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Harry Harlow. A theorist exploring the Early Years. Harry Harlow: The Man Behind the Experiment. Harry Harlow is a psychologist who received a B.A. and Ph.D. from Stanford University. University of Wisconsin, where he established a Psychology Primate Laboratory.
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Harry Harlow A theorist exploring the Early Years
Harry Harlow: The Man Behind the Experiment • Harry Harlow is a psychologist who received a B.A. and Ph.D. from Stanford University. • University of Wisconsin, where he established a Psychology Primate Laboratory. • He began to study the different mannerisms of love. • This experiment may have been derived from Harlow’s own experience as an infant as he was often alienated from his mother.
Harry Harlow (1905-1981) • He believed by studying primates, psychologists would gain a better understanding of human behaviour. • He believed infants formed an attachment to those who provided them with nourishment (food).
So he designed an experiment to find the answer to this important question: Which urge is stronger: • the need for love • or the satisfaction of physical needs (specifically, food)?
The Surrogate Mother experiment • He used rhesus monkeys because • their similarities to human infants’ behaviours with their mothers (for example, clinging, “language” learning, nursing) • He removed the young monkeys from their mothers before they had a chance to bond and kept them isolated
The “mothers” • The monkeys were kept in a cage with two “mothers”, both made of a wire mesh. • Mother 1: • Covered with a tan coloured terry cloth (very soft and comfortable); • Mother 2: • the other offered food in the form of a bottle from its breast area, but only a wired frame . • Both mothers were warmed with radiant heat.
Observations • The monkeys preferred the cloth mother, even though she did not provide food. • They spent significantly more time with the cloth mother. • Monkeys would go to the wire mother for food, but always returned to cloth mother. • When they were anxious, the monkeys would cling to the cloth mother. • The monkey would rather stay with the cloth mother for comfort rather than the wire mother for food.
Video Food or security?
Conclusions • Infants depend on their caregivers for more than just their physical needs – meeting emotional needs is crucial for attachment. • Children in early years would expect a warm and caring mother, similarly to the cloth mother. • Monkeys that did not receive affection early in life often experienced psychological problems later on (such as misdirected aggression or abusive mothers). VIDEO Watch 1.24 minutes)
Conclusions • When the cloth mother was removed • the monkeys were frantic. • After it was given back, their connection intensified. • Children need their mother’s comfort like in the experiment. • Once children are attached to their mother, they can’t live without her.
Video Scaring the monkey: Intensifying Love
main IDEAS • Harlow’s findings • disproved predictions by reinforcement theorists that love is a secondary or a derived drive associated with the reduction of hunger/thirst. • Findings and The Study of Love • Staying Power of Love- Proved this by removing some infants from their cloth surrogates for five months. • The reunion of those monkeys revealed that deprivation has intensified the tie to the “mother”. • Contact comfort could be provided by either mother or father. • This idea is widely accepted now, but was revolutionary in the time that Harlow lived. • He stated that nursing strengthened the mother-child bond because of the intimate body contact that it provided.
Impact of Early Years in the Long Term • Children & Harlow's research, • insight on behaviours of abused children, • improved methods of giving care to institutionalized children, • allowed fathers and adoptive parents to feel confident in providing parental care. • Many studies that followed have offered evidence • that the attachment of human children to their caregivers goes far beyond a desire for biological needs to be fulfilled. • Children, just like monkeys, would also turn to their mother for comfort and security. • If they are left by themselves they might not feel comfortable and safe and start to scream or cry.
Theory Application to Family + Society • Social isolation rendered by infants from their mothers can cause them to behave socially incompetent in the future. • Affection towards children is not merely a sentimental gesture; it serves many purposes for normal childhood development. • More attention should be devoted to the experimental research of love. • Earliest mother-child attachment data makes it obvious that contact comfort is a variable of overwhelming importance in the development of the affection response. • In society there is a great importance of emotional support, affection, and love in the development of children.
