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animal studies of attachment - Coggle Diagram
animal studies of attachment
lorenz
interested in how young animals attach to their mothers and how this gives them increased chance of survival. carried out experiment with goslings
method: condition 1= Lorenz first moving object seen by goslings after they hatched
condition 2= mother goose first moving object seen by chicks after they hatched (control group)
chicks that saw him before anything else followed him as if he was their mother. When they were adult, they performed mating displays to him, and ignored other geese.
chicks that saw their mother first, followed her when young, and performed mating rituals to other geese in adult life.
found that goose chicks seemed to have a critical period of just a few hours in which to imprint and If they didn’t imprint within this time, they never would. In some species of bird imprinting seems to be irreversible- once-only process which is not altered by future experience
what does Lorenz tell us about human attachment ?
powerful instinctive behaviour displayed by goslings suggests attachments biologically programmed
longevity of goslings bond with Lorenz supports bowlbys assertion to continuity.
the fact that goslings imprinted so early in life suggests operating within critical period, underpinned by biological changes which supports bowlbys view of attachment being innate
evaluation
strength- supporting evidence demonstrates concept of imprinting and suggests young animals are born with innate mechanism to imprint on a moving object present in the critical window of development- demonstrates early imprinting linked to future reproductive behaviour
limitation- permanency of imprinting is questionable as found chickens that imprinted on yellow washing up gloves tried to mate with them as adults but with experience they learned to mate with their own kind- suggests that he effects of imprinting are not as long- lasting as Lorenz believed
harlow
conducted research called 'the origins of love'' and sought to demonstrate that mother love was not based on the feeding bond between mother and infants as predicted by learning theory
procedure= 8 monkeys studied for 165 days. 4x monkeys milk bottle was on cloth covered mother, 4x monkeys milk bottle on plain wire mother. during time measurements made on amount of time infant spent with each different mother and responses when frightened for example In response to 'mechanical teddy bear'
findings= all 8 monkeys spent most of time with cloth mother whether it had feeding bottle or not. monkeys who fed from wire mother only spent short amount of time getting milk then returned to cloth mother.When frightened, all monkeys clung to the cloth-covered mother, and when playing with new objects the monkeys often kept one foot on the cloth-covered mother seemingly for reassurance.suggest that infants do not develop an attachment to the person who feeds them but to the person offering contact comfort.
what does Harlows research tell us about human attatchment?
monkeys’ willingness to seek refuge from something offering comfort rather than food suggests food not as crucial as comfort when forming a bond supporting Bowlby’s view of human attachment
fact that isolated monkeys displayed long-term dysfunctional behaviour illustrates, once more, that early attachment experiences predict long-term social development, as primates we can apply this more confidently to our understanding of human behaviour
Despite being fed, isolated monkeys failed to develop functional social behaviour, which would suggest that animals have greater needs that just the provision of food which supports studies on deprivation and privation with human children
evaluation
strength= Harlows research has practical applications as helped social workers understand risk factors in child abuse such as neglect and so intervene to prevent it and also helps improve monkey breeding programmes therefore usefulness of harlows research across many sectors increases its value
limitation- mothers varied in more ways than being cloth covered as two heads also different so cofounding variable. important as choice of mother may have been influenced by head providing alternate explanation for attachment
imprinting= innate readiness to acquire certain behaviours during a critical/sensitive period of development. triggered in altricial species (young born at very early stage of development) and exact period varies between species