HARLOW

• HARLOW

  He used rhesus monkeys to see if attachments are primarily formed through food as explained by learning theory
• HARLOW AIM

  To test learning theory by comparing attachment behaviour in baby monkeys given a wire surrogate mother producing milk with those given a soft towelling mother producing no milk
• HARLOW PROCEDURE

  1. 16 baby monkeys were used, 4 in each of the 4 conditions

  • 1ST CONDITION - Cage containing a wire mother producing milk and a towelling mother producing no milk
  • 2ND CONDITION - Wire mother producing no milk and a towelling mother producing milk
  • 3RD CONDITION - Wire mother producing milk
  • 4TH CONDITION - Towelling mother producing milk
• HARLOW FINDINGS

  1. Monkeys preferred contact with the towelling mother when given a choice of surrogate mothers, regardless of whether she produced milk; they even stretched across to the wire mother to feed while still clinging to the towelling mother
  2. Monkeys with only a wire surrogate had diarrhoea, a sign of stress
  3. When frightened by a loud noise, monkeys clung to the towelling mother in conditions where she was available
  4. In the larger cage conditions monkeys with towelling mothers explored more and visited their surrogate mother more often
• HARLOW CONCLUSIONS

  Rhesus monkeys have an innate, unlearned need for contact comfort, suggesting that attachment concerns emotional security more than food. Contact comfort is associated with lower levels of stress and a willingness to explore, indicating emotional security
• HARLOW STRENGTH

  Long lasting effects - Harlow et al (1965) raised newborn monkeys in total isolation from other living beings for 3,6,12 or 24 months. These monkeys displayed signs of psychological disturbance, hugging their own bodies and rocking receptively. When eventually placed with other monkeys they were fearful of them and had no social interactions, other than to attack them. They also harmed themselves by biting their arms, and legs and pulling out their hair. The degree of damage correlated positively with the amount of total isolation a monkey had endured
• WHAT DID MONKEYS DO THAT ADULTS SEEM TO HAVE NO ABILITY TO DO

  • Engage in sexual courtship
  • To show how they would cope as parents Harlow devised an apparatus called a “rape rack” to which female monkeys raised in isolation would be tied and forcibly mated
  • The monkeys were awful and abused/neglected their babies, one mother chewed off her own baby’s feet and fingers while another crushed her baby’s head to a pulp
  • Suggests that social interactions are essential for normal social and emotional development to occur
• HARLOW STRENGTH

  • Harlow’s research had important applications in a range of practical contexts - For example care of captive monkeys in zoos and breeding programmes in the wild, as well as helping social workers understand risk factors in child neglect and abuse and so intervene to prevent it (Howe 1998)
  • Shows that Harlow’s research has helped our understanding of the importance of proper attachment figures early in life
• HARLOW WEAKNESS

  • Contrasting research - Harlow and Suomi (1972) raised 4 newborn monkeys in total isolation for 6 months, then placed each one with a female “therapist” monkeys for 2 hours, three times a week. After 12 months their behaviour was almost normal, with a full recovery after 3 years
• METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES HARLOW

  Two heads of surrogate mothers were different, so the monkey’s chose the cloth mother as it was more realistic looking as a monkey. Reduces internal validity
• ETHICAL ISSUES HARLOW

  • Severe emotional harm and distress was caused to the infant monkeys by their isolation
  • Longer term effects - Especially in relation to female monkeys being unable to care for their young
• CRITICISM OF HARLOW

  • Is the ability to generalise animal studies to human behaviour. Humans differ in important ways especially as more of human behaviour is governed by conscious decisions. Nevertheless, a number of observations made of animal attachment behaviour are mirrored in studies of humans
  • Basically problems of extrapolation to attachment in human infants - What happens to non human species may not apply to human infants
  • Suggests that while animal studies can act as a useful reference in understanding human behaviour, we should always seek confirmation with research using humans
• SURROGATE

  A substitute for a biological mother
• HARLOW PROCEDURE

  2. The amount of time spent with each mother, as well as feeding time, was recorded

  3. A larger cage was also used to test the monkey’s degree of exploration
• WHAT IS THE CRITICAL PERIOD FOR MONKEYS?

  90 DAYS