Harlow study

Question 1

what were the aims of the experiment?

Answer 1

to study the mechanisms at which monkeys bond with their mothers

Question 2

what were the procedures?

Answer 2

created two wire mothers each with a different head

• one wire mother was wrapped in soft cloth
• eight infant rhesus monkeys were studied for 165 days
• for four of the money’s the milk bottle was on the cloth covered mother
• and the milk bottle was on the plain wire monkey for the other four monkeys
• measurements were made of the infant monkeys response when frightened by, for example a mechanical teddy bear/ how much time they spent with the two different mothers

Question 3

what were the findings?

Answer 3

• all eight monkeys spent most of their time with the cloth covered mother whether or not this mother had the feeding bottle
• the monkeys who fed from the wire mother only spent a short amount of time getting milk then returned to the other mother
• when scare all monkeys cling to the cloth covered mother and when playing with new objects the monkeys often kept one foot on the cloth mother for reassurance.

Question 4

what were the conclusions?

Answer 4

Infants do not develop an attachment to the people who feeds them but to the person offering contact comfort.

Question 5

Name an evaluation point for Harlow’s research

Answer 5

Confounding variable
one criticism is that the two stimulus objects varied in more ways than being cloth-covered or not
the two heads were different = a confounding variable as it varied systematically with the independent variable (the mother being clothed or not)
it could be argued that the reason infant monkeys preferred one ‘mother’ to the other was because the cloth-covered mother had a more attractive head
- this could lead to the conclusion that the study lacks internal validity

Question 6

name a second evaluation point for Harlow’s study

Answer 6

the research from the study cannot be extrapolated to human behaviour
humans differ in important ways - most notably the fact that our behaviour is governed by conscious decisions
however some observations made of animal attachment behaviour is mirrored in studies of humans such as Schaffer and Emmerson that infants are not most attached to the person that fed them

Question 7

Name a final evaluation point for Harlow’s study

Answer 7

it is unethical
the experiment created long lasting emotional harm as the monkeys later found it difficult to form relationships with their peers
however, this experiment can be arguably justified in the sense that it has significantly improved our understanding of human behaviour and attachment