Essay
Outline and evaluate animal studies in attachment
A* essay on Outline and evaluate animal studies in attachment. Scored 14-16/16 in a-level psychology. covers both a01 and ao3.
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Outline and evaluate animal studies of attachment 16mLorenz conducted an experiment where he investigated imprinting attachment in geese as
animals generally attach to the first moving species they see after birth.
In his classic experiment Lorenz randomly divided a bunch of goose eggs. Half were
hatched with the mum in their natural environment, so the first thing they saw was the mum
while the other half were hatched in an incubator where they saw lorenz first. As a result the
incubator followed and formed an attachment with lorenz while the control group followed
their mum everywhere even when groups were mixed up. This therefore shows how
imprinting exists in animals so it must be a biological feature. It also shows how imprinting
occurs in the critical period of about 30 hours after hatching and the attachment behaviour
was irreversible.
One weakness this study however, is its generalisability issues. Since Lorenz only studied
animals it can be difficult to generalise these findings to other species such as human baby
attachment which differs to those of birds as humans attachment system is different and
more complex than birds. Humans are not primal but have emotions while animals live to
survive this reducing the ecological validity of lorenz's results as they cant explain human
attachment behaviour. This therefore reduces support for lorenz's study as conclusions of
imprinting cannot be applied to humans due to the sample not being on humans but on
animals.
A further weakness of Lorenz's experiment is that it has research to oppose his idea that
effects are irreversible but rather can be reversed. Guiton et al disagreed with the
irreversible nature of imprinting that Lorenz put forward. They imprinted newly hatched
chickens onto yellow rubber gloves. In later life, just as the theory predicts, they did indeed
try to mate with the gloves. However, when they had a chance to spend time with others of
their own species, they preferred mating with these instead. This thus suggests that the
effects of imprinting may not be permanent as initially thought and also shows that learning
and experience are more important factors in attachment formation than imprinting therefore
reducing support for lorenz's study.
Harlow also researched attachment in animals specifically in monkeys. He demonstrated the
importance of contact comfort/ attachment in monkeys. In his study Harlow reared baby
monkeys with 2 model mothers which were inanimate. In one condition the model mother
was made out of wire and dispersed milk. In the second condition, the model was made out
of cloth but did not give any milk. He found that the baby monkey spent more time, around
17 hours, with the cloth monkey rather than the wired monkey (1 hour). This led to the
conclusion that contact comfort was more important than food. This undermines the learning
theories of attachment such as classical conditioning which suggests that the monkeys
should've spent more time with the wire mother producing milk as attachments with babies
are based on who gives food. Harlow suggested the baby monkeys had an innate drive to
seek comfort suggesting that attachment is however formed through emotional need for
security which is key.
One strength of this study is that it has real world application. It has provided us with an
insight into attachment formation for example Howe found knowledge gained from harlow
study has allowed social workers understand risk factors in neglect and abuse cases with
human kids. This enables them to intervene and prevent further harm from occurring
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