Attachment - Animal Studies: Harlow's research

Question 1

Contact comfort

Answer 1

• Harlow worked with monkeys. He observed that newborns kept alone in a cage died, but usually survived if given something soft to cuddle like cloth.

Question 2

Contact comfort experiment

Answer 2

• Tested that soft objects serve some functions of a mother
• Reared 16 baby monkeys with 2 wire model mothers.
• One condition, mil was dispensed by plain wire mother
• 2nd conditioned milk was dispensed by cloth covered mother

Question 3

Contact comfort findings

Answer 3

• Baby monkeys preferred cloth covered mother to plain wire
• Seeked comfort from cloth mother when frightened
• Shows that contact comfort was more important than food when it comes to attachment behaviour