Lorenz’s animal study of attachment | AQA A-Level Psychology Revision
Updated: Sep 9
For 7182 specification, first teach in September 2025
AQA A-Level Psychology | Free Revision Notes
Estimated study time: 40 minutes
These Lorenz’s animal study of attachment A-Level Psychology revision notes examine how newborn goslings form an early bond through imprinting. Lorenz compared goslings hatched naturally by their mother with goslings hatched in an incubator in his presence. His findings suggest that attachment-like behaviour develops rapidly during an important early period and may influence later behaviour. The AQA specification identifies Lorenz as one of the required animal studies of attachment.
Learning Objectives 🎯
By the end of this revision page, you should be able to:
Describe the procedure and findings of Lorenz’s animal study.
Define imprinting.
Explain why imprinting must occur during an important early period.
Explain sexual imprinting.
Apply Lorenz’s findings to unfamiliar animal-research scenarios.
Evaluate the strengths and limitations of using animal research to understand human attachment.
Revision Notes 📚
Lorenz’s animal study of attachment A-Level Psychology revision overview
Konrad Lorenz investigated early attachment-like behaviour in birds.
His research focused on imprinting, a rapid form of attachment in which a newborn animal follows and forms a bond with the first moving object it encounters.
Lorenz wanted to discover:
Whether young birds automatically attach to their biological mother.
Whether they can become attached to another moving object.
How soon after hatching attachment-like behaviour develops.
Whether early imprinting influences later social and sexual behaviour.
His work is important because it suggests that some early attachment behaviour may be biologically programmed rather than learned slowly through feeding or reinforcement.
What is attachment in animal research?
In human Psychology, attachment refers to a strong emotional bond between individuals.
When studying young birds, psychologists cannot ask whether the animal feels an emotional bond. They must use observable behaviour as an indication of attachment.
Lorenz used following behaviour as his main measure.
A gosling that consistently followed Lorenz rather than its biological mother was treated as having imprinted on Lorenz.
This is an example of operationalisation because an abstract idea, attachment, was measured through a visible behaviour.
Why did Lorenz study goslings?
Goslings are able to move around soon after hatching.
This makes it possible to observe:
Which figure they follow.
How quickly following begins.
Whether the following preference remains stable.
What happens when different groups are tested together.
Following an adult is likely to have survival value. Staying close to a protective caregiver may help a young bird obtain:
Safety.
Warmth.
Access to suitable feeding areas.
Protection from predators.
Lorenz’s research therefore investigated a behaviour with an important biological function.
The aim of Lorenz’s study
Lorenz aimed to investigate whether goslings would imprint on the first moving object they saw after hatching.
He also wanted to examine whether:
Imprinting occurred only during a limited early period.
The imprinted figure continued to be followed.
Early imprinting affected later mate preferences.
The procedure
Lorenz used a clutch of greylag goose eggs.
The eggs were randomly divided into two groups.
The naturally hatched group
The eggs in the control group were:
Left to hatch naturally.
Hatched with the biological mother present.
Exposed to the mother as their first moving object.
The incubator group
The eggs in the experimental group were:
Hatched in an incubator.
Separated from the biological mother.
Exposed to Lorenz as the first moving object they saw.
Lorenz observed which figure each group followed.
The test of imprinting
After hatching, the goslings from the two groups were mixed together.
They were then released from a box while both:
Lorenz
The biological mother
were available.
This allowed Lorenz to test whether the goslings had developed different following preferences.
The groups had the same species and similar early ages, but they differed in the figure present when they hatched.
The findings
The naturally hatched goslings followed their biological mother.
The incubator-hatched goslings followed Lorenz.
When the groups were mixed:
The naturally hatched goslings went to the mother.
The incubator-hatched goslings went to Lorenz.
The incubator group continued to follow Lorenz even though their biological mother was now available.
This suggests that the goslings did not automatically attach to their biological mother simply because she was their parent.
Instead, they became attached to the first moving figure they encountered.
