... this study that maternal deprivation could have very serious effects on the child, including producing affectionless psychopathy. He also suggested that early maternal deprivation during the critical period in the formation of the attachment could have long lasting negative effects that were observable several years later. More support for Bowlby's views came from a piece of classic research conducted by Lorenz (1935). In this study, Lorenz became 'mother' to a brood of goslings. It was already known that many birds attach themselves to the first figure they see upon hatching and persist in this attachment, and Lorenz's work confirmed this. The phenomenon is called imprinting, an ethological concept taken from embryology. During pre-natal development, there are short periods when an individual is especially vulnerable. These times are called 'critical periods' and the effect is an imprint. Imprinting is an example of an instinct, an inherited behaviour pattern that predisposes an individual ...

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