what was the purpose of the study Harlow conducted in the "discovering love" study
To understand the purpose of Harry Harlow's "discovering love" study, let's start by providing some background information. In the 1950s and 1960s, Harlow conducted a series of experiments on rhesus monkeys to investigate the nature of love and the importance of attachment in early development.
The specific study you are referring to is commonly known as Harlow's wire mother vs. cloth mother experiment. In this study, Harlow sought to examine the role of contact comfort, or the physical and emotional comfort derived from physical touch, in attachment formation.
Harlow designed an apparatus where baby monkeys were placed in a cage and presented with two surrogate mother figures. One surrogate mother was made of wire mesh, providing only a basic frame and a feeding bottle. The other surrogate mother was covered with soft and warm terry cloth but lacked the feeding bottle. The experiment aimed to test whether the monkeys would derive more comfort and attachment from the soft, cloth mother despite her inability to provide nourishment.
By observing the monkeys' behavior, Harlow found that the baby monkeys spent significantly more time clinging to the cloth mother, seeking comfort and security from the soft and warm contact. They would only briefly move to the wire mother to feed and then quickly return to the cloth mother. This suggested that the need for comfort and emotional support was just as crucial, if not more so, as the need for nourishment in attachment formation.
The primary purpose of this study was to challenge prevailing theories at the time, which focused solely on the role of food in mother-infant bonding. Harlow's findings demonstrated that physical touch, warmth, and emotional comfort were essential factors in forming strong attachments between infants and their caregivers.
Furthermore, the study had significant implications for understanding human development. It highlighted the importance of nurturing and emotional bonding in early childhood, emphasizing that love and comfort are fundamental requirements for healthy social and emotional development.
In conclusion, Harlow's "discovering love" study aimed to investigate the role of contact comfort in attachment formation and challenged the prevailing theories of his time while demonstrating the essential importance of emotional bonding and nurturing in early development.