Harlow (1959)

• aim


  to investigate whether attachment is based on comfort or feeding
• procedure

  -Harlow created 2 artificial 'mothers' with different heads

  -8 infant Rhesus monkeys studied for 165 days

  -placed in a cage with both a wire & cloth covered 'mother'

  -for 4 monkeys the milk bottle was on the cloth one

  -for other 4 the bottle on the wire 'mother'

  -the amount of time each infant spent on the 'mothers' was measured

  -observations were made of the infant responses when scared by mechanical teddy bear
• what were the 2 artificial mothers?

  -one was made of wire and fed the monkey using a milk bottle

  -one was covered in soft cloth and also fed the monkey

  -other versions of the monkeys had no feeder bottle
• findings

  -all 8 monkeys spent most of their time with cloth-covered mother

  -it didn't matter if she had the feeder bottle

  -the monkeys who were fed from the wire monkey spent short amount of time getting milk, then returned to cloth mother

  -when frightened, all monkeys clung to cloth mother

  -when playing with new objects the monkeys often kept one foot on cloth mother for reassurance
• conclusion

  -findings show infants don't develop attachment to person who feeds them

  -it's to the person offering contact comfort
• long lasting effects of Harlow's study - socially

  -he later reported the motherless monkeys developed abnormally

  -even when they received contact comfort

  -they were socially abnormal > froze or fled when approached by other monkeys
• long lasting effects of Harlow's study - sexually

  -the monkeys were sexually abnormal

  -didn't show normal mating behaviour

  -didn't cradle their own babies
• did the monkeys recover from these long lasting effects?

  -there was a critical period for these effects

  -if motherless monkeys spent time with their monkey peers before 3 months old, they seemed to recover

  -if monkeys spent more than 6 months with the wire monkey they didn't recover