13D Outline and evaluate one animal study of attachment (8 marks)? by KJ Welsh https://padlet.com/kwelsh51/ziozhg8yul30uwtw en-us 2022-04-29 08:33:57 UTC 2026-02-11 19:47:33 UTC hello@padlet.com https://healthyasks.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Ambivalent-attachment-what-is-it-and-what-are-its-consequences.jpg P - research support for Lorenz's idea of imprinting 15burchette https://padlet.com/kwelsh51/ziozhg8yul30uwtw/wish/2164002271 E - A study from Regolin and Vallortigara (1995) supports Lorenz’s idea of imprinting. Chicks were exposed to simple shape combinations that moved, such as a triangle with a rectangle in front. A range of shape combinations were shown to the chicks, and they followed the original most closely.
E - This supports the view that young animals are born with an innate mechanism to imprint on a moving object present in the critical window of development, as discovered by Lorenz.
]]> 2022-04-29 08:53:35 UTC https://padlet.com/kwelsh51/ziozhg8yul30uwtw/wish/2164002271 https://padlet.com/kwelsh51/ziozhg8yul30uwtw/wish/2164003553 One animal study of attachment is that of Harlow (1958). Harlow wanted to investigate the influence of contact comfort and food on attachment. He used 16 baby rhesus monkeys, and divided them into four caged conditions. The first condition involved a wire mother dispensing milk and towelling not dispensing milk. The second involved the towelling mother dispensing milk and the wire mother not dispensing milk. The third involved only the wire mother dispensing milk and the fourth involved only the towelling mother dispensing milk. They recorded the amount of time each monkey spent with each mother. They also used loud noises to test their behaviour during periods of stress. Harlow found monkeys preferred the towelling mother to the wire mother regardless of if she dispensed milk. This shows how the monkeys value contact comfort over food. Harlow found a critical period of 90 days. ]]> 2022-04-29 08:54:41 UTC https://padlet.com/kwelsh51/ziozhg8yul30uwtw/wish/2164003553 P - Hard to generalise Lorenz's findings from birds to humans 15burchette https://padlet.com/kwelsh51/ziozhg8yul30uwtw/wish/2164003593 E - The attachment system of mammals is different and more complex than birds. For example, attachment in mammals is a two-way process - the young become emotionally attached to their mothers and the mothers become attached to their young.
E - It is probably not appropriate to generalise Lorenz’s ideas to humans.
C - Despite this, attempts have been made to use imprinting to explain human behaviour. Seebach (2005) suggested that computer users exhibit ‘baby duck syndrome’ - the attachment formed to their first computer operating system, leading them to reject others.
]]> 2022-04-29 08:54:43 UTC https://padlet.com/kwelsh51/ziozhg8yul30uwtw/wish/2164003593 15burchette https://padlet.com/kwelsh51/ziozhg8yul30uwtw/wish/2164004117 P - Real-world application
E - It has helped social workers and clinical psychologists to understand that a lack of bonding experience may be a risk factor in child development, allowing them to intervene to prevent poor outcomes (Howe, 1998). We also now understand the importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos and breeding programmes in the wild.
E - The value of Harlow’s research is not just theoretical but also practical.
]]> 2022-04-29 08:55:11 UTC https://padlet.com/kwelsh51/ziozhg8yul30uwtw/wish/2164004117 https://padlet.com/kwelsh51/ziozhg8yul30uwtw/wish/2164006455 There are ethical issues to this research. The monkeys suffered greatly in terms of emotional separation from their biological mothers. Primates are considered human-like enough to generalise research to, which suggests the effects of psychological harm are similar too. Harlow was aware of this suffering as he referred the the wire monkeys as 'iron maidens', named after a medieval torture device. ]]> 2022-04-29 08:57:18 UTC https://padlet.com/kwelsh51/ziozhg8yul30uwtw/wish/2164006455 https://padlet.com/kwelsh51/ziozhg8yul30uwtw/wish/2164009881 Lorenz (1935) aimed to investigate imprinting on attachment in animals. He randomly divided a clutch of greylag geese eggs and split them into two conditions. One group hatched in the incubator with Lorenz and the other hatched with their biological mother. Lorenz found the geese imprinted on him being the first large moving object they saw, showing no biological attachment to their mother. In the control group, the geese imprinted on their mother. Lorenz concluded the critical period 4-25 hours after hatching. ]]> 2022-04-29 09:00:18 UTC https://padlet.com/kwelsh51/ziozhg8yul30uwtw/wish/2164009881