Summary of the procedure and findings
Group | Hatching condition | First moving figure seen | Figure followed during the test |
Naturally hatched group | Hatched with the mother | Biological mother | Biological mother |
Incubator group | Hatched with Lorenz present | Lorenz | Lorenz |
The critical difference was the first moving figure encountered after hatching.
What is imprinting?
Imprinting is a rapid attachment-like process in which a young animal follows and forms a bond with the first moving object it encounters during an important early period.
The object of imprinting is often the biological mother, but Lorenz’s findings show that it does not have to be.
A gosling may imprint on:
Its biological mother.
A human.
Another moving object.
The behaviour appears to develop quickly and without extensive training.
Features of imprinting
Lorenz’s findings suggest that imprinting:
Occurs very soon after hatching.
Is directed towards the first suitable moving object.
Produces strong following behaviour.
Does not depend on recognising the biological mother.
Influences later social behaviour.
Must begin within a limited early period.
Imprinting is not ordinary imitation
Imprinting should not be confused with imitation.
Imitation involves copying another individual’s behaviour.
Imprinting involves developing an attachment-like following response towards a particular figure.
For example:
A gosling copying the way another bird pecks would be imitation.
A gosling following Lorenz as though he were its caregiver would be imprinting.
Imprinting and learning theory
Lorenz’s findings challenge a simple feeding-based account of attachment.
The incubator goslings followed Lorenz even though he was not their biological mother.
The attachment-like response developed rapidly rather than through a long history of food reinforcement.
This suggests that imprinting may involve an innate predisposition to follow a suitable moving figure.
This provides an important contrast with conditioning and reinforcement as explanations of attachment.
The importance of an early period
Lorenz concluded that imprinting had to occur within a limited period shortly after hatching.
In goslings, this period lasted only a few hours.
If a suitable moving figure was encountered during this time, imprinting could occur.
If imprinting did not occur during this period, the young bird did not later form the usual attachment to its mother.
This early window is often described as a critical period.
What is a critical period?
A critical period is a limited stage of development during which a particular behaviour or attachment must form.
If the relevant experience does not occur during this period, normal development may not take place.
Applied to Lorenz’s goslings:
The gosling hatches.
The critical period begins.
The first moving figure is encountered.
Imprinting occurs.
The gosling follows that figure.
If no suitable figure is encountered within the period, later imprinting becomes difficult or may not occur normally.
Why might a critical period be adaptive?
A young bird needs to begin following a protective adult quickly.
A long process of deciding which figure to follow could place the animal at risk.
Rapid imprinting may help ensure that the young animal:
Remains close to protection.
Does not become separated from the group.
Learns where to move and feed.
Avoids danger.
The behaviour may therefore have developed because it increased the chance of survival.
Critical periods in animals and humans
Lorenz’s findings suggest that early experience can have a particularly powerful effect.
This idea influenced theories proposing that human attachments also need to form during an important early period.
However, the timing and nature of attachment in humans are not identical to imprinting in birds.
The concept should therefore be applied cautiously when studying Bowlby’s theory of a critical period in human attachment.
Critical period or sensitive period?
A strict critical-period explanation suggests that development cannot occur normally once the period has ended.
A sensitive period is a time when development occurs most easily, although later recovery remains possible.
Lorenz’s findings support a relatively strict early period for imprinting in goslings.
Human development may be more flexible.
Evidence of recovery among some children following improved care suggests that an early human attachment period may be sensitive rather than completely fixed.
This issue is considered further through recovery following early institutional care.
Sexual imprinting
Lorenz also observed sexual imprinting.
Sexual imprinting occurs when the figure or species on which an animal imprints influences its later choice of mate.
Some birds that had imprinted on humans later directed courtship or mating behaviour towards humans rather than members of their own species.
This suggests that early imprinting may have a long-lasting influence.
Why sexual imprinting matters
Sexual imprinting indicates that the effects of early experience may continue beyond infancy.
The young animal does not simply follow the imprinted figure immediately after hatching.
Its early experience may also influence:
Social preferences.
Recognition of suitable companions.
