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The macaque infant differs from the human infant in that the monkey is more mature at birth and grows more rapidly; but the basic responses relating to affection, including nursing, contact, clinging, and even visual and auditory exploration, exhibit no fundamental differences in the two species.
- Overview
- Early Research On Love
- Harry Harlow's Research on Love
- The Monkey Mother Experiment
- Harry Harlow's Further Research
- Impact of Harry Harlow’s Research
- A Word From Verywell
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Harry Harlow was one of the first psychologists to scientifically investigate the nature of human love and affection. Through a series of controversial monkey mother experiments, Harlow was able to demonstrate the importance of early attachments, affection, and emotional bonds in the course of healthy development.
During the first half of the 20th century, many psychologists believed that showing affection towards children was merely a sentimental gesture that served no real purpose. According to many thinkers of the day, affection would only spread diseases and lead to adult psychological problems.
"When you are tempted to pet your child, remember that mother love is a dangerous instrument," the behaviorist John B. Watson once even went so far as to warn parents.
Psychologists were motivated to prove their field as a rigorous science. The behaviorist movement dominated the field of psychology during this time. This approach urged researchers to study only observable and measurable behaviors.
An American psychologist named Harry Harlow, however, became interested in studying a topic that was not so easy to quantify and measure—love. In a series of controversial experiments conducted during the 1960s, Harlow demonstrated the powerful effects of love and in particular, the absence of love.
His work demonstrated the devastating effects of deprivation on young rhesus monkeys. Harlow's research revealed the importance of a caregiver's love for healthy childhood development.
Harlow's experiments were often unethical and shockingly cruel, yet they uncovered fundamental truths that have influenced our understanding of child development.
Harlow noted that very little attention had been devoted to the experimental research of love. At the time, most observations were largely philosophical and anecdotal.
"Because of the dearth of experimentation, theories about the fundamental nature of affection have evolved at the level of observation, intuition, and discerning guesswork, whether these have been proposed by psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, physicians, or psychoanalysts," he noted.
His most famous experiment involved giving young rhesus monkeys a choice between two different "mothers." One was made of soft terrycloth but provided no food. The other was made of wire but provided nourishment from an attached baby bottle.
Harlow removed young monkeys from their natural mothers a few hours after birth and left them to be "raised" by these mother surrogates. The experiment demonstrated that the baby monkeys spent significantly more time with their cloth mother than with their wire mother.
In other words, the infant monkeys went to the wire mother only for food but preferred to spend their time with the soft, comforting cloth mother when they were not eating.
Based on these findings, Harry Harlow concluded that affection was the primary force behind the need for closeness.
Later research demonstrated that young monkeys would also turn to their cloth surrogate mother for comfort and security. Such work revealed that affectionate bonds were critical for development.
Harlow utilized a "strange situation" technique similar to the one created by attachment researcher Mary Ainsworth. Young monkeys were allowed to explore a room either in the presence of their surrogate mother or in her absence.
Monkeys who were with their cloth mother would use her as a secure base to explore the room. When the surrogate mothers were removed from the room, the effects were dramatic. The young monkeys no longer had their secure base for exploration and would often freeze up, crouch, rock, scream, and cry.
Harry Harlow’s experiments offered irrefutable proof that love is vital for normal childhood development. Additional experiments by Harlow revealed the long-term devastation caused by deprivation, leading to profound psychological and emotional distress and even death.
Harlow’s work, as well as important research by psychologists John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth, helped influence key changes in how orphanages, adoption agencies, social services groups, and childcare providers approached the care of children.
Harlow's work led to acclaim and generated a wealth of research on love, affection, and interpersonal relationships. However, his own personal life was marked by conflict.
After the terminal illness of his wife, he became engulfed by alcohol misuse and depression, eventually becoming estranged from his own children. Colleagues frequently described him as sarcastic, mean-spirited, misanthropic, chauvinistic, and cruel.
While he was treated for depression and eventually returned to work, his interests shifted following the death of his wife. He no longer focused on maternal attachment and instead developed an interest in depression and isolation.
Harry Harlow's work was controversial in his own time and continues to draw criticism today. While such experiments present major ethical dilemmas, his work helped inspire a shift in the way that we think about children and development and helped researchers better understand both the nature and importance of love.
The nature of love. American Psychologist, 13 (12), 673–685. https:// https://doi.org/10.1037/h0047884. Abstract. Infant monkeys were reared with the aid of a laboratory constructed mother-substitute. "We produced a perfectly proportioned streamlined body stripped of unnecessary bulges and appendices.
- Harry F. Harlow
- 1958
Jan 23, 2020 · His article on ‘The nature of love’ (Harlow, 1958), in which he described his findings on the preference of rhesus monkey infants for a warm and soft cloth mother over a feeding wire mother, is without doubt one of the classics of psychology’s history.
- Lenny van Rosmalen, René van der Veer, Frank C. P. van der Horst
- 2020
Aug 31, 2016 · With this essential context, Harlow’s 1958 paper on the nature of love stands as the flag of a monumental revolution in psychology and social science, which has reverberated across everything from policy to parenting. He writes: Love is a wondrous state, deep, tender, and rewarding.
Parental behavior and sexual behavior, even in the absence of selective social behaviors, are associated with the concept of love; the analysis of reproductive behaviors, which is far more ...
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Abstract. This reprinted article originally appeared in (American Psychologist, 1958, 13, 673-685). (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1960-02805-001 .) Infant monkeys were reared with the aid of a laboratory constructed mother-substitute.
