Harlow Flashcards
Harlow study name
Contact comfort
Harlow study date
1959
Method: Harlow aimed to find out whether baby monkeys would prefer
a food source or a comfort source
Method: what kind of study was it?
a laboratory study
Method: the monkeys were raised in
isolation
Method: the monkeys had
two surrogate mothers
Method: mother 1
was made of mesh and contained a feeding bottle
Method: mother 2
was made of cloth but didn’t contain a feeding bottle
Results: the monkeys chose the
cloth mother
Results the monkeys only spent time on the wire mothers
to feed then returned to the cloth mother
Results: the cloth mother comforted them
in new situations
Results: when the monkeys got older, they showed
social and emotional disturbance
Results: the females were
bad mothers
Results: the mothers were often
violent towards their offspring
Evaluation: because it was a lab experiment
there was strict control over the variables
Evaluation: you can’t generalise the results because
monkeys and humans are qualitatively different
Evaluation: ethical problems
the monkeys were in a stressful situation
they showed signs of being psychologically damaged
they were kept in isoltion
Evaluation: why did the study lack ecological validity
because the monkeys were kept in isolation - they werent in their natural habitat
Evaluation: can the study be replicated
yes
Evaluation: why couldn’t we replicate the study today?
because of ethical guidelines
