Knowt
Animal Studies of Attachment
Lorenz studied imprinting in Geese:
Konrad Lorenz (1935) found that geese automatically ‘attach’ to the first moving thing they see after hatching, and follow it everywhere. This is called imprinting
He randomly divided a clutch of greylag goose eggs into two groups. He left one group with the mother and incubated the other eggs
Lorenz observed that the goslings from the incubator eggs followed him around in exactly the same way that the goslings from the other eggs would follow their mother
He put both sets of goslings together and observed that when they were released, the two groups quickly re-informed as the goslings went off in search of their respective ‘mothers’. Both sets of goslings had imprinted on the first moving object that they had seen
After further experiments, Lorenz determined that imprinting was most likely between 13 and 16 hours after hatching
As such, he concluded that imprinting seems to occur during a ‘critical period’. It’s a fast, automatic process
He also noted that after this critical period, it was too late for the young birds ever to imprint
It’s unlikely to occur in humans. Our attachments take longer to develop and we don’t automatically attach to particular things- quality care seems more important in human attachment formation
Harlow showed that comfort is important in attachment:
Harlow (1959)- The need for ‘contact comfort’
Method:
Harlow aimed to find out whether baby monkeys would prefer a source of food or a source of comfort and protection as an attachment figure. In laboratory experiments, rhesus monkeys were raised in isolation. They had two ‘surrogate’ mothers. One was made of wire mesh and contained a feeding bottle, the other was made of cloth but didn’t contain a feeding bottle
Results:
The monkeys spent most of their time clinging to the cloth surrogate and only used the wire surrogate to feed. The cloth surrogate seemed to give them comfort in new situations. When the monkeys grew up they showed signs of social and emotional disturbance. The females were bad mothers who were often violent towards their offspring
Conclusion:
Infant monkeys formed more of an attachment with a figure that provided comfort and protection. Growing up in isolation affected their development
Evaluation:
This was a laboratory experiment, so there was strict control of the variables. This means that it’s unlikely the results were affected by an unknown variable. However, it can be argued that you can’t generalise the results of this study to human beings, because humans and monkeys are qualitatively different. There were also ethical problems with this study- the monkeys were put in a stressful situation, and later they showed signs of being psychologically damaged by the experiment. Monkeys are social animals, so it was unfair to keep them in isolation. The fact that they were in isolation also means that the study lacked ecological validity- the monkeys weren’t in their natural environment, so the results can’t be reliably applied to real life. Laboratory experiments can usually be replicated, but ethical guidelines now in place mean that you couldn’t repeat this study today to see whether you’d get the same results
Harlow continued his research with monkeys:
Halow’s (1959) study concluded that rhesus monkeys developed stronger attachments with cloth surrogates than wire surrogates. He carried out further studies with different conditions
Halow’s further research:
Harlow and Zimmerman (1959) added a fearful stimulus. When a fearful object (such as an oversized toy) was placed in the cage, the monkey would cling to the cloth surrogate first before exploring the object. Monkeys in cages with only a wire surrogate would remain frozen or run wildly around the cage. The researchers concluded that a strong attachment with a primary caregiver is therefore highly important in the development of an infant
Harlow and Sumoi (1970) investigated other factors in generating a strong attachment. When they placed a cloth surrogate with food and a cloth surrogate without food in the cage, they found that the one with food was preferred. They concluded that food may still be a significant factor in developing attachments
Psychologists often use animals in research:
When animals are used in psychological research, the findings of the studies should be interpreted carefully. It is hard to generalise the findings from one species to another because the behaviour of an animal can often be very different to that of a human
Lorenz used precocial species- these are species that have their eyes open and can walk right from birth. So they are very different from birth. So they are very different from human infants, who cannot walk until a lot later
Although the results of animal studies might not always be generalisable to human populations, they can often influence policies and theories in different areas of research
Researchers have to think about ethics:
Although animal studies have provided valuable information for developmental research, there’s debate about whether they’re ethical or not
Advantage: Some research designs couldn’t have been conducted on humans ethically- e.g. Harlow’s study of attachment, where young monkeys were separated from their mothers
Disadvantage: Some see it as unethical to inflict suffering on animals, especially when they can’t give consent
