Harlow

• What year did Harlow do this research?

  1958
• what was the procedure?

  • reared 16 baby monkeys with 2 wire model mothers.
  • one condition- milk dispensed by wire mother
  • second - milk dispensed by cloth mother
• what were the findings?

  • monkeys cuddled the soft mother in preference to wire one.
  • sought comfort from cloth one when frightened, regardless of who dispensed milk.
  • contact comfort was of most importance rather than food when it comes to attachment behaviour
• what happened later in adulthood for the monkeys?

  • monkeys reared with only wire mother were most dysfunctional
  • more aggressive
  • less sociable
  • neglected their young
• what was the conclusion?

  mother figure must be introduced to infant monkey writhing 90 days for attachment to form
• what happens if after 90 days there is no mother figure introduced?

  attachment is impossible and damage done by early deprivation becomes irreversible
• evaluate practical value

  • insight has applications in real life
  • social workers understand risk factors in child neglect and abuse so intervene to prevent it.
  • understand importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos and wild breeding programmes
• evaluate ethical issues

  • severe criticism as monkeys suffered greatly
  • species considered similar enough to humans,so, their suffering was presumably human-like.
  • Harlow was aware of the suffering as he referred to wire monkeys as iron maidens after a medieval torture device