Later courtship behaviour.
Mate selection.
Lorenz’s findings therefore suggest continuity between early attachment-like experiences and later relationships.
This can be compared cautiously with the possible influence of early bonds on later relationships.
Imprinting and long-term consequences
Lorenz’s research suggests the following sequence:
Early exposure to a moving figure → imprinting → stable following preference → later social and sexual preferences
This does not mean that human romantic relationships are determined by imprinting.
It means that the study provides animal evidence that very early social experiences can have lasting behavioural effects.
Applying Lorenz’s research
Example involving an incubator
A group of ducklings hatch in an incubator.
The first moving object they see is a researcher wearing a red coat. They begin following the researcher and continue to do so when an adult duck is introduced.
Lorenz’s findings could explain this because:
The researcher was the first moving figure seen.
The ducklings encountered the researcher during the early period for imprinting.
They imprinted on the researcher rather than the adult duck.
They therefore continued to follow the researcher.
Example involving delayed exposure
A second group of birds is kept without a moving figure for an extended period after hatching.
When an adult bird is later introduced, the young birds do not develop normal following behaviour.
Lorenz would explain this by proposing that:
The early critical period had passed.
No suitable figure had been available during the period.
Imprinting did not occur at the usual time.
Later exposure did not produce the normal attachment-like response.
Example involving later mate preference
A bird is raised after hatching by members of a different species.
As an adult, it directs courtship behaviour towards that species rather than its own.
This could be explained through sexual imprinting because the bird’s early attachment figure influenced its later mate preference.
How to apply the study effectively
Use this four-stage structure:
Identify the first moving figure.
State whether it was encountered during the early period.
Explain that imprinting occurred.
Predict the animal’s following or later social behaviour.
Weak application
The bird follows the researcher because of Lorenz’s study.
Stronger application
The researcher was the first moving figure the bird encountered shortly after hatching. According to Lorenz, the bird would imprint on the researcher during the critical period and continue to follow them rather than its biological mother.
What might Lorenz’s study tell us about human attachment?
Early experience may be important
Lorenz’s work supports the general idea that early relationships can have lasting effects.
Applied cautiously to humans, it suggests that:
Early social contact is important.
Attachment may be easier to form during an early period.
Disruption during early development may have later consequences.
Some attachment behaviour may have a biological basis.
These ideas are relevant to the possible long-term effects of disrupted early bonds.
Attachment may have an innate basis
The rapid development of imprinting suggests that the behaviour is not learned entirely through gradual reinforcement.
Young birds appear biologically prepared to follow a moving figure.
This supports the wider claim that attachment-related behaviours may have evolved because they promote survival.
Human attachment is more complex, but humans may also have biologically influenced behaviours that support proximity to caregivers.
Early attachments may influence later relationships
Sexual imprinting suggests that an early attachment figure can influence later social preferences.
This is broadly consistent with the idea that early relationships may provide a foundation for later relationships.
However, the processes in humans involve:
More complex social experiences.
Language and conscious thought.
Multiple relationships.
Cultural influences.
Greater developmental flexibility.
Animal sexual imprinting should therefore not be treated as a direct model of adult human relationships.
Evaluating Lorenz’s research
Strength: a controlled comparison
Lorenz compared two groups that experienced different early conditions.
One group first encountered the biological mother.
The other group first encountered Lorenz.
The clear difference in later following behaviour supports the conclusion that the first moving figure influenced imprinting.
Randomly dividing the eggs also helped reduce the likelihood that pre-existing differences between the goslings explained the result.
Strength: observable behaviour
The dependent variable was visible following behaviour.
Lorenz could observe whether each gosling followed:
Him.
The biological mother.
This is more objective than asking a person to report an emotional bond.
Observable behaviour can be recorded and compared between groups.
This increases the scientific value of the study.
Strength: a clear behavioural prediction
The study produced a clear and testable prediction:
A young bird will follow the first moving figure encountered during the early period for imprinting.
This allows other researchers to:
Repeat the procedure.
Observe other species.
