animal studies of attachment

LORENZ'S IMPRINTING STUDY 1935

• Took a large clutch of goose eggs and kept them until they were about to hatch out

• Half of the eggs were then placed under a goose mother while Lorenz stayed with the other half for hours

• When the geese hatched, Lorenz imitated a mother duck's quacking and the young geese regarded him as their mother and followed him around

  • The other group followed the mother goose

• To ensure imprinting had occurred Lorenz put all the goslings together under a box and allowed them to mix

• When the box was removed, the two groups separated to go to their mothers - either the goose or Lorenz

 

• Lorenz found that geese follow the first moving object they see, during 12-17 hour critical period after hatching

  • This is known as imprinting and suggests that attachment is innate and programmed genetically

• Imprinting has consequences, both for short term survival and in longer term forming internal templates for later relationships

  • Imprinting occurs without feeding taking place

  • If no attachment has developed within 32 hours, it's unlikely any attachment will ever develop

 

• Sexual imprinting

  • Lorenz conducted further investigations on the relationship between imprinting and adult male preferences

  • Observed that bird that imprinted on a human would later show courtship behaviours

  • In 1952 case study - described how a peacock had been raised in a reptile house in a zoo and the first moving objects it saw were tortoises

    • As an adult, peacock displayed courting behaviours towards tortoises and Lorenz says the bird has undergone sexual imprinting

evaluations

• Existence of support for imprinting concept

  • Regolin and Vallortigara (1995) - chicks were exposed to simple shape combinations that moved, then a range were shown to them and they followed the original shape most closely

  • Young animals are born with an innate mechanism to imprint on a moving object present in the critical window of development

• Application to human behaviour

  • The idea of a critical period can be generalised to humans as it supports Bowlby's monotropic theory where the critical period for humans is 2.5-5 years

  • If attachments do not form then, this may lead to negative-long term consequences and so attachments cannot form - social workers and psychologists can prevent this

• Applications to human behaviour

  • Seebach 2005 - suggested that computer users exhibit 'baby duck syndrome' where they form an attachment to their first computer operating system and reject others

 

• Lack of ability to generalise findings and conclusions from birds to humans

  • Mammalian attachment system is different and more complex as it is a two-way process

  • Both mother and baby show emotional attachment

  • So these results are not generalisable

• Learning theory of attachment

  • Suggests that human behaviour is learnt not innate - so the duck study is not useful as it contradicts this

harlow’s monkeys 1958

• Harlow wanted to study the mechanisms by which new-born rhesus monkeys bond with their mothers

• The infants were highly dependent on their mothers for nutrition, protection, comfort and socialisation

• Harlow's explanation was that attachment develops as a result of the mother providing tactile comfort, suggesting that infants have an innate need to ouch and cling to something for emotional comfort

• Mother has to be introduced within 90 days for attachment to form - critical period

  • After this the damage done by early deprivation is impossible to reverse

 

• Study 1

• Infant monkeys were reared in isolation - no contact with each other or anybody else = maternal deprivation

• Harlow put them back with other monkeys to see what effect their failure to form attachment had on behaviour

• The monkeys engaged in bizarre behaviour - clutching their bodies and rocking compulsively

  • Placed in the company of other monkeys - they were scared and became aggressive

  • Unable to communicate or socialise with other monkeys

  • They were bullied

  • They indulged in self-mutilation, tearing hair out, scratching, biting their own arms and legs

• Harlow concluded that privation (never forming an attachment bond) is permanently damaging

• Extent of the abnormal behaviour reflected the length of the isolation

• Kept in isolation for 3 months were the least affected, those in isolation for a year never recovered the effects of privation

 

• Study 2

• Infant monkeys reared with surrogate mothers - 16 monkeys separated from their mother after birth and placed in cages with access to two surrogate mothers

  • One mother was made of wire and one covered in soft terry towelling cloth

• Half of the monkeys could get milk from the wire mother and half from the cloth mother

• Animals studied for 165 days

• Both groups of monkeys spent more time with the cloth mother (even without milk) - the infant would only go to the wire mother when hungry

• Once fed, it would return to the cloth mother for most of the day - if a frightening object was placed in the cage, the infant took refuge with the cloth mother

• The cloth surrogate was more effective in decreasing fear, infant would explore more when cloth mother was present

• This supports evolutionary theory of attachment - it is the sensitive response and security of the caregiver that is important (as opposed to the provision of food

evaluations

• Important real-world applications

  • Helps social workers and clinical psychologists understand that a lack of bonding experience may be a risk factor in child development - this allows them to intervene and prevent those outcomes (Howe 1998)

  • We can understand the importance for attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos and breeding programmes in the wild

  • Not just theoretical findings but practical

• Supports Bowlby's monotropic theory

  • Negative implications of privation in childhood - long-term consequences on poor relationships in the future

  • The monkeys support this due to their odd behaviour after isolation

  • Can bring in the internal working model - how this is shown in both

• Supported by human studies

  • Schaffer and Emerson 1964 found that babies were more attached to those with high sensitive responsiveness, not those who fed them

 

• Lack of ability to generalise findings and conclusions from monkeys to humans

  • Rhesus monkeys are more similar to humans than birds - all mammals share some common attachment behaviours

  • Human brain and behaviour is still more complex than that of monkeys - there are still some cognitive differences 

  • May not be appropriate to generalise Harlow's findings to humans

• Ethical worries

  • The research caused severe and long-term distress to the monkeys, however the findings are important

• Learning theory of attachment would contradict

  • Harlow suggests that comfort and contact is more important than food