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Psychology - Attachment > Animal studies > Flashcards

Flashcards in Animal studies Deck (17)
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1
Q

Who was heavily influenced by Lorenz and Harlow’s work?

A

John Bowlby

2
Q

What assumption are animal studies based on?

A

There is a biological continuity between animals and humans, so what is true for animals is also true for humans

3
Q

What specific behaviour did Lorenz study?

A

Imprinting

4
Q

Define imprinting

A

A form of attachment where offspring follow the first large moving object they see

5
Q

What animal did Lorenz use in his study?

A

Greylag geese

6
Q

What did Lorenz record about the behaviour of the baby geese?

A

Those who had imprinted on him followed him around in the same way as those who had imprinted on their mother followed her around

7
Q

What did Lorenz note about time and imprinting?

A

It would only occur within a short time period of between 4 and 25 hours after hatching

8
Q

What did Lorenz discover about the continuity of the relationships of the geese?

A

When they sexually matured, the geese that had imprinted on Lorenz made sexual advances on humans

9
Q

What is one issue with animal studies?

A

Extrapolation: Can the behaviour of geese/monkeys be used to explain the behaviour of humans?

10
Q

What was the focus of Harlow’s study?

A

To test the learning theory explanation of attachment

11
Q

What animal did Harlow use in his study?

A

Rhesus monkeys

12
Q

What were the four conditions of Harlow’s experiment?

A

A wire mother producing milk and a towelling mother producing no milk; a towelling mother producing milk and a wire mother producing no milk; a wire mother producing milk; a towelling mother producing milk

13
Q

What three things did Harlow measure?

A

The amount of time spent with each mother, a stress test to see mother preference and degree of exploration

14
Q

What did Harlow find?

A

In times of stress the towelling mother was preferred, and even when she didn’t produce milk the monkeys spent more time with her. Those who didn’t have a towelling mother showed signs of stress e.g. diarrhoea and showed less degree of exploration

15
Q

What further research did Harlow conduct?

A

He observed the baby monkeys’ adult behaviour which included self-harming, and then their sexual behaviour, which was non-existent (used a rape rack to impregnate them), and their parenting behaviour which was often violent and resulted in the baby’s death

16
Q

Define evolutionary discontinuity

A

Can’t extrapolate across species because we have qualitative differences

17
Q

What are the practical applications of Harlow’s work?

A

Neglect is not just about needs it is also about love and emotions