Animal Stages of Attachment
Lorenz’s research- Imprinting
Procedure
- Set up a classic experiment in which he randomly divided a clutch of
goose eggs.
- Half of the eggs were hatched with the mother goose in their natural
environment.
- The other half hatched in an incubator where the first moving object was
Lorenz.
Findings
- Incubator group followed Lorenz
everywhere.
- Control group, that was hatched in the
presence of their mother followed her.
- When the groups were mixed, both
groups still followed their perspective
‘mother’ figure.
- Lorenz identified a critical period for
imprinting.
→ Depending on the species, this
can be only a few hours after
birth.
→ If imprinting does not occur within that time, chicks would not
attach themselves to a mother figure.
Sexual imprinting
- Lorenz investigated the relationship between imprinting and adult mate
references.
- Birds that imprinted on a human would later display courtship behaviour
towards humans.
- Case study
→ Described a peacock that had been reared in a reptile house of a
zoo where the first moving object it saw was giant tortoises.
→ As an adult, this bird would direct courtship behaviour toward giant
tortoises.
→ Conclusion-peacock underwent sexual imprinting.
Evaluation
Generalisability to humans
- Lorenz was interested in imprinting on birds.
- Findings have influenced understanding of human development BUT there
is a problem with generalising from findings on birds.
→ E.g. mammalian attachment system is different from birds.
Lorenz’s research- Imprinting
Procedure
- Set up a classic experiment in which he randomly divided a clutch of
goose eggs.
- Half of the eggs were hatched with the mother goose in their natural
environment.
- The other half hatched in an incubator where the first moving object was
Lorenz.
Findings
- Incubator group followed Lorenz
everywhere.
- Control group, that was hatched in the
presence of their mother followed her.
- When the groups were mixed, both
groups still followed their perspective
‘mother’ figure.
- Lorenz identified a critical period for
imprinting.
→ Depending on the species, this
can be only a few hours after
birth.
→ If imprinting does not occur within that time, chicks would not
attach themselves to a mother figure.
Sexual imprinting
- Lorenz investigated the relationship between imprinting and adult mate
references.
- Birds that imprinted on a human would later display courtship behaviour
towards humans.
- Case study
→ Described a peacock that had been reared in a reptile house of a
zoo where the first moving object it saw was giant tortoises.
→ As an adult, this bird would direct courtship behaviour toward giant
tortoises.
→ Conclusion-peacock underwent sexual imprinting.
Evaluation
Generalisability to humans
- Lorenz was interested in imprinting on birds.
- Findings have influenced understanding of human development BUT there
is a problem with generalising from findings on birds.
→ E.g. mammalian attachment system is different from birds.
