Lorenz's research

Type of experiment?

lab

When did it take place?

1935

What is imprinting (in goslings)?

a permeant process, whereby, the goslings attach to the first moving object they see

How do the goslings primarily identify their parents?

by sight

Instinctively what do the goslings do?

follow (cluster around) the first moving object that they see

When does the process of imprinting begin?

before they hatch

Sample?

12 goslings (unhatched fertilised eggs) split into two groups of 6

What was the control group?

6 goslings hatched with their mother in their natural environment

Where were the other 6 goslings hatched?

in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was Lorenz

When the goslings hatch in the laboratory, what happens in the second phase of imprinting?

imprinting the appearance of the ‘mother’ (researcher)

How are the goslings raised in the first few days after they hatch?

see no other creatures apart from the ‘mother’ (researcher) - raised in a group

Findings: what did the incubator group do?

followed Lorenz everywhere (as they would with their real mother)

Findings: what did the natural habitat (control) group do?

followed their mother everywhere

Findings: what happened when the two groups were mixed up?

the control group continued to follow their mother and the experimental group continued to follow Lorenz

Findings: when did the chicks still sought out Lorenz as their mother?

even as adults

What did Lorenz also identify?

a critical period in which imprinting needs to take place

What did Lorenz find to happen if imprinting doesn’t occur within the critical period?

chicks didn’t attach to a mother figure

Strength - P: what does the experiment have a high level of?

high internal validity

Strength - Ex: what is controlled due to it being a lab experiment?

highly controlled environment - control over extraneous variables

Strength - Ev: example of an extraneous variable that’s controlled?

what the goslings are exposed to when within the egg

Strength - L: why is having a high internal validity good?

limits the effects of extraneous variables on the the dependent variable

Weakness - P: what may the sample not properly represent?

may not accurately represent the whole population of geese

Weakness - Ev: what is the sample used?

small sample - only 12 geese (split into 2 groups) used

Weakness - Ex: how does this limit the research?

gives the results a low generalisability

Weakness - L: what does the research, therefore, have a low level of?

low population validity