1. Harry Frederick (Israel) Harlow
Harry Harlow ( )
Harry Frederick (Israel) Harlow
“If monkeys have taught us anything, it’s that you’ve got to learn how to love before you learn how to live.”
-Harry Harlow
This Week, March 3, 1961

2. 1967 National Medal of Science Revolutionized Child Care
Primate Studies
Maternal Separation
Dependency
Social Isolation
President of APA
“The Nature of Love” 1958
1967 National Medal of Science
Revolutionized Child Care
Published Works
The Human Model
From Learning to Love
Used as leverage for mother love studies; Speech scolding psych for not studying love; Only primatologist to ever win medal;

3. Harry Frederick Israel
Born October 31, 1905
Fairfield, IA

4. Parents Alonzo Harlow Israel Wanted to be a doctor Inventor
Garage and Battery Business
Mable Rock Harlow
Bought a general store
No church
Wanted children to be more successful than them; parents lived for their children; wanted Harry to marry rich girl; No Episcopalians in area

5. Family 1 of 4 boys Robert, Delmer, Harry, Hugh Most competitive
All attended Stanford University
Delmer diagnosed with Pott’s Disease
Moved to New Mexico
Harry only one to graduate Stanford; Pott’s disease=tuberculosis of the spine; lost everything in a flood; Moved back to IA to start over

6. Young Harry Bored by science Hated idea of agriculture
Daydreamer, Artist, Poet
Ranked highest in class on aptitude test
13th of 71 overall in high school class; read poem pg 16

7. Stanford English major Freshman year Took notes in verse
Influenced by:
Calvin Stone: Animal Behaviorist
Walter Miles: Vision Expert; Rat Research
Lewis Terman: Stanford Binet IQ Test
Took zoology but quit b/c couldn’t stand dissection; called working with rats rodentology; difficulty pronouncing R’s

8. Name Change Influenced by Lewis Terman
Took father’s middle name as last name
Advice to avoid prejudice
Avoid Jewish prejudice even though Harry not Jewish due to last name Israel

9. Zeitgeist Telegraph Telephone Electricity in homes Automobiles WWII
Electric household appliances; children sent away from parents for protection

10. Zeitgeist Love not subject of Psychology
Loving interaction between parents and children discouraged
B.F. Skinner
Baby tender
G. Stanley Hall
Strict discipline for adolescents
Bad behavior caused by bad parenting
Punish more, cuddle less
Psych not seen as a science; baby tender=box so don’t have to touch baby except to bathe & scheduled rec time; Emotions unnecessary/unimportant; sentimental nature = defect

11. Zeitgeist J. B. Watson Scientific standards for parenting
Babies only feel rage, fear, and love
National Congress of Mothers
Raising a Baby the Government Way-Molly Ladd-Taylor
Arnold Gesell
No adopting young children
No playing w/ baby; A.G. believed genes determine all, don’t adopt until older to see if something wrong with child

12. Changing Times Rene Spitz & James Robertson
Filmed how children were treated in hospitals and orphanages
Foundling home v Women’s Prison
Harry Bawkin, William Goldfarb, David Levy, Loretta Bender
Studied need for love/nurture
Kids broken after time in hospitals/orphanages; Kids in prison turned out healthier than foundling home; not persuasive like HH

13. Changing Times William Goldfarb
Wealthy families’ children to orphanages
Poor families’ children to foster homes
Genetics would say that children in orphanages would be more intelligent than children in foster homes
Not the case; finally made some people second guess current standards of parenting; slap in the face to child welfare

14. First Job 1930 UW-Madison Assistant Professorship $2750/yr
Discouraged by Terman b/c shyness and speech impediment

15. “They expected to place me in a California junior college, and with every Wisconsin winter, I wish to God they had.”

16. First Job 4 Psychology Faculty 3 PhD Students
Basement of Administrative Building
Made fun of by students
Intolerance of difference normal
Teased for impediment; used puns in class to combat nervousness; called retard/moron/etc

17. First Experiments Rat studies
Pavlov-esque experiment conditioning cats
Conditioning frogs
Failure ended up in newspaper
1st “claim to fame”
Idea for primate subjects over game of bridge
Kicked out of building for rat smell; electric shock but stopped cats b/c one escaped; wasting tax money on seeing if frogs smarter than scientists

18. Clara Mears One of Harry’s students In gifted program
More than friends
Married May 7, 1932
Robert Mears Harlow born November 16, 1939
Richard Frederick Harlow born December 10, 1942
Had to give up psych career b/c wouldn’t hire spouses; became dress buyer for department store

19. Jiggs & Tommy 1st Primate Experiment Children’s games as puzzles
Shaped holes puzzle
2nd Experiment
Bad temper
Finding food under cups
Orangutan; Died 1 yr later; baboon; crush on female student & behaved whenever she was there

20. Abraham Maslow Harlow’s 1st Graduate Student
Doctoral dissertation on hierarchy of relationships in primates
Ruler and Serf pattern
Monkeys read body language; using sex to assert power

21. The Makings of Goon Park
1932 approved to build outdoor cages
“Accidentally” turned into a building
Reprimanded for building without permission
Gandhi the Spider Monkey ate at dinner table
Allowed poor students to live there in exchange for work
1933 appeared on campus map
Explain goon park; EC for football players to help; not in trouble bc borrowed monkey to university pres;

22. “When we were finished, we were horrified to see how much these Outdoor Observation Cages looked like real buildings!”

