animal studies

lorenz (1952)- imprinting

half of the goose eggs hatched with mother goose and the other half hatched in an incubator and the first moving object they saw was lorenz. incubator group followed lorenz, control group followed mother goose. even when groups were mixed up they still followed the person/ goose they had imprinted on.

lorenz critical period

imprinting must occur within a few hours or it never will

lorenz (1952)- sexual imprinting

birds show courtship to whatever species they imprint on. in a case study lorenz described a peacock who’s first sight of a moving object was a giant tortoise. as an adult the peacock would only direct courtship behaviour towards giant tortoises.

evaluation strength- research support

regolin and vallortigara observed chicks imprint on moving shapes, supporting the view that young animals are born with the innate ability to imprint during the critical period.

evaluation weakness- generalisabilty to humans

attachment in mammals is quite different and more complex than in birds as the attachment is a two-way process (young mammals attach to mother, and mothers show an emotional attachment)

evaluation weakness- ethical issues

animals don’t have the ability to give consent and this experiment disrupted the geese’s natural attachment process to their mother.

harlow (1958)- importance of contact comfort

infant monkeys were kept alone in a cage and were reared with two wire monkeys. one wire monkey provided milk, the other wire monkey was covered in a soft cloth and also provided milk. the babies preferred the cloth covered monkeys and sought comfort from it when frightened, showing that contact comfort was of more importance to monkeys than food.

harlow (1958)- maternal deprivation

followed monkey into adulthood to see if early maternal deprivation had permanent effects (it did have severe consequences). the monkeys did not develop normal social behaviour, so were more aggressive, less sociable and unskilled at mating. when the monkeys became mothers they often neglected or killed their babies.

harlow critical period

a mother figure had to be introduced to the monkey within 90 days for an attachment to form. after this time attachment was impossible and damage done by early deprivation was irreversible.

evaluation strength- real world value

helps professionals (eg. social workers) to promote bonding as a lack of it is a risk factor to a child’s development. it is also applied to zoos and breeding programmes.

evaluattion weakness- generalisability to humans

monkeys are more similar to humans than birds but human minds and behaviours are far more complex.

evaluation weakness- ethical issues

research cause severe and long-term distress to the monkeys