Harlow

• Harlow studied rhesus monkeys to see if attachments are primarily formed through food as explained by learning theory
• 16 new born monkeys were taken away from their mothers and were raised in isolation. He put the monkeys in cages that had two types of surrogate mothers, a cloth monkey and a wire monkey with a feeding device.

  He recorded the time spent with each mother. Mother preference during stress, and a larger cage was used to examine degree of exploration.
• Results:

  • found that monkeys clung to the cloth monkey without the feeding bottle
  • also when frightened, clung to this mother
  • larger cage condition = monkeys raised with cloth explored room more than wire mother
  • this shows that contact comfort was more important for the wellbeing of a monkey than food (emotional security more important)
• A03

  The research raissed serious ethical issues as they were subject to distress as they were taken awya from their mothers, raised in isolation and frightened with a mechanical contraption
• A03

  A counter argument is that without this study, there would not be the useful insights that we have today.

  It highlights the importance of attachment figures in Zoo environments for baby monkeys and also for breeding programmes in the while. It highlights the potential harmful effects of maternal deprivation and influenced ideas around the need to provide good emotional care for children in all environment.
• A03

  Generalisability can be questioned as human attachment is more complex than non human. BUT this research has been supported by Schaffer and Emerson who showed that babies do not always attach to those that feed them.