What Type Of Psychologist Is Harry Harlow?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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Harry Harlow was a 20th century psychologist who worked with primates. He is best known for his studies on

maternal separation and isolation

with rhesus monkeys.

Who inspired Harry Harlow?

Among the scientists to work there was

Abraham Maslow

, who would later establish the school of humanistic psychology. Harlow was intrigued by love. He questioned the theories then current which stated that love began as a feeding bond with the mother and applied by extension to other family members.

What happened to the monkeys after Harlow's experiment?

The Wire Mother Experiment

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

.

Why was Harlow controversial?

Harlow's experiments were controversial; they

included creating inanimate surrogate mothers for the rhesus from wire and wool

. Each infant became attached to its particular mother, recognizing its unique face and preferring it above others.

How many monkeys were used in Harlow's study?

Harlow conducted research with

8 rhesus monkeys

which were caged from infancy with wire mesh food dispensing and cloth-covered surrogate mothers, to investigate which of the two alternatives would have more attachment behaviours directed towards it.

What was Harry Harlow's last name before he changed it to Harlow?

While at Stanford, Harlow studied with psychologist Lewis Terman, who had helped develop the Stanford-Binet intelligence test. In 1930, he earned his Ph. D. in psychology and later changed his last name from

Israel

to Harlow.

What does Harlow prove using monkeys about raising a child?

Even without complete isolation, the infant monkeys raised without mothers developed social deficits, showing reclusive tendencies and clinging to their cloth diapers. … Harlow's work showed that

infants also turned to inanimate surrogate mothers for comfort when

they were faced with new and scary situations.

Did Harlow influence Bowlby?

In constructing his new theory on the nature of the bond between children and their caregivers, Bowlby profited highly from Harlow's experimental work with rhesus monkeys. Harlow in his turn

was influenced and inspired by Bowlby's new thinking

.

What is the conclusion of Harry Harlow's 1958 paper the nature of love?

He reports: We [found] that

a baby monkey raised on a bare wire-mesh cage floor survives with difficulty, if at all

, during the first five days of life. If a wire-mesh cone is introduced, the baby does better; and, if the cone is covered with terry cloth, husky, healthy, happy babies evolve.

What is contact comfort?

The infant's need for physical closeness and touching is referred to as contact comfort. Contact comfort is believed to be

the foundation for attachment

. The Harlows' studies confirmed that babies have social as well as physical needs. Both monkeys and human babies need a secure base that allows them to feel safe.

What is a cloth mother?

Wire mother was a wire effigy of a “mom,” complete with a nipple and bottle. “She” was for food provision. Cloth mother was

soft, designed for clinging, but provided no food

. … No food, but something physically comforting to cling to.

What did Mary Ainsworth do?

Mary Ainsworth is an American-Canadian developmental psychologist, feminist, and army veteran who

specialized in child psychology

. Ainsworth devised an experiment called the “Strange Situation” in reaction to John Bowlby's initial finding that infants form an emotional bond to its caregiver.

What was the sample in Lorenz's study?

Sample: Lorenz

took a batch of fertilised eggs and separated them into the experimental group and the control group

. Issues with the Sample: No noticeable problems have been reported with the sample. The only thing that may be questioned is the generalisability because of the fact that they were not human.

What happened to the monkey when placed in the unfamiliar room with the wire Mom?

When the monkeys were placed in an unfamiliar room with their cloth surrogates,

they clung to them until they felt secure enough to explore

. Once they began to explore, they would occasionally return to the cloth mother for comfort.

What is Ainsworth attachment theory?

Ainsworth's maternal sensitivity hypothesis argues

that a child's attachment style is dependent on the behavior their mother shows towards them

. ‘Sensitive' mothers are responsive to the child's needs and respond to their moods and feelings correctly.

How did the surrogate mother emit warmth?

Both mothers were also warmed

by an electric light placed inside them

. … Even when the wire mother was the source of nourishment (and a source of warmth provided by the electric light), the infant monkey spent a greater amount of time clinging to the cloth surrogate.

What were Harry Harlow's theories?

Harlow wanted to study the bond between newborn rhesus monkeys with their mothers. These infants were highly dependent on their mothers for nutrition, protection, comfort, and socialization. The

behavioral theory of attachment

suggests that an infant would form an attachment with a caregiver that provides food.

What is Bowlby attachment theory?

Attachment Theory

Bowlby defined attachment as

a “lasting psychological connectedness between human beings

.” His ethological theory of attachment suggests that infants have an innate need to form an attachment bond with a caregiver.

Who is the researcher that is associated with studies on attachments?


Researchers Rudolph Schaffer and Peggy Emerson

analyzed the number of attachment relationships that infants form in a longitudinal study with 60 infants. The infants were observed every four weeks during the first year of life, and then once again at 18 months.

Did John Bowlby work with Mary Ainsworth?


Attachment theory

is the joint work of John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth (Ainsworth & Bowlby, 1991 ). … Although Bowlby and Ainsworth worked independently of each other during their early careers, both were influenced by Freud and other psychoanalytic thinkers-directly in Bowlby's case, indirectly in Ainsworth's.

Was Harlow nature or nurture?

Harlow deserves a place in the early history of evolutionary psychiatry but

not

, as he is commonly presented, because of his belief in the instinctual nature of the mother-infant dyad. … Nor did Harlow agree with Lorenz's view of instincts as biological, unmodifiable innate needs, unaffected by learning.

At what age can children recognize themselves in the mirror?

In fact, it's one of their favorite activities – so much so that the car seat mirror has become a must-have. But in fact, it's not until

about 18 months

that most babies really recognize that it is their own bodies they see in the mirror.

What is poor attachment?

Children with poor attachments tend

to display poor socioemotional affects

, such as, poor social, coping, and problem solving skills, tantrums, clingy, withdrawn, or aggressive behaviors, etc. These negative effects, often impacts the child throughout their developmental years.

What is the definition of stranger anxiety?

Stranger anxiety is

manifested by crying when an unfamiliar person approaches

. It is normal when it starts at about 8 to 9 months and usually abates by age 2 years. Stranger anxiety is linked with the infant's developmental task of distinguishing the familiar from the unfamiliar.

James Park
Author
James Park
Dr. James Park is a medical doctor and health expert with a focus on disease prevention and wellness. He has written several publications on nutrition and fitness, and has been featured in various health magazines. Dr. Park's evidence-based approach to health will help you make informed decisions about your well-being.