Harlow's Research
- Created by: Ellie Charlish
- Created on: 09-02-16 20:52
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- Harlow's Research (1958)
- Observed that newborns kept alone in a bare cage usually died but that they usually survived if given something soft to cuddle e.g. cloth
- Procedure
- Tested the idea that a soft object serves some of the functions of a mother
- He reared 16 baby monkeys with two wire model 'mothers'
- In one condition milk was dispensed by the plain wire mother
- In the second condition the milk was dispensed by a cloth covered mother
- He reared 16 baby monkeys with two wire model 'mothers'
- Tested the idea that a soft object serves some of the functions of a mother
- Findings
- Found that the baby monkeys cuddled the soft object in preference to the wire one
- Sought comfort from the cloth one when frightened regardless of which dispensed milk
- Showed that 'contact comfort' was of more importance to the monkeys than food when it came to attachment behaviour
- Maternally deprived monkeys as adults
- Harlow and others followed 'mother' deprived monkeys into adulthood to see if early maternal deprivation had an effect
- Found severe consequences.
- Raised with wire mothers were most dysfunctional
- Those raised with a cloth mother didn't develop normal social behaviour
- They were both more aggressive, less sociable and bred less than what is typical for monkeys - unskilled at mating
- As mothers some deprived/ attacked their young, some cases even killed them
- Evaluation
- Theoretical Value
- Showed that attachment doesn't develop as the result of being fed by a mother figure but as a result of contact comfort.
- Showed us the importance of the quality of early relationships for later social development including ability to hold down adult relationships and successfully rear children
- Practical Value
- Helped social workers understand risk factors in child neglect/ abuse and so intervene to prevent it
- Howe (1998) These findings are important in care of captive monkeys; we now understand the importance of proper attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos and breeding programmes in the wild
- Ethical issues
- Monkeys suffered greatly as a result of procedures.
- Species considered like human - so can be generalised, however, means suffering was human-like
- Harlow referred to wire mothers as 'iron maidens' after a medieval torture device
- Counter-argument is that Harlow's research was sufficiently important to justify effects
- Theoretical Value
- Critical period for normal development
- A mother figure had to be introduced to an infant within 90 days for an attachment to form.
- After this time it is impossible and damage done is irreversible
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