Change the timing of exposure.
Compare different attachment figures.
A theory that makes testable predictions can be investigated scientifically.
Strength: some behaviour was studied in a natural form
Following an adult is a naturally occurring behaviour in goslings.
Lorenz was therefore investigating a species-typical response rather than teaching the birds a completely artificial task.
This gives the behaviour itself some ecological validity.
However, the incubator condition and exposure to a human were not the normal hatching circumstances for a gosling.
Strength: theoretical value
Lorenz’s work contributed to the idea that attachment may involve innate and evolutionary processes.
His findings suggest that:
Early attachment-like behaviour develops rapidly.
It has survival value.
There is an important early period.
Early experience may influence later behaviour.
These ideas helped psychologists develop theories of human attachment.
Strength: practical value
Animal research can identify questions that may later be investigated in humans without deliberately harming human infants.
Lorenz’s research encouraged psychologists to investigate:
The importance of early caregiver contact.
Whether there is a human critical or sensitive period.
The possible long-term effects of disrupted attachment.
Whether early intervention can reduce later difficulties.
The practical value comes from generating hypotheses and identifying possible developmental risk factors.
Limitation: problems generalising from birds to humans
The greatest limitation is that goslings and human infants are very different.
Goslings are precocial, meaning they are relatively developed and mobile shortly after hatching.
Human infants are altricial, meaning they are born less developed and remain highly dependent on caregivers.
A gosling must follow a moving figure almost immediately.
A human infant does not move independently in the same way and forms attachment through more complex and extended interactions.
This limits the extent to which imprinting can explain human attachment.
Limitation: human attachment is more complex
Following behaviour is not identical to a human emotional attachment.
Human relationships may involve:
Emotional security.
Communication.
Shared experiences.
Care over an extended period.
Several attachment figures.
Cultural expectations.
Lorenz demonstrated that goslings follow an imprinted figure.
He did not demonstrate that human infants form attachments through exactly the same mechanism.
Limitation: imprinting may be species-specific
Different species face different survival demands.
Rapid imprinting is particularly useful to birds that can move shortly after hatching.
The behaviour may be less useful as a model for species whose young remain in a nest or depend on prolonged physical care.
The results may therefore tell us more about attachment-like behaviour in certain birds than about attachment across all animals.
Limitation: attachment was operationalised narrowly
Lorenz measured attachment through following behaviour.
This was clear and observable, but it may capture only one aspect of the relationship.
The gosling’s behaviour does not directly reveal:
Its emotional experience.
Whether it felt secure.
How it responded to separation.
Whether the bond involved anything beyond following.
The operational definition made the study scientific, but it also simplified attachment.
Limitation: differences between the conditions
The two groups experienced different hatching environments.
One group hatched:
Naturally.
In the presence of the mother.
The other group hatched:
In an incubator.
In the presence of a human.
The groups therefore differed in more than the identity of the attachment figure.
Differences in:
Environment.
Sensory stimulation.
Human contact.
Maternal presence.
could also have influenced behaviour.
The clear pattern supports imprinting, but the study was not a perfectly controlled modern laboratory experiment.
Limitation: the critical period may be less strict in humans
Lorenz found that gosling imprinting had to occur within a few hours.
Human attachment appears to develop over a much longer and more flexible period.
Some children who experience poor early care can form later relationships when their environment improves.
This suggests that a strict critical period in birds may not transfer directly to humans.
A sensitive-period explanation may be more appropriate for human development.
Limitation: ethical concerns
Lorenz separated some eggs from their biological mother and arranged for the goslings to imprint on a human.
This may have caused long-term consequences, including inappropriate later mate preferences.
The animals could not return easily to a typical developmental path once imprinting had occurred.
Ethical concerns include:
Separation from the natural mother.
Interference with normal social development.
Possible long-term effects on mating behaviour.
The researcher’s responsibility to protect animal welfare.
These costs must be balanced against the scientific knowledge gained.
Lorenz compared with Harlow
Lorenz studied birds, while Harlow studied rhesus monkeys.
