Grand Theory Paper: Harry Harlow

One of the studies was conducted by Harlow in 1959 who wanted to study the mechanisms by which new-born rhesus monkeys bond with their mothers. He tested the learning theory by comparing attachment behaviour in the monkeys given wire surrogate mother producing milk with those given a soft towelling mother producing no milk.

Even though the learning theory of attachment provides an adequate explanation of attachment it is flawed. Research evidence,

Behaviourists regard behaviour as a response to a stimulus; pioneering the belief that internal cognitive processes are unnecessary when explaining behaviour. This view is supported by the behaviourist John Locke who proposed that children are born as ‘blank slates’ (‘tabula rasa’) whereby children are shaped by experience (Neaum, 2010). The behaviourist approach assumes that the process of learning is the same in all species; therefore concluding that human and animals learn in similar ways. Early behaviourists include Edward Thorndike, Edward Tolman and Edwin Guthrie conducted experiments on animals, under carefully observed conditions (Collin, 2011). However the three theorists, most associated with behaviourism are: Ivan Pavlov, John Watson and B.F. Skinner. These theorists identified two types of associative learning: classical and operant conditioning; these methods underpin the behaviourist perspective.

There is not only psychological evidence of the importance of the attachment relationship, but also neurobiological evidence. Many important brain structures, including the amygdala, septal nuclei and hippocampus “require considerable social, emotional,

Harry Harlow 's research on monkey 's support 's Bowlby 's theory of attachment as he investigated ‘the nature of human love and affection ' (Cherry, 2016) through monkeys. This shows Harlow 's experiments demonstrated the importance of early attachments, emotional bonds and how attachment increases a healthy development. Harlow 's experiment consisted of ‘two wired surrogate mothers and an infant monkey separated from their mother hours after birth. One of the wired monkeys had a soft terrycloth around it and the other one only had food attached with to it. ' (Cherry, 2016) This was set up to find out which wired monkey the baby monkeys would be attached to more. Harlow 's study showed that ‘the

There are similarities in the work of both Harlow and Ainsworth on attachment. Firstly, both of them used studies demonstrating attachment beyond Bowlby’s idea of ‘cupboard love’ (Custance 2010), with Harlow’s experiment in the 1950’s giving an example of the power and strength of attachment with the monkeys sometimes returning to an abusive

As in have mentioned in my introduction, there are mainly theorists in this field and all have there own perception of attachment. One such theorist, John Bowlby states

Harry Harlow remains a controversial figure. He was extremely influential in behavioral and cognitive psychology as well as psychoanalysis which he strongly criticized, but some of his experiments with moneys were cruel and insensitive. The animal rights movement in the United States grew partly in response to the manner Harlow experimented with monkeys. His revolutionary influence, however, cannot be downplayed. His experiments and the conclusions he made challenged the basics of behavioral psychology of the 1930s to '50s. Thanks to Harlow, it is now generally accepted that children's needs cannot be met just by feeding them that children are in need of other psychological variables such as touching, caring, cuddling, and carrying (Slater, 2004; Sumoi, Horst, & Veer, 2008). Thanks to the influence of one man, the industrialized world has changed fundamentally its child-rearing principles.

From the Napier video,” Chicken Wire Mother,” the most interesting result from this experiment was Harry Harlow showed that the comfort and security the cloth mother brought allowed the infant monkey to have the courage to explore the scary room. It's important to remember that when Harlow did these studies, people really didn't understand attachment at that time. Around the same time period, it was common for hospitals to refuse to allow parents to visit small children who were hospitalized because it was thought the child would adjust better. Harlow went further with monkeys than we'd do with humans, but it's not like he was being pointlessly cruel. Attachment is a deep and enduring emotional bond that connects one person to another across time and space. It could also be seen a vital in convincing people about the importance of emotional care in hospitals, children's homes and day care.

According to the famous “Rats maze” experiment, Watson began by challenging the underlying assumption of instinct (Berntson and Cacioppo, 2000). Watson and Morgan (1917) are considered to be

Many ideas were shared between Watson, Tolman, and Skinner who all played a role in the forming of behaviorism. They did, however, differ on some of their beliefs as well as their methods of study. At this time, methods of studying psychology as well as psychology in general were in the developing stages. Watson was largely credited with the foundation of behaviorism, however, he was by no means the only one to make contributions. There has been some debate as to whether Watson’s contributions were enough to make him the “founder of behaviorism.” It is important to examine contributions from several of the early

There are two approaches to attachment; evolutionary theory and behavioural theory, and for the purposes of this essay I will focus largely on the evolutionary school of thought.

Harlow stated that attachment was important but it did not ensure normal social development. We saw proof of that behavior earlier with the twins when they did not function as well in an

“Why don’t we make what can be observed the real field of psychology” (Watson, 1929). Watson (1878-1958) was born into a poor family in South Carolina. His mother was a religious woman, and his father drank a lot and had multiple affairs (Watson, 1999). Watson himself married twice, having two children in each marriage. He didn’t seem to have good relationships with his children – it is said that one of the main reasons for this may be because he used his children throughout his research. He studied in the University of Chicago where he later became known as the founder of Behaviourism. He wrote an essay in 1914 titled “Psychology as the Behaviourist views it” where he stated that behaviourism is an objective experimental branch of natural science (Watson, 1914). Behaviourism is a theory of learning that argues that all behaviours are acquired through conditioning (Carver & Scheier, 2012). Behaviourists believe

A significant piece of several psychological theories in the late nineteenth century was introspection, which is “the examination or observation of one's own mental and emotional processes” (Press, 2013). In retort to this theory behaviorism came about. Behaviorism is predominantly concerned with observable and measurable aspects of human behavior. In other words behaviorism does not look at the biological aspects but it suggests that all behaviors are learned habits and changes in response to the environment. It endeavors to explain how these particular habits are formed. Behaviorism claimed that the causes of behavior was not necessarily found in the complexities of the mind but could be observed in one’s immediate environment, from stimuli that produced, reinforced, and punished certain responses also known later on as conditioning. It wasn’t until the twentieth century that the scientist began to discover the actual systems to learning, thereby laying a foundation for behaviorism. A theorist by the name of Ivan Pavlov was a major contribution to the discovering of significant behavioral theories.