...This chapter focuses on the scientist Harry Harlow and his experiments investigating love through the use of primates. In his experiments, Harlow established separation between newborn primates and their mothers. He then placed the newborn babies with soft-cloth artificial mothers. Based on the monkey’s interactions, Harlow believed that the sense of touch is important for establishing a loving connection between two individuals. Then, Harlow created another mother who was not pleasing to touch, but she was the one who had milk. The soft-cloth mother did not have any milk to provide to the primates. Although the uncomfortable and sharp mother provided sustenance to the primates, the monkeys were still very close to the soft cloth mother. However,...
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...are reliant on individuals at the beginning of life, “attachment to their mothers is not instantaneous” (Weiten, 2011, p. 341). They can easily be given to another individual without much difficulty. Around 8 months is when a child begins to show attachment to his mother. Separation can be difficult and stress in the infant can result as a consequence. If separation anxiety develops, it will begin to decline as the child grows older. Studies have been conducted to explain why children develop an attachment to their mothers. One study’s theory was that by a mother feeding her infant child, the child forms the attachment through the need to be fed and the mother is providing that need to the child. However, that theory was shot down when Harry Harlow decided to raise monkeys and see what happens when a frightening stimulus was introduced. Did they go to the “mother” that fed them and was made of wires or did they go to the one that held more comfort being made of cloth? They scattered to the mother made of cloth. Harlow’s explanation was that “infants are biologically programmed to emit behavior that triggers an affectionate, protective response from adults”(Weiten, 2011, p. 342). As for the quality of attachment between mother and infant, it varies and there are specifically three types of categories that attachment can be categorized under. Secure attachment is the better of the three. When a child is develops a secure attachment, he or she is comfortable with their mothers....
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...early age love and affection to help the lead a more productive and secure life leading to adulthood. This paper explores a little more in depth about this theory, I will reference from Harlow’s Monkey Experiment, Anna Freud and Psychology Eleventh Edition. Harry Harlow (1905-1981) conducted an experiment where he took new born monkeys from their mothers at birth and provided them sergeant mothers; one of the mothers was made entirely from wire and only had a bottle that provided food. The other was covered in a soft terry cloth and could only provide comfort. Harlow found that regardless of whether or not the cloth covered mother provided food or affection, the infant monkeys would cling to her for comfort. The babies assigned to wire mesh mothers were adequately fed, but their needs for psychological nurture and tactile comfort were ignored, and they consequently displayed behaviors resembling autism. The baby monkeys assigned to terry cloth mothers, in contrast, appeared to develop far more normally. But why? Their psyches had been nourished along with their bodies. Harlow’s experiments were the first real understanding about how the bond between a mother and child at an early age. As Harlow started his experiment he noticed early on that the young monkeys would spend up to 20 hours a day on this cloth monkey and only an...
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... After watching the video of Harlow’s Monkey Experiment it has proven to show how love is just a powerful of a condition, just like hunger and thirst. The feeling to be loved is satisfying because of its affectionate and intimate nature. My friends would always talk about how love is blind or unconditional. From watching this video, it made me understand a little of what love is, in the sense that we have absolutely no control over it, since love is basically chemistry. In the 1950s a psychologist named Harry Harlow had conducted an experiment on maternal deprivation in rhesus monkeys. This experiments was setup to study the landmarks not only in primatology, but also evolving the science of attachment and loss. Harry Harlow showed that the mother’s love for the infant was more emotional rather than physiological. To conduct the experiment the first step was to separate the infant monkeys apart just a few hours after their mothers had giving birth to them. Harlow had then arranged for the infant monkeys to be “raised” by two kinds of...
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...with an innate instinct to form attachments in order to survive. He believed that a child must form a monotropic relationship or else severe consequences in social development could occur. The result would be irreversible developmental problems in the form of reduced intelligence, aggression or depression. A flaw in Bowlby’s theory was the fact he didn’t recognise the differences between privation and deprivation. Treating both as an equal entity, adding doubt to his 44 thieves experiment (1944). Harry Harlow on the other hand recognised the difference between privation/deprivation. Harlow, contributed work to Bowlby’s theory, with his controversial research on rhesus monkeys. Harlow basically thought that the relationship with caregivers was an important role in a child’s development, which impacted on their normal functioning and relationships throughout their lives. During one of his experiments that involved removing the monkey from its mother at birth and isolating it, Harlow observed that these monkeys became emotionally disturbed. After a year of isolation, these monkeys were unable to form any kind of relationship or function normally....
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...from being separated from that person. 3. Pleasure when reunited - relief and observable joy when reunited with them. 4. General orientation of behaviour towards the caregiver - the child’s awareness of where the person is, and the reassurance they feel by them being close. Harlow’s monkeys (1959): The origins of love. Harry Harlow used rhesus monkeys in his research into learning and noticed that many of the young monkeys kept in isolation became distressed when he cleaned out their cages. It seemed that the monkeys were forming an attachment with the sanitary towels he used to line the base of the cages. Harlow carried out a number of variations using sixteen young isolated monkeys. Some were kept in cages with both a wire surrogate mother and a softer one covered in Terry cloth whilst others were kept in cages with just one. Sometimes the monkeys would be fed by the wire mother and other times by the softer cuddlier mother. However, the important variation was the one with a monkey in a cage with a wire mother that provided food and a Terry cloth mother that didn’t (providing the monkey with a choice; food or comfort). Harlow noticed that the monkeys would spend most time clinging to the cloth mother and occasionally feeding from the wire mother. When the monkeys were stressed by a mechanical toy banging a drum the monkeys would always run to the cloth mum for safety suggesting an attachment. Also...