Monkeys are mammals and are more closely related to humans than birds are.
This may make evidence about contact comfort from a mammalian species more relevant to human attachment.
However, neither bird nor monkey behaviour can be assumed to provide a perfect model of human relationships.
Both studies must be evaluated in terms of:
Species differences.
Scientific control.
Ethical costs.
Relevance to human attachment.
Evaluating animal research more broadly
Why psychologists use animal studies
Animal research can allow psychologists to:
Control early environments.
Observe development from birth.
Manipulate variables that could not ethically be manipulated with human infants.
Study the long-term effects of early experience.
Test biologically based explanations.
For example, it would be unethical to deliberately prevent a human infant from seeing a caregiver in order to test whether attachment fails.
Animal studies can investigate related processes, although the findings must be applied cautiously.
Greater control
Researchers can often control:
The timing of birth or hatching.
The figure present after birth.
Feeding conditions.
Physical surroundings.
Later social contact.
This makes cause-and-effect conclusions easier than in many studies of human families.
However, greater control may also create artificial conditions that do not represent normal development.
Longitudinal observations
Animals can sometimes be observed across a greater proportion of their lifespan.
This allows researchers to investigate whether early experience affects:
Adult social behaviour.
Mate preference.
Parenting behaviour.
Lorenz’s observations of sexual imprinting demonstrate this advantage.
Evolutionary similarities
Humans and other animals share some biological processes.
Attachment-related behaviour may help young animals across many species remain close to protection.
This provides a reason to investigate possible continuities between species.
However, evolutionary similarity does not mean behavioural identity.
A conclusion should specify which broad principle might generalise rather than assuming every detail is the same.
Species differences
Animal research is most useful when the species shares relevant characteristics with humans.
Important questions include:
Does the species develop at a similar rate?
Does it depend on prolonged caregiver contact?
Does it form complex social relationships?
Is the measured behaviour comparable with human attachment?
Does the species face similar developmental challenges?
Lorenz’s goslings differ substantially from human infants in these respects.
Ethical cost and scientific benefit
Animal research should not be evaluated only by saying that it is unethical.
A developed evaluation should consider:
What harm or disruption occurred.
Whether the harm was necessary.
What knowledge was gained.
Whether less harmful methods were available.
Whether the findings have sufficient value to justify the cost.
In Lorenz’s study, the scientific value includes evidence about imprinting and an early attachment period.
The ethical cost includes interference with normal maternal and sexual behaviour.
The best overall conclusion
Lorenz provides strong evidence that goslings imprint rapidly on the first moving figure they encounter.
The study supports the existence of an early period for attachment-like behaviour in this species.
It also suggests that early experience can influence later social and sexual behaviour.
However, imprinting in precocial birds is not the same as emotional attachment in human infants.
The study is therefore most useful for:
Generating ideas about the biological basis of attachment.
Demonstrating the possible importance of early experience.
Inspiring research into human critical or sensitive periods.
It should not be used as direct proof that human attachment operates through imprinting.
Answering examination questions
Describing the procedure
A good procedure answer should include:
Goose eggs were divided into two groups.
One group hatched naturally with the mother.
One group hatched in an incubator with Lorenz present.
The goslings were later mixed and released.
Lorenz observed which figure each group followed.
Describing the findings
A good findings answer should state:
Naturally hatched goslings followed the mother.
Incubator-hatched goslings followed Lorenz.
Imprinting occurred during a few hours after hatching.
Failure to imprint during this period prevented normal later attachment.
Early imprinting affected later mate preferences.
Do not retell the procedure when the question asks only for findings.
Evaluating a limitation
Use this structure:
State the limitation.
Explain it using details of the study.
Explain why it matters.
For example:
Goslings are precocial and can follow a caregiver immediately after hatching, whereas human infants are born less developed. This means imprinting in goslings may not accurately represent the slower and more complex development of human attachment, limiting generalisation.
Discussing what the study tells us about humans
Use a chain of reasoning:
State Lorenz’s animal finding.
Identify the possible human implication.
