Reasons for Attachment (Harlow)

Question 1

What was Harlow’s hypothesis

Answer 1

Harlow believed survival influenced attachment rather than emotion (1) however, his experiment proved this hypothesis wrong (2). Harlow hypothesized that the subject monkeys would gravitate towards the mother with physical food, satisfying the need for survival, rather than prioritizing emotions and attachment (3).

Question 2

What were the results of Harlow’s research and what does this explain?

Answer 2

17 to 18 hours were spent with the cloth mother and only 1 hour with the wire mother. The results explained the importance of comfort for infants over the importance of physical survival.

Question 3

What was the IV of Harlows’s study

Answer 3

Two different types of comfort were provided by the mother - the wired mother with food and the cloth mother with no food

Question 4

What was the DV of Harlow’s study

Answer 4

The quantifiable time spent with the wire/cloth and the reaction of the subjects to different situations