AIM: To find out whether infant rhesus monkeys would show attachment to an object that provided food or an object that provided comfort
METHOD: Infant rhesus monkeys were taken from their mothers and kept in a cage with 2 surrogate mothers; a 'cloth mother' covered with a soft blanket & a 'wire mother' incorporating a feeding bottle. The monkeys were kept in these conditions for a period of time * then released into a cage with a group of normally raised monkeys
FINDINGS: The infant monkeys preferred to spend time close to the cloth mother even though they got their food from the wire mother. When returned to the company of other monkeys. Harlows monkeys showed signs of innapropriate social behaviour & delinquency. They were aggressive towards other monkeys, unable to form normal relationships & attacked any monkeys that tried to mate with them. If they did have offspring, the deprived mothers were extremely poor, neglecting monkeys.
CONCLUSION:1. They did not attach for food going against the ideas of cupboard love theories
2.The monkeys suffered emotionally from being isolated & having no attachment to their mothers supporting idea of internal working model & negative effects in later life if we have no attachment
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