Evaluate whether the process is comparable.
Reach a cautious judgement.
For example:
Lorenz found that imprinting had to occur during a limited early period. This may support the idea that humans also have an important early period for attachment. However, human infants develop more slowly than goslings and can sometimes recover from poor early care, so Lorenz cannot establish a strict human critical period.
Hints from the Examiner Reports 💡
Examiner hint: Learn the findings precisely. The incubator-hatched goslings followed Lorenz, while the naturally hatched goslings followed their mother.
Examiner hint: Include the timing of imprinting. Lorenz concluded that it occurred within a few hours after hatching, not at any point in the animal’s life.
Examiner hint: Use specialist terminology such as imprinting, critical period, sexual imprinting, precocial and generalisability where relevant.
Examiner hint: When asked what animal studies tell us about human attachment, make every link explicit. State the animal finding, explain its possible human implication and then assess the species difference.
Examiner hint: Many students can describe Lorenz accurately but lose evaluation marks by discussing the original study without answering the precise question.
Examiner hint: Ethical issues need development. Explain the actual effect on the animals and why that affects the acceptability or value of the research.
Examiner hint: For a question asking for one limitation, develop one coherent argument rather than listing several undeveloped criticisms.
Examiner hint: Do not assume that imprinting proves Bowlby’s theory. Lorenz provides relevant animal evidence, but human attachment is more complex and may involve a sensitive rather than completely fixed critical period.
AQA examiner commentary has emphasised that stronger answers linked Lorenz’s findings directly to human attachment, critical periods, later relationships and species differences rather than providing disconnected study evaluation.
Common Mistakes ⚠️
Mistake: Saying that all goslings followed Lorenz
Why this is incorrect:
Only the incubator-hatched goslings that first encountered Lorenz followed him.
How to improve:
Distinguish the experimental and naturally hatched groups.
Mistake: Saying that the incubator goslings followed their mother
Why this is incorrect:
They followed Lorenz because he was the first moving figure they encountered.
How to improve:
Remember:
Natural hatching → mother.
Incubator with Lorenz → Lorenz.
Mistake: Defining imprinting as imitation
Why this is incorrect:
Imprinting involves attachment-like following, not copying behaviour.
How to improve:
Refer to forming a bond with the first moving figure during an early period.
Mistake: Saying that goslings recognised Lorenz as their biological parent
Why this is incorrect:
The study suggests that imprinting does not depend on biological relatedness.
How to improve:
State that the first moving figure became the object of imprinting.
Mistake: Forgetting the critical period
Why this is incorrect:
The timing of exposure is central to Lorenz’s conclusion.
How to improve:
Explain that imprinting occurred within a few hours of hatching.
Mistake: Saying that imprinting can occur equally easily at any age
Why this is incorrect:
Lorenz found that the behaviour depended on an early developmental period.
How to improve:
Link successful imprinting to early exposure.
Mistake: Confusing sexual imprinting with immediate following
Why this is incorrect:
Following occurs shortly after hatching. Sexual imprinting concerns later mate preference.
How to improve:
Distinguish the immediate and long-term effects.
Mistake: Treating imprinting as identical to human attachment
Why this is incorrect:
Human attachment is a more complex emotional and social relationship.
How to improve:
Use Lorenz as indirect animal evidence rather than direct proof.
Mistake: Saying that animal studies never tell us anything about humans
Why this is too extreme:
Humans and animals may share biological principles, including behaviours that support survival.
How to improve:
Evaluate the possible continuity while recognising species differences.
Mistake: Saying that animal findings automatically apply to humans
Why this is incorrect:
Goslings are precocial birds, while human infants are altricial and develop more slowly.
How to improve:
Explain why generalisation must be cautious.
Mistake: Listing ethical issues without development
Why this is incomplete:
A statement such as “the study was unethical” does not explain what harm occurred.
How to improve:
Refer to separation from the mother and possible long-term disruption of normal social or mating behaviour.
Mistake: Evaluating Harlow when the question asks about Lorenz
Why this is incorrect:
Both are animal studies of attachment, but they investigated different processes.
