Animal Studies into Attachment

Animal Studies into Attachment

1. Lorenz: Imprinting in Geese

   • Imprinting Definition: An innate drive to develope a strong bond with he mother which takes places during the critical period.
     • Critical period for geese = between 13 & 16 hours after hatching
   • Procedure: Divided baby gosling eggs into two groups 1) Stayed with mum 2) Put into an incubator
     • During the critical period, Lorenz put both groups in the same room as himself and the mother goose to see how the gosling would imprint
       • Findings: Gosling quickly divided back into the 2 groups - Group 1 imprinted on mum & group 2 imprinted on Lorenz showing no recognition to their true mum
         • Lorenz: if an animal isn't exposed to a moving thing during it's critical period imprinting will not occur
   • Long term effects: Irreversible - the geese slept in his bed & affected their reproductive behavior in later life
   • + Research to support (Leghorn chicks exposed to yellow gloves during the critical period imprinted on them) showing that young animals will imprint on any moving object during their critical period
   • - Imprinting may not be as long lasting as Lorenz thought:: It's not irreversible as newer research shows that animals can attach to their own species after being put back with them for a while after. e.g. male leghorns were able to mate correctly after being put back with their own species

2. Harlows Monkeys

   • Procedure: 2 wire mothers - one 'cloth' mum and one 'wire' mum
     • 8 baby monkeys split into 2 groups; 4 had food with wire mum & 4 had food with cloth mum
       • Observed how long each monkey spent with each mum & which mum they went to when scared
         • Findings: all babies spent more time with 'cloth' mum (17hrs with cloth vs 1 hr with wire), all babies also went to 'cloth' mum for comfort when scared as well as playing in unfamiliar situations
           • Suggests that we want comfort and not food in attachments
   • Long term effects: Monkeys developed abnormally, couldn't interact with other monkeys or reproduce properly
     • However, effects could be reversed if the monkeys spent time with their own species after 3 months from the study
       • Yet if the monkeys spent over 6 months with the wire mum only the effects were irreversible!
   • - Low internal validity: the heads of the wire mums were different (the cloth mums head looked like a monkey) = confounding variables
     • + / - Ethics: Unethical as: some monkeys suffered irreversible affects BUT it's more ethical than studying humans = cost benefit analysis