Harlow’s Rhesus Monkeys

Question 1

What did Harlow (1959) do

Answer 1

Harry Harlow (1959) conducted landmark study on attachment.
-> his study report ‘Origins of Love’
-> he sought to show that mother love (attachment) was not based on the feeding bond between mother and infant as suggested by learning theory.

Question 2

Harlow 1959 procedure

Answer 2

• created 2 wire ‘mothers’ with diff heads
• one was wrapped in a soft cloth
• 8 infant rhesus monkeys separated from their mother @ birth + studied for 165 days
• placed in a cage with the 2 mothe
• 4 = milk from exposed wire mother and 4 = milk from the cloth

Question 3

What was measured in Harlow (1959)

Answer 3

• the time the monkeys spent with each of the 2 mothers was measured
• observations made of the monkey’s responses to being frightened by a mechanical teddy bear + how they explored a new room with unfamiliar toys

Question 4

Findings of Harlow (1959)

Answer 4

• all 8 spent more time with the soft cloth, whether they were being fed by it or not
• the 4 being fed by the exposed wire mother only stayed long enough to be fed and then went to the soft cloth one
• when frightened, all clung to the cloth mother
• when exploring, all kept one foot on the soft cloth
• when in a new environment, not confident to explore unless the soft cloth mother was with them

Question 5

Long term effects of the Harlow Study (1959)

Answer 5

• studied all 8 monkeys as they grew up
• the monkeys developed abnormally
• they froze / fled when approached by other monkeys
• did not show normal mating behaviour, did not cradle their own babies

Question 6

How could the monkeys recover

Answer 6

If they spent time with other monkeys, but only if this happened before 3 months
- having more than 3 months with only a wire mother was something they couldn’t recover from

Question 7

(+) Schaffer & Emerson (1964) - finding that food not necessary for attachment to form

Answer 7

They discovered that babies are often attached to people who play with them, rather than people who feed them. In 39% of cases even though the mother was the one who fed the baby the baby was more attached to someone else.

Question 8

(-) Ethical issues

Answer 8

• monkeys were removed from their mothers, which would have been very traumatic, and they were then deliberately scared to see how they would react
  -> led to long-term emotional harm, when these monkeys were older and encountered other monkeys they either froze or fled
  -> had difficulty caring for their own young (did not cradle them) as they had not been cared for themselves.

Question 9

(-) can we apply a monkey study to humans ?

Answer 9

-> problematic to extrapolate the findings from this study to attachment in human infants.
- Humans are physiologically very different from monkeys as well as having several other influences that monkeys do not have, such as culture, society, peers, upbringing etc.

Question 10

(-) monkeys are not as complex as us

Answer 10

-> attachment bond between human infants and their attachment figures is far more complex than it is in monkeys.

E.g. several types of attachment styles that human infants can have (e.g. secure, avoidant, resistant).