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...INTRODUCTION Abraham Harold Maslow was born April 1, 1908 in Brooklyn, New York. He was the first of seven children born to his parents, who themselves were uneducated Jewish immigrants from Russia. His parents, hoping for the best for their children in the new world, pushed him hard for academic success. Not surprisingly, he became very lonely as a boy, and found his refuge in books. To satisfy his parents, he first studied law at the City College of New York (CCNY). He moved to Wisconsin so that he could attend the University of Wisconsin. Here, he became interested in psychology, and his school work began to improve dramatically. He spent time there working with Harry Harlow, who is famous for his experiments with baby rhesus monkeys and attachment behavior. During the 1950s, Maslow became one of the founders and driving forces behind the school of thought known as humanistic psychology. His theories including the hierarchy of needs, self-actualization and peak experiences became fundamental subjects in the humanist movement. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs states that we must satisfy each need in return, starting with the first, which deals with the most obvious needs for survival itself. So, we decided to do a research on Self actualization’s need. Each of us is motivated by needs. Our most basic needs are inborn, having evolved over tens of thousands of years. Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs helps to explain how these motivates us all. Maslow’s original Hierarchy...
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...How does attachment influence the social and emotional development of the child? In your answer refer to the usefulness and the critiques of the attachment theory. A child’s social and emotional development has significant implications for the social functioning of a child throughout their lives, in their education, friendships and employment. A child with poor or social and emotional development are at risk of experiencing poor relationships with peers, academic problems and can lead them into involvement in unsociable activities or crime. Research suggests the key to social and emotional development lies in the child’s early relationship with parents and caregivers. It is believed that children develop and thrive better when they are brought up in an environment where the caregiver satisfies a child’s needs physically and emotionally. Throughout the Late 1930s and 1940s a psychologist John Bowlby investigated the nature and the purpose of the close relationships that a person forms with people throughout their lives, in particular, childhood. He researched the making and breaking of bonds to understand the psychological behaviour and social and emotional development of human being (Howe, 1995, P46). As a result of these investigations and studies Bowlby developed a theory called the ‘Attachment Theory’. The basis of this theory is that “the infant and young child should experience warm, intimate and continuous relationships between the child and the mother” (Steele...
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...The learning theory, firstly proposed by Dolland Miller (1950) argues that attachment is a form of nurture and so is learnt. Behaviourists came up with the idea that it is learnt either through classical or operant conditioning. The learning theory was introduced by behaviourists who base most of their explanation on the effects of nurturing. They proposed that all behaviour is learned rather than inborn and In terms of attachment, through either classical or operant conditioning. Psychologists have based their explanation of attachment on Pavlov’s experiments into classical conditioning. They argue that for infants the sensation of hunger and the need for food is an unconditioned stimulus and producing a sense of pleasure happens when the baby receives food. The baby then has an unconditioned response to receiving food. The person who produces the food becomes associated with the pleasure the baby feels. If that is repeated enough the baby then reacts in a similar way to the mother as it does to food, even in the absence of food. The baby then learns to become attached to the mother. Operant conditioning states that, any behaviour that produces a positive reinforcement such as food will be repeated. Behaviours that switch off something unpleasant are also likely to be repeated (negative reinforcement). This can be applied to attachment in the sense that a new-born baby will cry in response to feelings of discomfort, which come from being hungry or cold. The sound of a baby...
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...ADULT ATTACHMENT In 1984, Main and Goldwyn performed an experiment to denote whether early patterns of attachment influence adult relationships and in particular, the attachment with their own children. In this study, each participant under went an Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) where they were asked about both their adult and childhood relationships. Every adult was then classified into four groups so that the attachment with their children could be assessed. They found a link with Ainsworth's study and realised there was a correlation between the infant attachment types and the adult classification. The first classification was dismissing (detached); in this group, people's childhood experiences are not seen as important and neither are personal relationships. Referring back to the link with Ainsworth's study, they found that adults in this classification, usually had infants who were insecurely (anxious-avoidant) attached. The second group was Autonomous (secure), adults in this category thought relationships to be important and both positive and negative experiences were recalled in the AAI with insight into how they influenced themselves - this group was linked with the infant attachment type B - secure. Preoccupied (entangled) was the third group and contained adults who recognised the emotional significance of their past experiences, yet they were often unresolved - their children were found to be insecurely (anxious-ambivalent) attached. Finally, there was the...
