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Animal studies: Lorenz and Harlow
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Animal studies: Lorenz and Harlow
By Simar
Lorenz's Research
Konrad Lorenz was an ethologist.
What is an ethologist?
Lorenz's study
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UIU9XH-mUI
Ethologist
Someone studying animal behaviour under relatively natural conditions
Ethologist
Aim of Lorenz's study
To investigate the mechanisms of imprinting where the youngsters follow and form attachment to the first large moving object that they meet.
Aim
Come up with the definition of imprinting with the help of the pictures shown below
Qs Imprinting
Critical period
Imprinting
The process by which certain animals forms Attachment during a critical period very early in life.
Procedure
- Lorenz split a large clutch of gray lag goose eggs into two batches.
- One batch hatch naturally with the mother.
- The other batch hatch with in an incubator with Lorenz making sure that he was the first moving object the gosling encountered.
- Lorenz marked the goslings so that he knew whether they had hatched naturally or whether they had hatched in an incubator.
- He then placed the gosling that were born in an incubator or with their natural mother together.
- Both Lorenz and the natural mother were present.
- He place all the goslings under a upturned box. The box was then removed and the goslings behaviour was recorded.
Findings
Findings
- After birth, the naturally hatched baby goslings followed their mother about whilst the incubator hatched goslings followed Lorenz around.
- When released from the upturned box, the naturally hatched goslings went straight to their mother, whereas the goslings hatched in an incubator went straight to Lorenz.
Conclusion
The Findings showed that the bonds are irreversible as even though the Goslings (that were born in incubator) saw their original mother, but they still followed Lorenz around.
Imprinting is a form of attachment, exhibited mainly by nidifugous birds (those who leave the nest soon after hatching), where close contact is kept with the first large moving object encountered.
Evaluation
Evaluation
Strengths
Strengths
There are number of other studies that demonstrate imprinting in animals.
For example, Guiton demonstrated that Leghorn chicks, expose to yellow rubber gloves while being fed during the first few weeks, become imprinted on the gloves.
This supports the view that Youngs are not born with predisposition to imprint on a specific object, but but on any moving object that is present during the critical period of development.
Therefore, Guiton's findings provide clear support support of Lorenz's original research and conclusions.
Weakness
There is dispute over the characteristics of imprinting.
For example for many it was thought that imprinting was irreversible process. However, Guiton found that he could reverse the imprinting in chickens that had initially tried to mate with the rubber gloves. He found that later, after they spent some time with their own species, they were able to engage in normal sexual behaviour with other chickens.
This suggests that imprinting may not, be from any other kind of learning.
Weakness
Harlow's resreach
- Harry Frederick Harlow was an American psychologist best known for his maternal-separation and social isolation experiments on rhesus monkeys, which manifested the importance of care giving and companionship to social and cognitive development.
Harlow's study
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrNBEhzjg8I
Aim
To test learning theory by comparing attachment in baby monkeys given a surrogate mother producing milk with those given soft toweling mother producing no milk.
Procedure
Procedure.
- There were two types of surrogate mothers: one made out of hard wire and the other soft toweling material.
- 16 monkeys were used, 4 in each condition.
A cage containing a wire mother producing milk and a toweling mother producing no milk.
A cage containing a wire mother producing no milk and a toweling mother producing milk.
A cage containing a wire mother producing milk.
A cage containing a toweling mother producing milk.
- The amount spent with each mother was recorded, as well as feeding time was recorded.
The monkeys were also frightened with loud noises to test for mother preference during the time of stress.
Findings
- Monkeys preferred contact with the toweling mother when given a choice of surrogate mother. (regardless of whether she produced milk)
- He monkeys even stretched across to the wire monkey to feed whilst still clinging to the toweled mother.
- Monkeys with only the wire surrogate suffered with diarrhea ( sign of stress)
- When frightened by aloud noise monkeys clung to the toweling mother.
- In larger cage conditions, monkeys with the toweling mother explored more and visited their surrogate mother more.
Conclusion
Conclusions
- Rhesus monkeys have an innate, unlearned needs for contact and comfort, suggesting that attachment concerns emotional security more than food.
- Contact comfort is associated with lower levels of stress ad a willingness to explore, indicating emotional security