evaluation of animal studies

what is the strength and weaknesses of animal studies?

strength:

• real world application

weaknesses:

• ungeneralisable samples

• unethical

• contradicting evidence

real world application

• we can understand how children who have a less affectionate caregiver/mother who doesn’t provide warmth can have a negative effect on their behaviours

  • particularly fear/anxiety and social behaviours in unknown scenarios where they could feel like they’re lacking a sense of security

• shows findings of studies are a credible explanation for attachment

ungeneralisable samples

• there are problems with generalising results from animals to humans

• Lorenz’s research has little to no applicability to humans

  • babies are immobile for first few months and don’t follow first moving object they see

    • this therefore decreases the validity of the studies

• may argue that Harlow’s research is more applicable as mammals have similar attachment styles

unethical

• animals can’t give consent to take part in research

• psychological harm inflicted on animals as monkeys were subjected to isolation from a very young age and taken away from biological mother/natural environment

• this raises questions about whether the findings justify the suffering inflicted on the animals

  • however some argue that Harlow’s research was important in developing our understanding of attachment

contradicting evidence

• psychologist named Guiton found that chickens that had sexually imprinted on yellow washing up gloves and tried to mate with them (as Lorenz predicted) learned to prefer mating with other chickens with experience

  • suggests Lorenz’s ideas might not be as permanent as he first believed

• this makes the applicability to human attachment more difficult