The Correlation Between Pair Bonding And Mother Infant Relationships And Oxytocin

Harry and Margaret Harlow’s experiment was mostly centered on social development, which the sole stars of the experiment: Rhesus Monkeys. A significant amount of observations were found in the experiment. These directly related themselves to the limited social contact of humans. It was specifically aimed toward the cases of isolated and feral children. In these experiments, or observations, it is demonstrated that human or mother contact is necessary to the development of a child.

Chimpanzees are great apes that are the closest living relatives to humans (Larsen, 2014). These primates have been studied and observed intently for decades, and there are many theories that explain why they are the way they are. Chimpanzees learn the necessary skills of survival through social and cultural contexts and pass these traits along to their offspring. In researching these smart and interesting primates I have understood the social and cultural roles chimpanzees have that are necessary for survival. The mother- infant bond is crucial to the development of young chimpanzees and these females are known for teaching their young social roles and behavior, communication

Harlow gathered 16 rhesus monkeys, placing some with a cloth covered monkey that did not produce food, and some with a wired monkey that dispensed food. With this presence, it was found that the newborns didn’t die as they had the cloth to cuddle. It was found that the monkeys would rather cuddle the cloth covered monkey rather than the wired one which produced food, just to establish a sense of contact comfort, which was much more important for the attachment of the monkeys. Harlow also followed monkeys which had been deprived of a ‘real’ mother at birth and found the wire mother reared monkeys were dysfunctional but those with the cloth covered one didn’t develop normal social

A psychologist in the 1950’s by the name of Harry Harlow did a study on the parent-infant bond using a baby monkey and two artificial mothers. To make the experiment proper, Harlow removed the infant from its biological mother early on and was raised with individual cages (Myers, 2010, p. 188). The experiment was set up so that there were two “mothers”; one with the monkey’s blanket and the other had a bottle attached to a wire skeleton. This experiment was to test if a soft, caring mother, or one that provided food whenever pleased would more comfort an infant monkey.

The development of attachment bonds to other biological figures plays an important role in emotional development. Throughout life, an individual will form several relationships, some of which will be sincere and intimate while others will be superficial. However, collectively these relationships provide the foundation of our communities, families, and friendships and become essential to our survival as a species. A secure attachment bond can be classified as the interactive emotional relationship between a caregiver and infant involving the emotional responses of the caregiver to the infant 's cues (Bowlby, 1969). These emotional responses can be expressed in a variety of forms including gestures, sounds, or even movements. Thus, this interactive emotional relationship between the caregiver and infant brings the two closer together creating an environment that allows the infant to feel safe and secure, further developing their ability to communicate and interact with others (Bowlby, 1969).

In the mid 1900s, Harry Harlow took investigated a new field of research and began studying the components between infant-mother love, especially the importance of contact comfort. Harlow was interested in manipulating the mother figure of infants to identify the root of bonds and love; but since this could easily become unethical to study with humans, he used rhesus monkeys. Based on Freud’s hypothesis, one would think that the importance of receiving milk would be the primary root of a bond between the infant and the mother, but Harlow found that contact comfort was incredibly important, even more so than receiving food (Hock, 2013).

In the first third of our course we studied the intense, complex relationship a mother has with her offspring. In order to fully understand this bond, three concepts must be understood: the emotional nature, the adaptive strategy, as well as the relationship's pros and cons. However, for the purpose of this paper, I will be focusing on the mother-infant relationship as an adaptive strategy primates developed, with emphasis on attachment theory.

Primates have very defined parenting habits when compared to some other animals in the mammal classification. For starters parents in the primate category show a large amount of investment in their offspring that is unparalleled by other species in the mammal category. Some primates even go as far to show family qualities, where a father has a part in raising a child, where as in other mammal it is usually left up to the mother alone to take care and provide for a child. Scientist and Psychologist Harry Harlow conducted a study to examine the level of bond that is created in a primate mother/child relationship. His studies found that there is a strong need for primate children to have the physical and emotional bond of their mothers, and this bond is crucial for development.

Harry Harlow’s thorough research on the connection between maternal comfort and rhesus monkeys provides information and knowledge to the reader as an insight into our social and emotional development. In this article, Harlow uses experimental observation of mental and emotional associations of the affectionate ties between the child and the mother. As Harlow says, this is “an instinct incapable of analysis”.

Addicted to Love, written by Steven Johnson is an article that discusses the effect of oxytocin on the brain. Throughout the article, Johnson examines effects of oxytocin, the study of oxytocin in rodents, and the relationship of addiction and oxytocin. Johnson discusses the general effects oxytocin can have on the human brain while explaining some general behaviours. He then discusses a study conducted on oxytocin in prairie and montane voles. Lastly Johnson dissects the phrase “addicted to love” and proves that this could actually be true.

In chapter six “Monkey Love” Harry Harlow, an American psychologist, wanted to prove that babies prefer a gentle mother over a feeding mother. Harlow chose macaques for his experiment because they are the closest specie compared with humans. The experiment that Harlow conducted consisted of the infant monkeys being taken away from their birth mother, being placed in cages with a wired-clothed mother and a wired feeding mother. The monkeys preferred the clothed mother over the wire feeding mother. The findings of the experiment were over the edge, says Harlow, “We were not surprised to discover that contact comfort was an important basic affectional or love variable, but we did not expect it to overshadow so

This essay will evaluate the usefulness of Harry Harlow’s work in understanding human attachment. Harlow was interested in whether infants form attachments as a result of biological needs being met or whether they are predisposed to forming attachments with stimuli that have certain comforting properties; he tested this using monkeys and in later years studied maternal deprivation and abuse in monkeys. The findings from Harlow’s (1958, cited in Custance, 2012) initial experiments showed that baby monkeys were predisposed to forming bonds with objects with comforting properties rather than objects that only satisfied their biological needs.

When a mother is anxious or stressed due to labor pains, she tends to produce more epinephrine and norepinephrine

The following examples of attachment styles are a result of controlled studies which were conducted in a laboratory environment. The theories that unfolded, as a result of these studies, were pioneered by John Bowlby in the 1950s. Later, in the mid-1960s, Mary Ainsworth, a student of Bowlby, conducted further studies to help solidify theories of attachment between mother and child. These classic sets of experiments are referred to at the Strange Situation and continue to be used today to help us understand the bonds that are created and how they may predict future behaviors.

According to neuroeconomist Paul Zak, 95 percent of people studied release oxytocin when they received a positive social signal. Oxytocin is released when we watch an emotional movie, are touched by someone, or trusted with someone else’s possessions. About 5 percent of the people studied did not have a release of oxytocin after stimuli, resulting in the conclusion that these people possess psychopathic traits (Zak).