animal studies of attachment Flashcards
who studied attachment in monkeys?
Harry Harlow
what was the procedure used by harlow?
he created 2 wire mothers with different heads, and one was wrapped in cloth. he studied 8 monkeys for a period of 165 days. all 8 monkeys had both mothers, but 4 had their milk on the wire mothers and 4 had it on the cloth mothers. measurements were made of the amount of time the monkeys spent with the mothers and observations were made of the monkey’s responses when frightened.
what did harlow find? what do the findings suggest?
he found that all monkeys spent the most time with the cloth monkey; the 4 with milk on the wire would quickly feed on the wire mother and then return to the cloth mother. when frightened, all monkeys clung to the cloth mother and when trying out a new toy, they kept one foot on the mother. these findings suggest that infants do not form attachments with who feeds them but to the person offering contact comfort.
what were the long lasting effects of Harlow’s study?
all the monkeys developed abnormally, both socially and sexually. they ran away when approached by their monkey peers. they did not show normal mating behaviour or cradle their babies.
harlow suggested a critical period: if the infant monkey spent time with other monkeys before 3 months, they were able to recover. however, if the monkey had spent 6 months with only the wire mothers, they were unable to recover
what is a limitation of harlow’s study?
the two wire mothers varied more than being cloth-covered or not. the mothers also had different heads, and this is a confounding variable, as it varies systematically with the IV. it is possible that the monkeys spent more time with the cloth mother because they preferred it’s head. therefore, harlow’s conclusions lack internal validity.
what is a strength of harlow’s study/findings?
although he studied on animals, and critics argue that it isnt applicable to humans due to vast differences, his findings have been supported by schaffer and emerson. they studied the development of attachments and also drew the conclusion of contact comfort being more important than food in the formation of attachments.
was harlow’s study ethical?
Arguably, no- the monkeys suffered long lasting consequences and it affected their ability to parent etc. however, this can be justified by the importance of harlow’s findings, and has led to better understand of how to care for human and primate attachments.
