Lorenz's animal study

Question 1

Describe Lorenz’s procedure

Answer 1

He randomly divided a large clutch of goose eggs. Half the eggs were hatched with the mother goose in their natural environment. The other half hatched in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was Lorenz.

Question 2

Describe Lorenz’s findings

Answer 2

The incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere whereas the control group (hatched in the presence of their mother) followed her. When the two groups were mixed up, the control group continued to follow the mother and the experimental group followed Lorenz. This phenomenon is called imprinting.

Question 3

What is meant by ‘imprinting’?

Answer 3

Where certain animals (especially those mobile from birth) attach to and follow the first moving object that they see.

Question 4

What is meant by ‘critical period’ for Lorenz?

Answer 4

Lorenz identified a critical period in which imprinting needs to take place. Depending on the species, this can be as brief as a few hours after hatching (or birth). If imprinting does not occur within that time, Lorenz found that chicks did not attach themselves to a mother figure.

Question 5

What did Lorenz discover about sexual imprinting?

Answer 5

Lorenz also investigated the relationship between imprinting and adult male preferences. He observed that birds that imprinted on a human would often later display courtship behaviour towards humans.

Question 6

Give a strength for Lorenz’s geese experiment

Answer 6

Research support - In a study, chicks were exposed to simple shapes that moved (a triangle with a rectangle intront of it)
Lots of different shape combinations were placed infront of the chicks - they followed the original shape more closely
This supports the view that young animals are born with an innate ability to imprint to moving objects presented to them in a critical window of development

Question 7

Give 2 limitations for Lorenz’s geese experiment

Answer 7

1. Generalisability to humans - the attachment in mammals is very different and more complex than that of birds. Mammals attachment is a two-way process (both the mother and young showing attachment). Therefore it is probably not appropriate to generalise Lorenz’s study to humans
2. Imprinting may not be permanent - psychologists found that chickens who imprinted onto yellow washing up gloves would later try to mate with them as Lorenz predicted. However, with experience they eventually learned to prefer mating with other chickens - imprinting can be reversed