Animal Studies

A prominent ethologist who performed groundbreaking research in the early 20th century. His groundbreaking research on imprinting in birds provided crucial insight into how early bonds form between infant animals and their caregivers, which later informed our understanding of human attachment.

First observed imprinting when a neighbour gave him a newly hatched duckling that subsequently followed him everywhere. This early observation sparked his lifelong interest into studying how young birds form attachments to the first moving object they encounter after hatching.

Lorenz designed a classic controlled experiment using goose eggs. He divided a clutch of eggs into two groups.
The control group where half thr eggs hatched naturally in the presence of their mother goose.
The experimental group who hatched in an incubator and Lorenz was the first moving object they encountered after hatching.

The incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere. The control group followed their biological mother. When mixed together, each continued to their respective ‘parent figure’ - the control group stayed with the mother goose, whilst the experimental group continued following Lorenz.

The process must occurs within a critical period - a few hours after birth or hatching. If imprinting does not happen during the is narrow time window, the chicks won’t attach to any mother figure at all.

Lorenz extended his research to investigate how early imprinting experiences might influence later adult behaviour, particularly mating preferences. He discovered tha birds which imprinted on humans often displayed courtship behaviour to humans later in life.

A peacock reared in the reptile house of a zoo. The first moving object this peacock saw after hatching were giant tortoises.
As a result, the bird would only direct courtship behaviour towards giant tortoises rather than other peacocks.
This demonstrates sexual imprinting

It may lack generalisability. Lorenz studied imprinting in goose but mammalian attachment systems are more complex. For example, mammals can form attachments over a longer period and more emotionally intense.
This means findings from birds may not be directly applicable to humans, limiting the extent to which Lorenz’ conclusions can explain human attachment.

Sexual imprinting may not be as permanent as Lorenz suggested. Guitton et al. (1966) conducted a study with chickens that were imprinted on yellow washing-up gloves. However, with experience, they eventually showed a preference for mating with other chickens.

This suggests that sexual imprinting can be reversed through later experience, meaning it is not fixed or lifelong. Therefore, learning may play a more important role in shaping mating preferences.

Conducted groundbreaking animal research in the 1950’s that fundamentally changed our understanding of attachment. Working with rhesus monkeys, Harlow challenged the prevailing view that attachment was primarily based on feeding.

16 baby rhesus monkeys to test whether a soft object could serve some of the functions of a mother and determine what factors are most important in attachment formation.

Harlow placed each monkey in a cage with two surrogate mothers. A wire mother than dispensed milk, whilst the clothe-covered mother dispensed milk.
Harlow measured how much time the monkeys spent with each surrogate and how they responded when they were frightened.

Baby monkeys consistently cuddled the cloth-covered mother in preference to the wire mother.
When frightened, monkeys sought comfort from the cloth mother regardless of which model dispensed milk.
This demonstrated contact comfort was more important than food provision for attachment behaviour

Monkeys reared with only wire mothers showed the most sever dysfunction, Even those with cloth substitute mothers failed to develop normal social behaviour.
As adults, the monkeys were more aggressive and less sociable they showed poor mating behaviour and bred less frequently than normal.
When the deprived monkeys became mothers themselves, they neglected their offspring and attacked and killed.

A mother figure must be introduced to an infant monkey within 90 days for normal attachment to develop.
After this critical window, attachment became impossible and th psychological damage from early deprivation became irreversible.

Has practical applications. Harlow’s findings demonstrate the importance of contact comfort in attachment formations, as monkeys spent more time with soft cloth. mother.

Suggests attachment is not dimpled formed through feeding, but also through contact and emotional support. Therefore, Harlow’s research has influenced childcare practices by highlighting the importance of warmth and responsive care in early development.

May lack internal validity due to confounding variables. The cloth-covered mother had a more realistic monkey-like head, whereas the wire mother did not.

This means that the monkeys’ preference may be been due to the surrogate mothers appearance rather than contact comfort. Therefore, Harlow’s conclusion that contact comfort is the main factor in attachment formation may be less reliable.

Ethical issues associated with the study. Harlow seperated infant rhesus monkeys from their mothers and exposed them to conditions of social isolations, which caused psychological harm, including difficulty forming relationships later in life.

This means the research would be unethical by modern standards, limiting whether the procedures could be replicated and raising concerns about the use of animals in psychological research.