harlow 1958

• importance of contact comfort

  observed that newborn monkeys kept alone in bare cages usually died but survived if given something soft to cuddle eg a cloth
• procedure

  • reared 16 baby monkeys with 2 wire model mothers
  • condition 1- milk dispensed by plain wire mother
  • condition 2- milk dispensed by cloth covered mother
• findings

  • baby monkeys cuddled cloth mother in preference to wire mother and sought comfort from cloth mother regardless of who dispensed milk
  • shows that contact comfort is of higher importance than food in regards to attachment behaviour