Harlow
Cards (5)
- what did Harlow aim to do in his experimenttest the learning theory of attachment by comparing attachment behaviour in baby monkeys given a wire surrogate mother producing milk with monkeys given a soft clothed mother producing no milk
- outline harlows procedure4 conditions, 16 monkeys, 4 per condition:
- a cage containing a wire mother producing milk and a soft towel covered mother producing no milk
- a cage containing a towel mother producing milk and a wire mother with no milk
- a cage containing a wire mother producing milk
- a cage containing a towel mother producing milk
the amount of time spent with each mother and the feeding time were both recorded. the monkeys were then scared by a loud noise to see which mother they preferred in times of distress. a larger cage was used to test willingness to explore - what did harlow find?-> the monkeys preferred contact with the towelled mother when given a choice [regardless of food]-> baby monkeys would stretch across the towelled mother to feed on the wire mother-> monkeys who only had the wire mother had diarrhoea, a sign of distress-> when scared by a loud those, they clung to the towel mother if she was an option-> in the larger cage setting, monkeys with towelled mothers explored more and visited the mother more often
- what did harlow conclude-> rhesus monkeys displayed an innate need for contact and comfort, this suggests that attachments involve emotional security more than food-> contact comfort is associated with lower levels of stress and a willingness to explore, showing emotional security
- evaluate harlows study- the study involved animals so it can't necessarily be generalised to humans. however, monkeys are closely related to humans, so an argument could be made that the attachment style could be similar- there are ethical issues with separating baby monkeys from their birth mothers because of the stress this may cause them- his work wasn't supported by other studies so it may lack validity