Harlow's research

• Aim - To examine the extent to which contact comfort and food influences attachment behaviour in baby rhesus monkeys
• Method -

  He constructed 2 surrogate mothers - one harsh 'wire mother' and a second 'toweling mother'. 16 rhesus monkeys used across 4 caged conditions.

  1. both 'wire mother' dispensing milk and 'toweling mother' with no milk

  2. both 'wire mother' with no milk and 'toweling mother' dispensing milk

  3. 'wire mother' dispensing milk

  4. 'toweling mother' dispensing milk

  Amount of time the monkeys spent with each mother was recorded along with how long they spent feeding at each one. To test for mother preference during stress, they were started with a loud noise and responses were recorded. Larger cage used in some conditions to observe degree of exploration.
• Results-

  Choice of mother - prefered contact with towelling mother, irrespective of if she had milk. They would stretch to wire mother for milk whilst clinging onto towelling mother for contact comfort. Babies in only 'wire mother' situation showed stress through such as diarrhoea. With loud noises, the babies would cling to toweling when she was available. With larger cages, greater exploration was shown by those with the toweling mother surrogate, indicative of emotional security.
• Conclusion -

  Innate drive to seek contact comfort, suggesting attachment is formed through emotional need for security rather than food. Contrasting learning theory.