Harlow - importance of contact comfort

• Harlow investigated the mechanisms by which newborn rhesus monkeys bond with their mother
• Procedure

  Harlow conducted a laboratory experiment to investigate the role of comfort in attachment using 16 baby rhesus monkeys, separated from their mothers at birth. Each monkey was placed in a cage with two surrogate mothers: a wire mother that provided food and a cloth-covered mother that did not. Harlow measured the time the monkeys spent with each surrogate and observed their behavior in stressful situations.
• The monkeys spent significantly more time with the cloth mother, seeking comfort and security from it, even though the wire mother provided food. When frightened, the monkeys clung to the cloth mother for reassurance, demonstrating that the need for comfort and emotional security was more critical than the need for food in forming attachments. The baby monkey cuddled the cloth mother and spent 22 hrs with the cloth mother in contrast to the wire mother where it spent 2 hours with for food
• Harlow concluded that attachment depends on emotional comfort rather than feeding alone. However, the study raised ethical concerns due to the distress caused to the monkeys, which had long-term effects on their social and emotional development.
• Harlow also investigated maternally deprived monkeys as adults

  Harlow also investigated the monkeys who had been deprived of a ‘real’ mother into adulthood to see if the early maternal deprivation had a permanent effect. The researchers found severe consequences: Did not develop normal social behaviour, Aggressive and less sociable than other monkeys. When they became mothers some of the deprived mothers would neglect their young, some attacked their offspring, even killing them in some cases.
• Harlow concluded that there was a critical period for attachment formation (90 days).After this time impossible and the damage done by early deprivation become irreversible
• Real world value

  Harlow’s research has profound implications for childcare and child development. It highlights the importance of early experiences on long-term development, emphasizing that meeting a child’s physical needs alone is not sufficient. This understanding has practical applications for social workers and clinical psychologists, as it helps them recognize that a lack of bonding experiences can be a significant risk factor for a child’s development. For example, Howe (1998) notes that this insight enables professionals to intervene early and prevent poor developmental outcomes.
• This demonstrates that Harlow’s work is not only theoretical but also highly practical, offering valuable guidance on the importance of early attachments in shaping a child’s future well-being.
• Generalisability to humans

  One limitation of Harlow’s research is the difficulty in generalizing findings and conclusions from rhesus monkeys to humans. While rhesus monkeys are much more similar to humans than Lorenz’s goslings, Green (1994) notes that, on a biological level, all mammals, including rhesus monkeys, share the same brain structure as humans, differing only in size and the number of connections.
• Despite these similarities, behavioural and emotional complexities in humans are far greater, meaning that generalizing Harlow’s findings to human attachment processes may not be entirely appropriate.
• Ethical Issues in Harlow’s Research

  The use of animals in research, such as Harlow’s studies, raises significant ethical concerns. It can be argued that animals have an inherent right not to be subjected to research or harm, regardless of the potential benefits to humans. Harlow’s experiments often caused significant distress to the rhesus monkeys, which could be viewed as unethical.
• Furthermore, the pursuit of academic conclusions aimed at benefiting humans may be seen as detrimental to non-human species, as it often involves suffering and long-term consequences for the animals involved. This ethical dilemma highlights the need to carefully consider the morality of using animals in psychological research