How to improve:
Keep the focus on imprinting, the early period and gosling behaviour unless comparison is required.
Mistake: Describing the procedure when asked for findings
Why this is incorrect:
A findings question requires results and conclusions rather than how the eggs were divided.
How to improve:
State what each group followed and what Lorenz concluded about timing and later behaviour.
Exam-Style Questions ✍️
Question 1
Which one of the following best defines imprinting?
A. Copying the behaviour of another animal
B. Learning to approach a figure that provides food
C. Forming an attachment-like response to the first moving object seen during an early period
D. Becoming less anxious after repeated exposure to a caregiver
[1 mark]
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Answer: C. Forming an attachment-like response to the first moving object seen during an early period
Question 2
Define sexual imprinting.
[2 marks]
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Mark scheme
AO1 = 2
2 marks: Clear definition linking early imprinting to later mate preference or sexual behaviour.
1 mark: Limited or partial definition.
Indicative content
Early imprinting can influence later sexual behaviour.
The animal may later direct courtship or mating behaviour towards members of the species, or type of object, on which it originally imprinted.
Lorenz found that geese later attempted to mate with the species on which they had imprinted.
Example answer
Sexual imprinting occurs when the figure or species an animal imprints on early in life influences the type of individual it later directs mating behaviour towards.
Question 3
Outline the procedure used in Lorenz’s animal study of attachment.
[4 marks]
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Mark scheme
AO1 = 4
Award 1 mark for each relevant point, up to 4 marks.
Indicative content
Lorenz divided a clutch of goose eggs into two groups.
One group hatched naturally with the mother goose present.
The other group was hatched in an incubator with Lorenz present.
Lorenz observed which figure the goslings followed after hatching.
The groups could later be mixed to see whether each gosling continued to follow the figure on which it had imprinted.
AQA's mark scheme specifically credits the division of the eggs, natural and incubator hatching conditions, and recording of following behaviour.
Example answer
Lorenz divided goose eggs into two groups. One group hatched naturally with the mother goose, while the other hatched in an incubator with Lorenz present. He observed who the goslings followed after hatching and later mixed the groups to see whether they continued following their original attachment figure.
Question 4
Outline two findings from Lorenz’s study.
[4 marks]
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Mark scheme
AO1 = 4
Award up to 2 marks for each finding.
Indicative content
Finding 1
Goslings hatched with their mother followed the mother.
Incubator-hatched goslings followed Lorenz.
When mixed together, each group continued to follow the figure on which it had imprinted.
Finding 2
Imprinting occurred only during a critical period shortly after hatching.
If imprinting did not occur during this period, normal following behaviour did not develop.
Also credit Lorenz's finding of sexual imprinting, where geese later directed mating behaviour towards the species on which they had imprinted.
Example answer
One finding was that incubator-hatched goslings followed Lorenz, whereas naturally hatched goslings followed their mother. A second finding was that imprinting had to occur within a critical period shortly after hatching, otherwise normal attachment-like following behaviour did not develop.
Question 5
A group of newly hatched birds first sees a farm worker. Several hours later, the birds follow the worker rather than an adult bird of their own species.
Use Lorenz’s research to explain this behaviour.
[4 marks]
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Mark scheme
AO2 = 4
Award 1 mark each for:
The birds encounter the farm worker soon after hatching.
This occurs during the early critical period for imprinting.
The worker is the moving figure on which the birds imprint.
Imprinting explains why they later follow the worker rather than an adult bird of their own species.
Indicative content
Lorenz found that incubator-hatched goslings imprinted on him and followed him rather than their biological mother.
Example answer
The birds may have imprinted on the farm worker because he was the moving figure they encountered shortly after hatching. According to Lorenz, imprinting occurs during an early critical period. Once they have imprinted on the worker, they follow him rather than an adult bird of their own species.
