re: walking dead opening scene

As far as grabbing the bear, it could be part of some primal instinct for comfort, which was overrided by the more powerful urge to eat once she heard Rick.

In some species the need for comfort is stronger than the need for food. I remember an experiment using baby monkeys where they were offered two foster parent options, both fake. Forgive me if I get some of the details wrong. One provided milk, but was otherwise just a rough surface. The other had no milk but was covered in fur. The baby monkeys chose the comfort of the fur dummy over the milk dummy.


eta: Study was by Harlow. LINK

quote:

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In Harlow's classic experiment, two groups of baby rhesus monkeys were removed from their mothers. In the first group, a terrycloth mother provided no food, while a wire mother did, in the form of an attached baby bottle containing milk. In the second group, a terrycloth mother provided food; the wire mother did not. It was found that the young monkeys clung to the terrycloth mother whether or not it provided them with food, and that the young monkeys chose the wire surrogate only when it provided food. Whenever a frightening stimulus was brought into the cage, the monkeys ran to the cloth mother for protection and comfort, no matter which mother provided them with food. This response decreased as the monkeys grew older.

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