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...“Hey daddy look at us!” says Avery. I look over there and Avery, my youngest, is sitting on Jackson’s, my oldest, lap on a swing. “Jackson and Avery be careful. You guys can still swing together but go a little slower.” “Ok, daddy,” says Jackson. “Love you, daddy,” says Avery. “Love you too.” Now, where is a bench that I can sit on because I am so tired? There is one over there. Now where is my little monkey, Amanda? She is probably on the monkey bars. Yup just as I predicted, she is on the monkey bars. Finally, I can relax on this bench. Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! Where is that noise coming from? Is that one of mine? Ok well, it is not Avery or Jackson. That is good. Now where is Amanda I do not see her on the monkey bars? Oh no, Amanda is on the...
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... “Discovering Love” The article “Discovering Love”, by Harlow (1958) describes the component of love between an infant and a mother. Harlow demonstrates in his experiment how monkeys need the love and comfort from a mother figure just like humans do. The love and connection between a mother and her baby is the most important thing growing up. It will be the start to a new life, and will give the child a better structure of living. In Harlow’s experiment, he used two groups of monkeys that were raised with either a cloth or write mother demonstrated the importance of contact comfort. No matter which mother had the milk, the monkeys spent their time on the cloth mother rather than the wire mother. Both set of monkeys were given the same nutritional needs. Both sets of moneys gained the same amount of weight although the monkey feeding from the wired mother had diarrhea due to lack of comfort from the wire mother. This put a lot of stress upon the young monkeys. Harlow conducted his opinion well and thoroughly. He proved his points by using valid arguments and statistics. All humans and animals need love and comfort to grow up to have a healthy life. The better environment and the more comfortable you are to your mother as a baby the better the connection and the better the life you will have. Statistics shown by Harlow, prove that having the love and comfort needed by the mother will uncover the better...
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...John Bowlby John Bowlby (1907) was a British psychoanalyst, notable for his research on child development and his concept of attachment. Bowlby’s studies began at the Trinity College in Cambridge studying psychology. Bowlby furthered his education- graduating in medicine in 1933 then going on to qualify as a psychoanalyst in 1937. During this period Bowlby spent time working with delinquent children. It was this early work which allowed him to develop a strong interest in the development of children- in particular the impact of separation between caregivers and children. This was to have a profound effect and major influence on his future work. In 1949, the World Health Organization accredited Bowlby to write a report on the mental health of homeless children in postwar Europe. Following the publication of his report, Bowlby persisted in the development of his attachment theory. In 1969 he published his first book on attachment theory: Attachment and Loss Volume 1. (1) Bowlby devoted much of his research on the theory of attachment, describing it as a "lasting psychological connectedness between human beings" (Bowlby, 1969, p.194). (2) His theory ‘emphasised the importance of the bond established between infants and their primary carer-usually their mother’ (Scott etal). Once the bond is first established, an...
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...This suggests that infants attach to those who satisfy their needs i.e. provide nourishment. Therefore, infants will associate their caregivers with gratification. The infant will then go to the caregiver to satisfy their needs and this eventually transitions into a feeling of security when the caregiver is around. However, a study by Harlow refutes this theory. Harlow aimed to study the behaviour of monkeys separated from their mothers at birth to test the effects of separation. He used infant rhesus monkeys which were taken from their mothers (.e. maternal deprivation). They were kept in a cage which two surrogate ‘monkeys’ (although they were not real). One was mae of cloth and covered with a soft blanket whilst the other was a wwire monkey which incorporated a feeding bottle. Te monkeys were kept in these conditions for a period of time, and the release into a cafge with a group of normally reared monekys. He found that infsnt monkeys preferred to spend time with the cloth monkey, apporoximatly 23 hours was spent with this monkey per day and only 1 hour with the wire monkey. When these monkeys were returned to the company of other monkeys, Harlow found that they showed signs of inapporipriate social behaviour and delinquency. They were aggressive to other monkeys and were unable to form normal relationships. If they had offspring, the were extremely poor, neglecting monkeys. Therefore, we can conclude that physical conform is more important for attachemtn than food and that...
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...need to carry on our genetic line. When some young animals are born they seek proximity to their mother, they do this as a form of security, mainly to protect themselves from predators. In doing so, they are more likely to reach adulthood, and become able to pass their genes onto the next generation. This theory is obviously influenced from Darwin’s theory of evolution in ‘survival of the fittest’, only the most well adapted animals will continue their genetic line. Although Darwin’s theory is the most widely accepted, Bowlby’s ideas of attachment were wildly refuted, and see as too farfetched. The function of attachment being primarily for evolutionary purposes can be criticised mainly for how there is little way of testing it. In 1959 Harlow conducted an experiment with the aim to find out whether rhesus monkeys would show attachment to an object which provided food, or to an object that provided comfort. A baby rhesus monkey was separated from its mother after birth and kept in confinement with an option between a soft surrogate mother, or one made from wire that simply provided the monkey with food. His findings were that the infant monkey would spend as much time as possible clinging to the soft model, and would only occasionally cross to the wire model for food when it was desperate. This shows that infants do not attach to their mother simply for evolutionary purposes, but for comfort. Furthermore the findings prove that rhesus monkeys prefer comfort over food in terms...
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