Harlow

• What did Harlow Research?

  Test of Cupboard love theory that babies love mothers because they feed them .
• What was Harlow's Procedure?

  He removed infant monkeys from their biological mothers and placed them in cages with surrogate mothers.

  • One surrogate mother provided milk but not comfort because its body was made with exposed wire.
  • The other surrogate mother provided comfort and was made of cloth but did not provide milk.

  Time spent with the mother was recorded as well as which surrogate the infant ran to when frightened by a mechanical monkey.
• What was Harlow Findings?

  • The monkeys spent majority of their time with the clothed monkey.
  • Only visited the wire mother for food.
  • Returned to clothed mother when frightened,

  Monkeys without access to to cloth mother when frightened showed signs of stress-related illness.

  Later, HARLOW found that maternal deprivation had resulted in permanent social disorders in the monkeys as adults including difficulty in mating behaviour and raising their offspring.
• What did Harlow research suggest?

  The monkeys have a biological need for physical contact and will attach to whatever provides comfort rather than food.

  This provides evidence against the cupboard love theory,