Feb-22
3. Attachment
Animal studies: Lorenz & Harlow
Lorenz (1935): imprinting & critical period
Divided a clutch of geese eggs in half. Left half to hatch with the mother and put half in an
incubator so that when they hatched the first thing they saw would be him.
The incubator group followed him when they hatched and the control group followed the
mother, even when both groups were mixed up.
Concluded that the reason for this was imprinting; species mobile from birth attach to and follow
the first moving object they see.
Believed the geese had a critical period of 2 days to imprint, otherwise they would not imprint at
all.
Sexual imprinting (Lorenz): relationship between imprinting and adult mate preference
Observed that birds imprinted on humans at birth tended to show courtship behaviour towards
humans later in life.
E.g., peacock born in reptile house imprinted on a giant tortoise. Only displayed courtship
behaviour towards tortoises in adulthood, therefore sexually imprinted on giant tortoises.
EVALUATION:
+ Large contribution to psychological field
o Lorenz identified critical period and proposed that imprinting is innate; led to Bowlby’s
monotropic theory of attachment.
o Therefore, catalyst for further research and major progression in psychological field.
- Cannot extrapolate results
o Mammalian attachment system is different to that of birds. E.g., mothers show more emotional
attachment to young. Suggested that mammals can form attachments at any time?
o Therefore, low generalisability to humans in particular; a lot more emotion involved.
- Sexual imprinting is questioned
o Guiton et al (1966): chickens that imprinted on yellow rubber gloves at birth were eventually
able to mate with other chickens later in life.
o Therefore, evidence that imprinting may not permanently affect adult mating behaviour, as
Lorenz proposed.
Harlow (1958): whether food or comfort affect building an attachment
Created two wire mothers for 8 baby monkeys; one covered in cloth, one not. 4 monkeys had the
cloth mother provide them with milk, 4 had the wire mother.
Amount of time spent with each other was measure.
Found that all monkeys spent more time with the cloth mother, regardless of which provided the
milk. If they were frightened, they returned to the cloth mother for comfort.
Suggests that infants develop attachments with adults that provide them the most comfort,
rather than with those that provide food.
Maternally deprived monkeys (Harlow): effects of lack of real parental attachment
Critical period thought to be 90 days.
Monkeys did not develop normal social behaviour; they were aggressive, antisocial, and had
trouble mating.
Neglected or attacked/killed young.
EVALUATION:
, Feb-22
+ Practical value
o Helped social workers understand and prevent risk factors associated with child neglect and
abuse
o Therefore, has made a difference to lives; real-life application and benefit.
- Unethical
o Motherless monkeys developed abnormally (socially and sexually).
o Therefore, cruel to carry out research that cannot even be properly generalised to humans. Does
not pass C/B analysis.
- Confounding variables
o E.g., mothers had different heads, which may have affected the monkeys’ preference of which
mother they wanted to spend more time with. Cloth mother’s head was arguably more realistic-
looking.
o Therefore, results may lack internal validity and may be misleading, drawing inappropriate
conclusions about factors affecting attachment.
Learning theory of attachment
‘Cupboard love’ approach to attachment formed by Dollard and Miller (1950). Attachment formed via
classical and operant conditioning. Caregiver provides food and induces pleasure for infant.
Classical conditioning: associate two stimuli together
Food = UCS, pleasure = UCR. Parent = NS.
Parent (NS) continually provides the infant with food (UCS) and the two are associated for the
infant (UCS + NS). Pleasure is produced (UCS +NS = UCR).
Eventually, since food (UCS) and parent (NS) have been associated together, the parent becomes
a CS, able to elicit a response of pleasure (CR) in the infant in the absence of food. This is deemed
love/an attachment.
Operant conditioning: reinforcement of a behaviour due to its consequences
For infant: crying produces pleasant response from the caregiver (e.g., food, comfort). Behaviour
of crying is +vely reinforced as it provides the infant with a reward.
For caregiver: providing food/comfort avoids unpleasant behaviour of crying from the infant.
Provision of food/comfort is -vely reinforced as it allows caregiver to avoid an unpleasant
consequence.
Two-way process; mutual reinforcement for infant and caregiver form an attachment.
Sears (1957): attachment is a secondary drive
Hunger is innate and biological – primary drive.
Caregiver is associated with primary drive of hunger, making attachment a secondary drive by
association.
EVALUATION:
- Conflicting animal research
o Lorenz (1935): geese imprinted before they were fed
o Harlow (1958): preference for comfort over food
o Therefore, evidence that attachment does not develop as a result of conditioning via feeding
- Conflicting human research
o Schaffer & Emerson (1964): Many infants developed primary attachments to mother first,
despite other CGs feeding them more often.
