks exposed to yellow rubber gloves for feeding them during their 1st few weeks, became imprinted on the gloves
       • Supports the view that animals are not born with the predisposition to imprint on a specific type of object but on any moving thing present during its critical period
   • Criticisms of imprinting
     • Guiton found he could reverse the effects of imprinting in the chickens who tried to mate with the gloves. After a while they were able to socialise fully with other chickens
       • May not be too different to learning