Animal Studies in Attachment: Lorenz & Harlow

What happened in Lorenz (1935) geese study

- Field study

- Divided geese eggs to two groups

- One group hatched with the mother in natural environment

- The other group hatched in an incubator with the first moving object they saw being Lorenz

- Found the group that hatched with the mother followed the mother

- The group hatched in an incubator followed Lorenz

- Called this phenomenon Imprinting

- Found there is a critical period where imprinting occurs, different for every species

- If it does not happen within this time attachment to a mother figure will not happen

What happens if imprinting does not happen within the critical period

What was the critical period for Lorenz geese

Imprinting will not occur

13-16 hours

What did Lorenz find about Sexual Imprinting

Conducted case study on peacocks

First moving object the peacock saw was a giant tortoise

Found as an adult the bird would only direct romance towards giant tortoises

Lorenz described this as Sexual Imprinting

What is imprinting

Where animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life

Ethology

The study of animal behaviour

What happened in Harlows Monkey study

- Created two fake mother monkeys, one of wood and dispensed milk and another was soft cloth and did not dispense milk

- Exposed 8 infant monkeys to the two mothers over 165 days

- Recorded amount of time spent with each monkey

Found monkeys spent most time with the soft cloth mother and sought comfort from it when scared

Monkeys only went to the wire monkey for feeding and returned

Shows comfort and contact is how attachment is formed rather than feeding

Nature/nature strength of Lorenz study

- Study shows aspects of animal attachment such as imprinting are immediate and dont require learning

- Therefore some attachment behaviours are nature rather than nurture

- Useful for animal carers to understand

- eg allowing imprinting to happen naturally when their pet gives birth rather than attempting to force it

- Increases real world application and usefulness

Animal Ethics general point

- BPS guidelines state harm to animals must be justified and beneficial to humans

- Attachment in humans is different as we are more emotionally complex

- Therefore cannot be sure findings in animal studies can be directly helpful in understanding human attachment

- Limits Replicability and Reliability

Lorenz + Harlow ethical evaluation point

Lorenz meets ethical guidelines as animals had freedom and good quality care

- Harlow's did not

- The implication of research such as Harlow is that it led to strict guidelines on animal studies

- Therefore Harlow's having a big impact on and changing psychology

- Also limits replicability of Harlow's study

Strength of Harlows research - Real world application

- Psychologists and social workers can understand lack of bonding and nurture can negatively affect child's development

- Shown by the monkeys who showed social problems in long term eg being withdrawn

- Means they can act to prevent long term consequences

- Animal care in zoo settings can also be improved to ensure proper child development

- Increases real-world application