✔️Lorenz and Harlow

what is attachment?

An emotional tie between two people, usually mum and child

The relationship is reciprocal (shared)

What was Lorenz’s research about?

Investigated imprinting (critical period) in geese eggs?

What was Lorenz‘s procedure?

Goose eggs randomly divided (12) into two groups (6 In each). Half was hatched with the mother present (natural environment), Half hatched an incubator with Lorenz present (Lorenz was first moving object they saw)

What was Lorenz’s findings?

The incubator group followed Lorenz, control group followed mother. He found that rapid attachment form between geese and Mum /Lauren

What was Lorenz’s conclusion?

He called this rapid attachment imprinting, suggests that attachment forms between a critical period of 13 to 16 hours and ultimately passes after 32 hours, preventing attachment after this time

evaluation of Lorenz? (2 strengths, 1 weakness)

Strength- supportive evidence for concept of imprinting in attachment

→ Regolin and Vallortigare found that chicks followed shape first exposed to, demonstrates how animals are born with an innate mechanism to imprint (for survival)

Strength- evidence that humans do in someway imprint

→ we get attached to our first computer operating system (baby duck syndrome), shows animals and humans imprint in a similar way

Weakness- difficult to assume that human and animal attachment is the same

→ difference in humans (altricial) and birds (precocial), can’t generalise to humans

→ arguably Harlow’s monkey studies more relevant

What was Harlow’s research?

Investigated attachment in rhesus monkeys (1959)

What was the significance of Harlow’s research being in 1959”

• cold era for parenting

• Discouraged from cuddling (showing love:

What was Harlow‘s procedure?

Separated eight rhesus monkeys into two groups

Group 1- wire mother had bottle (fed them)

Group 2- cloth mother had bottle (fed them)

What were Harlows findings?

In both conditions, monkeys preferred cloth mother and spent more time with it (23 hours)

When frightened (by scary objects) they sought comfort in cloth mother (felt secure)

What was Harlow’s conclusion? (3)

• Contact comfort is more important than feeding during formation of attachment

• Critical period = 90 days, attachment impossible after this time, damage caused by early deprivation was irreversible

• Monkeys deprived of real mother suffered permanent long-term effects such as: more aggressive, less sociable, bread less often, neglected/attacked their young

Evaluation of Harlow’s research? (1 strength, 2 weaknesses)

Strength- real world value

→ helped social workers understand risk factors in child abuse and thus can intervene to prevent it/ understand importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos

Can improve lives of children/monkeys

Weakness- results may not apply to humans

→ observations of rhesus monkeys, unlikely to reflect emotional/complex attachment in human attachments

However, arguably more generalisable than Lorenzo but still not fully accurate

Weakness- unethical!

Hollows procedures cause severe long-term distress to the monkeys. The damage caused was irreversible and monkeys were so fat a poor quality of life.

what are the two explanations of attachment?

• Learning theory

• Bowlbys theory

What does the learning theory of attachment say?

infants become attached to their caregivers because they associate them with food and nourishment- learn to attctch through classical/operant conditioning

How do babies attach according to classical conditioning?

Children ‘learn’ to attach to them mother by associating their mother with food and the pleasure they receive from being fed

This leads to a conditional response of relief from hunger and the formation of an attachment, child learns to associate Mum with feeling of relief/happines

How do babies attach according to operating conditioning- drive reduction?

They learn via rewards and punishment

Who investigated the idea of babies learning to attach through drive reduction?

Dollars and Miller (1950)

What did Dollard and Miller find about operant conditioning/ drive reduction in attachment?

They applied the principles of reinforcement to explain the maintenance of human attachment between caregiver and infant. When an infant feels hungry, it has drive to reduce these unpleasant feelings/discomfort so likely to cry in order to receive comfort. When caregiver provides food, feeling of pleasure is produced for the infant which is rewarding (positive reinforcement). Therefore, the behaviour which elected the reward (crying) will be repeated.

What does it mean by operating conditioning/drive reduction being a reciprocal process?

Caregiver also experiences a reward in the form of negative reinforcement when the infant stops crying, so they too will repeat the caregiving behaviour.

Hunger is called the primary drive, food is termed primary reinforcer and the caregiver who provides it is called the secondary reinforcer.

→ attachment is called the secondary drive and it will occur because the infant will seek the person who can supply the reward

Evaluation of learning theory? (2 weaknesses)

Weakness- contradictory research, Lorenz

→ baby geese followed the first moving object they saw, tells us how attachment is innate and is likely to aid survival

CA: Lorenz’s study was on animals, issues with generalising

Weakness- lack of support from human babies

Schaffer and Emerson found babies form their main attachment with Mum, regardless if she gave them food

What is Bowlby‘s monotropic theory?

Bowlby agrees with Lorenz and the idea that imprinting/attachment is essential for baby to keep them safe (survival). He believes babies are born with innate tendencies to form attachment.

What are the five keywords associated with Bowlby‘s theory?

• adaptive

• Social releases

• Critical period

• Monotropy

• Internal working model

What does it mean by adaptive in terms of bowlbys monotropic theory?

Attachments are adaptive, forming attachment helps ensure survival of child

→ human infants are born immature and helpless (altricial), they must form a close, protective bond with a primary caregiver to avoid danger and ensure they are fed, warm, and kept safe.

What does it mean by social releases?

Babies have social releases which unlock innate tendency in adult to care for them

These social releases are both:

• Physical- typical baby face and body proportions (big eyes, tiny head:

• Behavioural- crying, crying, smiling, laughing

What does it mean by critical period?

Babies have to form an attachment with caregiver during the critical period of birth to 2 ½ years

Bowlby said if the child doesn’t form an attachment during this time then the child would be damaged socially, emotionally, intellectually and physically

What does it mean by monotropy?

Bowlby believed infant form one very special attachment with mum (primary attachment figure)

• Law of continuity- more constant/stable a child’s care is, better than attachment

• Law of accumulated separation- every separation from the primary attachment figure adds up

  → safest dose is no separation

What does it mean by internal working model?

Through the monoTropic attachment the infant would form an IWM

This is a special model/schema for all future relationships. If a child has a reliable/loving caregiver, they’ll take that expectation forward for future relationships.

Evaluation of Bowlbys monotropic theory? (1 strength, 1 weakness)

Strength- further support for IWM- Bailey et al

→ studied 99 Mums, found those with poor attachment to own parents more likely to have one year-old poorly attached

Weakness- concept of monotropy validity

→ it may be that relationship with primary attachment figure is simply stronger not different in quality to others, babies are more likely to develop attachments with others that have the same features as primary attachment figure (such as comfort and providing safe base). Suggests Bowlby may have been incorrect in his idea of monotropy (just 1 special attachment)