Animal Studies

Animal Studies

1. Konrad Lorenz

   • Studied Greylag geese
     • He let half stay with the mother and the half once hatched he was the first thing thing saw
     • His Goslings followed him closely even after he put them in a box with their siblings they would split between Lorenz and the mother
   • Lorenz called this process imprinting
     • This generally occurs between 13-16 hours
     • After 32 hours the ability to imprint has passed so Lorenz called this time the CRITICAL PERIOD

2. Harlow

   • Studied baby monkeys
     • By rearing them in isolation with a wire mother and a cloth mother
       • All mothers could hold a milk bottle
     • In one condition the wire mother had the food in the other the cloth mother did
     • Harlow found that even if the wire mother dispensed food the monkeys would still cling to the cloth mother
       • He called this Contact Comfort
     • He also placed the monkeys in a strange room when wire mother was present the monkeys would stay in a corner in terror
       • But when the cloth mother was present the displayed secure base behavior
   • Ethics
     • Generalisation (geese especialy) are not as sophisticated so may not behave in the same way as human babies
     • When reintroduced to general population the monkeys would not socialise and if they become parents they would smash their childrens heads with rocks. Showing Harlow may have inflicted unnessecary pyschological harm.
     • If monkeys are close enough to humans to genralise are they not also close enough to be treated fairly
     • Has now been used in social work as contact comfort is recognised as an important part of social devolpment