23. Marriage Issues Clara filed divorce August 14, 1946
Finalized September 6, 1946
Clara granted custody of both sons
Moved to Rhode Island to live with her brother
Split everything else 50/50; she took none of his belongings

24. Wisconsin General Test Apparatus (WGTA)
Cube shaped cage
One side opened for primates to solve puzzles
New puzzles
Treats under colored cups
Difficulty progressed
Monkeys can analyze relationships between colors and shapes
Half-brained monkeys
Reusing same monkeys=monkeys learn faster; advocate against rapid disposal of research animals; depended on tray/patterns/shape; Kurt Goldstein soldiers w brain damage thought couldn’t learn

25. Margaret Kuenne Fellow researcher
Eloped in Iowa to avoid her losing her job
Married February 3, 1948
Two Children
Pamela
Jonathan
Attracted to HH’s intelligence; proving psych as science; eventually had to quit job but still allowed to edit HH’s papers

26. New Lab Early 1950’s Old cheese factory Recruited students to renovate
“Diplomas in Curiosity”
Students could use lab for whatever they wanted;

27. Monkey Business Breeding monkeys
Diseased monkeys caused for parents’ deaths
Orphaned monkeys would not socialize
Diet or disease?
Babies would not eat
Clung to cloth in their cages
Interest in mother love developed
Baby monkeys choosing comfort over food; Students initially uninterested

28. Contact Comfort Experiment
Cloth Mother vs Wire Mother
Comfort vs Food
Babies choose cloth mother
Reach to wire mother for food
Immediately go to cloth mother when frightened
Wire mother translates to cold parenting (feed but don’t play or hold); spent equal time with both regardless of who provided food; no time w/ wire mom if cloth had food

29. Issues/ New Ideas Wire mom’s babies very dysfunctional
Cloth mom’s babies still dysfunctional
Hug, but never hugged
Attention shift to give and take of relationships
Seymour Levine experiment with rats
Overprotection from parent creates rats that cannot function in adult life
Babies need interaction and interest to develop properly
Baby rats handled by scientists for certain amount of time turned out better; mild trauma/stress caused prep for life experiences

30. Warmth, Movement, and Play
Hot vs Warm vs Cold Mother
Despised cold mother
Swinging vs Rocking vs Stationary Mother
More movement/interaction=better development
Rough play vs Tag
Taught social skills
Learned nonverbal communication
When enough is enough, boundaries, good sportsmanship, pleasure in company of others

31. Peggy Kuenne Harlow
Contributed to Harry’s experiments and conducted her own
Diagnosed with breast cancer 1967
1971 finally made Professor of Educational Psychology at UW- Madison
Died August 11, 1971
HH’s alcoholism worsened; research hit home bc preparing for loss in family

32. Isolation Babies isolated for 6 months-1 year
Could not see out of their cage
When removed:
Lifeless
Starved to death if not force fed
Attacked by others because of timidity
Had children
Apathetic
Killed and maimed their children
HH interested bc loss of Margaret plunged him into depression and alcoholism; struggle w/ success seeing it as “I can only go down from here”; experiment didn’t result in depression only antisocial

33. The Pit of Despair (1962) Vertical Chamber Apparatus
First few days attempted escape
Learned Helplessness
Lifelong impact after only half of a week
Finally created depression in monkeys

34. Repairing the Damage Social Remedy Re-paired with cloth mom
30 minute playdate 5 days a week
Study duplicated with living mother
No significant difference between groups
Increased positive effects with increased playtime
HH always tried to find remedy when he created pain in primates

35. Repairing the Damage Baby Therapists Monkey See, Monkey Do
Isolated monkeys paired with normally developed baby
Baby would cuddle older monkey until older monkey felt safe
Isolated monkeys could return to normal life
Worked for 6 month isolates, not for 1 year isolates
Monkey See, Monkey Do
For 1 year isolates
See other monkeys interacting before real socialization
Eventually paired with “baby therapist”
Success!
Absolutely adorable; seeing before socializing worked for 1 yr isolates but took 6 months to accomplish

36. Critics Feminist movement Bruno Bettleheim
Leading expert on Autism in the 1960’s
Accussed HH of creating autistic monkeys with “refrigerator” mothers
HH disagreed and argued for Biology
Possible that Autistic children create “refrigerator” parents
Mother-Infant Bonding: A Scientific Fiction
HH & Bowlby Retort: focus on importance of mothers to development, NOT trying to bind women to the home
Disliked supporting moms at home/being told by males; HH to get rise out of relig school pic 2 monkeys mating “sermon on the mount”

37. Third Time’s the Charm Remarried Clara March 1972
2nd honeymoon in England, Scotland, Ireland
Lived happily ever after

38. The End Developed Parkinson’s 1974 Resigned from UW- Madison
Moved to Tucson, Arizona
The Human Model published
Parkinson’s progressed rapidly
Died December 6, 1981
From Learning to Love published by Clara 5 years after his death
Clara became research assistant in AZ, Clara edited human model; Read poem pg 255; had sense of humor until end

39. Questions
Do you think that the treatment of the monkeys is justified by the importance of the information gained?
Do you think there was a better way that this information could have been proven?
A proposal has been made to replicate these studies, should it be allowed?
How do you think childcare would be different if these studies were never done?

40. “If monkeys have taught us anything it’s that you’ve got to learn how to love before you learn how to live.”

41. References
Blum, Deborah. (2002). Love at goon park: Harry Harlow and the science of affection. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing.