AO1 - Harlow

• What did Harlow observe?

  Harlow observed that newborn rhesus monkeys kept alone in a bare cage usually died but that they usually survived if given something like a soft cloth to cuddle

  Harlow aimed to demonstrate that attachments are based on more than just a need to be fed in order to survive (as previous theories suggested). He said ‘contact comfort’ is more important than the need to be fed!
• Aim:

  To investigate the factors which influence the development of attachment in monkeys
• Procedure: (1)

  • Controlled environment, Harlow reared 16 infant monkeys with two wire model ‘mothers’/surrogates. Milk was dispensed by the plain wire mother. The cloth-covered mother did not dispense milk. Time spent with each mother was recorded. Long-term effects (sociability, relationship to offspring, etc.) were recorded
  • Harlow took newborn rhesus monkeys from their biological mothers and placed them in a cage
• Procedure: (2)

  • The cage contained 2 surrogate mothers - cloth mother and wire mother
  • 1 mother was covered in wire & provided food
  • Other mother was made of cloth & provided no food
  • Harlow observed how much time the monkeys spend with each mother
• Results:

  On average, the monkeys spend 17-18 hours per day with the cloth covered surrogate mother (did not provide any food). Compared to just 1 hour per day with the wired surrogate mother. 

  Contact comfort = provides a sense of security
• Conclusion:

  Harlow concluded that contact comfort was of more importance to the monkeys than food when it came to attachment behaviour. There was a critical period for this behaviour - a mother figure had to be introduced to an infant monkey within 90 days for an attachment to form. After this time, attachment was impossible. The change done by early deprivation became irreversible.
• Long-lasting effects:

  Early maternal deprivation had a permanent negative consequence: Monkeys reared with wired mothers were the most dysfunctional…

  • Most aggressive
  • Bred less often
  • Unskilled at mating
  • Less sociable
  • Killed their offspring/neglected their young
• What does this all actually mean?

  • Animals do form attachments in the same way as human children (often for survival AND contact comfort)
  • The bond between a caregiver and their child is vital to ‘normal’ development
  • There is a ‘critical period’ during which this attachment bond must be formed. Critical period varies depending on the species
  • If this bond doesn’t form or is formed in an ‘abnormal’ way, irreversible damage can be done which will affect the infants development