1. Harry Harlow and his monkeys
Key Knowledge: Developmental Theorists

2. Harry Harlow His research in a nutshell…….
Explored the attachment of infant monkey’s and their mothers
Harlow concluded that Freud’s initial theory that infants formed attachment for oral satisfaction was incorrect
Suggested that the monkeys would formed attachment more for contact comfort than food.

3. Harry Harlow
During the 1950’s and 60’s psychologist Harry Harlow conducted experiments investigating the influences on attachments (emotional bonds) of infant rhesus monkeys to their mothers
In 1958 he studied the role in feeding-in infant-mother attachment
He used 8 infant rhesus monkeys that had been separated from their mother at birth

4. Harry Harlow
The monkey’s were taken from their mothers at birth and kept in cages containing two surrogate mothers.
A surrogate is anyone or anything that “substitutes for” or “plays a part” of something else
The surrogate mothers were made from wired mesh, and were roughly the same shape and size as the mother monkeys (see figure 4)
One mother was covered in terry-towelling cloth the other was left uncovered (see figure 4)

5. Harry Harlow
A feeding bottle was attached to the same area as a breast on a real monkey
Four monkeys were placed in the cages with the clothed surrogate mother
The other 4 were placed with the uncovered surrogates
Each monkey was placed in a separate cage to avoid any comfort from each other
If an infants attachment is based on feeding then all monkeys would have preferred and become attached to whichever surrogate

6. Harry Harlow Results from experiment:
Regardless of what nourishment the surrogate provided, the surrogate with the cloth towel was preferred to the wire surrogate
None of the monkeys would spend more than two hours over a 24 hour period with the wire surrogate
Although the two groups fed from both surrogates and gained weight, all eight monkeys spent more time climbing and clinging to the clothed surrogate
By the age of three weeks, all the monkeys were spending up to 15 hours a day with the clothed surrogate

7. Harry Harlow
To examine when the monkeys felt threatened or stressed, Harlow introduced a “stressor” (this is something that places stress on a living organism)
Harlow placed a mechanical spider or a bear that beat a drum in the monkey’s caged
The monkey’s were terrified and ran to the clothed surrogate, rubbing their bodies against the surrogate for protection
In some instances when the monkeys were scared they ran to the wired surrogate, regardless of if they were fed by the wired surrogate. If this was the case it was only for a short time as the monkey would then seek protection from the clothed surrogate

8. Harry Harlow
From these results, Harlow concluded that, “contact comfort,” which was provided by the softness of the cloth covering, was more important than feeding in the formation of creating a bond with a mother
He generalised his findings to suggest that contact comfort was also most likely a crucial factor in human infant- parent attachment

9. Harry Harlow
The experiment Crash course in psychology: Monkeys & Morality

10. Theorist Questions: Harry Harlow
Answer the following questions in your workbook:
What is the name of the theorist? What is his history/background?
What is the developmental theory he researched/developed?
What was the major research he conducted and the results he found?
What criticisms (if any) are there for their research/theories? Think of some and explain your reasons. (Hint: think of ethical considerations).