3. Attachment
Animal studies: Lorenz & Harlow
Lorenz (1935): imprinting & critical period
Divided a clutch of geese eggs in half. Left half to hatch with the mother and put half in an
incubator so that when they hatched the first thing they saw would be him.
The incubator group followed him when they hatched and the control group followed the
mother, even when both groups were mixed up.
Concluded that the reason for this was imprinting; species mobile from birth attach to and follow
the first moving object they see.
Believed the geese had a critical period of 2 days to imprint, otherwise they would not imprint at
all.
Sexual imprinting (Lorenz): relationship between imprinting and adult mate preference
Observed that birds imprinted on humans at birth tended to show courtship behaviour towards
humans later in life.
E.g., peacock born in reptile house imprinted on a giant tortoise. Only displayed courtship
behaviour towards tortoises in adulthood, therefore sexually imprinted on giant tortoises.
EVALUATION:
+ Large contribution to psychological field
o Lorenz identified critical period and proposed that imprinting is innate; led to Bowlby’s
monotropic theory of attachment.
o Therefore, catalyst for further research and major progression in psychological field.
- Cannot extrapolate results
o Mammalian attachment system is different to that of birds. E.g., mothers show more emotional
attachment to young. Suggested that mammals can form attachments at any time?
o Therefore, low generalisability to humans in particular; a lot more emotion involved.
- Sexual imprinting is questioned
o Guiton et al (1966): chickens that imprinted on yellow rubber gloves at birth were eventually
able to mate with other chickens later in life.
o Therefore, evidence that imprinting may not permanently affect adult mating behaviour, as
Lorenz proposed.
Harlow (1958): whether food or comfort affect building an attachment
Created two wire mothers for 8 baby monkeys; one covered in cloth, one not. 4 monkeys had the
cloth mother provide them with milk, 4 had the wire mother.
Amount of time spent with each other was measure.
Found that all monkeys spent more time with the cloth mother, regardless of which provided the
milk. If they were frightened, they returned to the cloth mother for comfort.
Suggests that infants develop attachments with adults that provide them the most comfort,
rather than with those that provide food.
Maternally deprived monkeys (Harlow): effects of lack of real parental attachment
Critical period thought to be 90 days.
Monkeys did not develop normal social behaviour; they were aggressive, antisocial, and had
trouble mating.
Neglected or attacked/killed young.
EVALUATION:
, Feb-22
+ Practical value
o Helped social workers understand and prevent risk factors associated with child neglect and
abuse
o Therefore, has made a difference to lives; real-life application and benefit.
- Unethical
o Motherless monkeys developed abnormally (socially and sexually).
o Therefore, cruel to carry out research that cannot even be properly generalised to humans. Does
not pass C/B analysis.
- Confounding variables
o E.g., mothers had different heads, which may have affected the monkeys’ preference of which
mother they wanted to spend more time with. Cloth mother’s head was arguably more realistic-
looking.
o Therefore, results may lack internal validity and may be misleading, drawing inappropriate
conclusions about factors affecting attachment.
Learning theory of attachment
‘Cupboard love’ approach to attachment formed by Dollard and Miller (1950). Attachment formed via
classical and operant conditioning. Caregiver provides food and induces pleasure for infant.
Classical conditioning: associate two stimuli together
Food = UCS, pleasure = UCR. Parent = NS.
Parent (NS) continually provides the infant with food (UCS) and the two are associated for the
infant (UCS + NS). Pleasure is produced (UCS +NS = UCR).
Eventually, since food (UCS) and parent (NS) have been associated together, the parent becomes
a CS, able to elicit a response of pleasure (CR) in the infant in the absence of food. This is deemed
love/an attachment.
Operant conditioning: reinforcement of a behaviour due to its consequences
For infant: crying produces pleasant response from the caregiver (e.g., food, comfort). Behaviour
of crying is +vely reinforced as it provides the infant with a reward.
For caregiver: providing food/comfort avoids unpleasant behaviour of crying from the infant.
Provision of food/comfort is -vely reinforced as it allows caregiver to avoid an unpleasant
consequence.
Two-way process; mutual reinforcement for infant and caregiver form an attachment.
Sears (1957): attachment is a secondary drive
Hunger is innate and biological – primary drive.
Caregiver is associated with primary drive of hunger, making attachment a secondary drive by
association.
EVALUATION:
- Conflicting animal research
o Lorenz (1935): geese imprinted before they were fed
o Harlow (1958): preference for comfort over food
o Therefore, evidence that attachment does not develop as a result of conditioning via feeding
- Conflicting human research
o Schaffer & Emerson (1964): Many infants developed primary attachments to mother first,
despite other CGs feeding them more often.