Question 6
A researcher records the following results:
Hatching condition | Number following a human | Number following the biological mother |
Human present at hatching | 9 | 1 |
Mother present at hatching | 1 | 9 |
Describe the pattern shown in the results. Explain one conclusion the researcher could draw about imprinting.
[5 marks]
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Mark scheme
AO2 = 5
Award credit for accurate description and explanation.
Indicative content
When a human is present at hatching, 9 birds follow the human and only 1 follows the biological mother.
When the biological mother is present at hatching, the pattern is reversed, 9 follow the mother and only 1 follows the human.
The figure present at hatching therefore strongly predicts later following behaviour.
This supports the idea that young birds imprint on a moving figure encountered shortly after hatching.
Following behaviour is therefore not determined simply by biological relatedness.
Example answer
There is a clear reversal between the two conditions. When a human is present at hatching, 9 birds follow the human and only 1 follows the mother. When the mother is present, 9 follow her and only 1 follows the human. The researcher could conclude that birds tend to imprint on the figure present shortly after hatching, rather than automatically following their biological mother.
Question 7
A young bird is not exposed to a moving figure until a considerable time after hatching. It does not later show normal following behaviour.
Explain this finding with reference to the critical period.
[4 marks]
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Mark scheme
AO2 = 4
Award 1 mark each for:
Imprinting must occur during a limited critical period shortly after hatching.
The bird was not exposed to an appropriate moving figure during this period.
Once the critical period has passed, imprinting becomes very difficult or may not occur normally.
This explains the later absence of normal following behaviour.
AQA credits Lorenz's finding that imprinting occurred only within a few hours after hatching and that failure to imprint in this period prevented normal attachment to the mother.
Example answer
Lorenz proposed that imprinting must occur during a critical period shortly after hatching. Because the bird did not encounter a moving figure until much later, this period had already passed. It therefore failed to imprint normally, explaining why normal following behaviour did not develop.
Question 8
Explain one reason why findings from Lorenz’s goslings may not generalise to human attachment.
[4 marks]
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Mark scheme
AO3 = 4
Award credit for one clearly developed reason.
Indicative content
Geese and humans are biologically and behaviourally very different.
Goslings are precocial, relatively developed and mobile soon after hatching, whereas human infants are much more dependent at birth.
Human attachment develops through complex emotional and social interactions over a longer period.
Therefore, imprinting in geese may not accurately represent the processes involved in human attachment.
AQA specifically credits species differences, including precocial/altricial differences, when evaluating the generalisability of Lorenz's research.
Example answer
One problem is that goslings and human infants develop very differently. Goslings are precocial and can move around soon after hatching, whereas human babies are highly dependent on caregivers. Human attachment also develops through much more complex social and emotional interaction, so findings about imprinting in geese may not generalise directly to humans.
Question 9
Outline one scientific strength and one ethical limitation of Lorenz’s animal study.
[6 marks]
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Mark scheme
AO3 = 6
Award up to 3 marks for the scientific strength and 3 marks for the ethical limitation.
Indicative content
Scientific strength
Lorenz compared goslings raised under different controlled hatching conditions.
The procedure allowed the early attachment figure to be systematically varied.
Following behaviour could be directly observed and compared between groups.
This makes the relationship between early exposure and later following behaviour clearer.
Ethical limitation
Eggs and goslings in the experimental condition were separated from their biological mother.
Imprinting on a human may have disrupted normal species-typical social or later sexual behaviour.
This raises animal-welfare concerns because the procedure could have long-term effects that the animals could not choose to experience.
AQA specifically accepts separating animals from their natural mothers as an ethical limitation of animal attachment research.
Example answer
One scientific strength is that Lorenz used different hatching conditions and directly observed which figure each gosling followed. This allowed him to systematically investigate the effect of the first moving object encountered on later following behaviour.
One ethical limitation is that some goslings were separated from their biological mother and encouraged to imprint on Lorenz. This could interfere with their normal social and later sexual behaviour, raising concerns about the long-term welfare of the animals.
Question 10
Discuss Lorenz’s animal study of attachment. In your answer, explain what the study may tell us about human attachment.
[16 marks]
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