THE HUMAN SIGNIFICANCE OF SKIN
Skin is often over looked and under appreciated by all of us. We live our lives habitually without realizing what an amazing and important role skin plays in our every day routine. Our skin protects us from many things, keeps us informed of our surroundings and makes us aware of many dangers present. The sense of touch is our most developed feeling and the predecessor of all of our other senses. The author gives several examples on how we have incorporated our sense of touch to our colloquial language as an expression of just how much we use our skin. But our skin may serve more purposes than those of protection and information. Through several experiments it has been
…show more content…
The first one was made out of terry cloth and was warm and soft. The second one was made out of wire and carried the milk that would feed the monkeys. Monkeys responded to the stimuli of the terry cloth mother in such a way that it overshadowed the purpose of mother?s milk and put close contact as the main principle of nursing. The infant monkeys were expected to be conditioned to the wire monkey and respond to their instinct of survival first. But the study showed that the monkeys valued tactile stimulation more than they did nourishment, preferring to cling to the mothers that provided them with warmth and physical contact.
* Social Learning: A theory that learning occurs through observation and imitation of others.
* Parent-newborn bond: The strong feelings of attachment that arise between parents and their newborn infants.
When a baby is born, a mother is born as well. Harlow observed in the monkeys that the need from the mother to have intimate contact with the newborn was greater than the newborn?s need for contact with the mother. In the human mother, the parent-newborn bond is much stronger than in the other mammals serving the purpose of arresting post-partum depression, contraction of the uterus,
This monkey is only being fed by the cold wire mother and is not necessarily given comfort or warmth. With the cloth mother, you can see the fullness and warmth of the artificial mother’s body. Among the monkeys, they all developed a secure attachment involving them feeling secure and safe with the cloth mother. The wire mother was more of an insecure attachment, which is not a reliable place for the infant monkeys. A secure attachment for the monkeys would be the cloth mother because of the consoling and warm aura it
In The Skin That We Speak: Thoughts on Language and Culture in the Classroom, Lisa Delpit and Joanne Kilgour Dowdy have compiled essays from a diverse group of scholars and educators who share a common belief about the potentially harmful power of language and language attitudes on children in the classroom. The authors seek to "explore the links between language and identity, between language and political hierarchy, and between language and cultural conflict" (p. xiv). The book is divided into three sections and includes personal essays, linguistic analysis, case study, and policy analysis, many of which speak to the ongoing debates surrounding Ebonics and the education of African American students.
Mothers and newborns have a physiologic need to be together during the first moment of birth. Interrupted skin-to-skin attachment between mothers and babies can be harmful and can negatively impact short and long term health outcomes and breastfeeding success. Evidence supports instant skin-to-skin care after the birth, vaginally and C-section, during and after cesarean surgery for all stable mothers and newborns will enhance limitless opportunities for care and breastfeeding. Skin-to-skin contact after delivery is golden opportunity. Many studies validate that mothers and babies should be skin-to-skin promptly after birth. Not only promotes healthier baby and successful breastfeeding outcome, it is also
The first hour of life for an infant doing skin to skin contact with their mother provides warmth, protection, and nutrition. The closeness of being on the mother’s chest provides a continuation of hearing the mother’s heartbeat and voice. This is the one place an infant feels most content knowing all their needs are met.
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
“In the course of raising these infants we observed that they all showed a strong attachment to the cheesecloth blankets which were used to cover the wire floors of their cages. Removal of these cloth blankets resulted in violent emotional behavior. These responses were not short-lived; indeed, the emotional disturbance lasted several days, as was indicated by the infant's refusal to work on the standard learning tests that were being conducted at the time” (Harlow, 1959). The infant monkey would become distressed when its comfort blanket, a cheesecloth, was removed so this started the experiment to see if the monkey would prefer a nourishing mother or a comforting mother.
Attachment is described as an "affectionate reciprocal relationship between an individual and another individual." Much psychological research has been carried out into the types of attachments that infants form with their caregivers, and the results gained from these studies show how early attachments can affect children whether positively or negatively.
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.
Precise information is derived from these observations due to the scientific fact that infant monkeys and human infants “exhibit no fundamental differences“. Harlow’s research primarily revolved around the study of infant rhesus monkeys and their level of desire to bond with surrogate mother monkeys. Two surrogate mothers were equally available to each baby monkey. Observation of tolerance was recorded as each monkey passably chose between a welded-wire surrogate mother and a surrogate mother covered with terry cloth. Results showed that an equal number of monkeys fed from each of the surrogate mothers, however, they spent more time with the cloth mother as they would climb and cling to her. These results significantly disclose the resemblance between humans and monkeys because human infants also covet soft and cuddly toys, blankets, apparel, stuffed animals, etc.
When a woman gives birth there is a massive change in her hormones, and these changes evoke maternal behavior [2]. For example, oxytocin also known as the “bonding hormone or the love hormone” is a chemical messenger that is released into the brain in response to social contact, it’s especially noticeable with skin-to skin contact such as breast-feeding [2]. Oxytocin not only provides health benefits, but it also promotes bonding, such as between a breast feeding mother and her infant, and creates a desire for more contact with the individual evoking the release [2]. However, it’s not necessary for maternal behavior
The studies revealed that the monkeys chose to feed from the uncomfortable wire support first then went on to cling to the comfortable and warm cloth covered support, this revealed that contact comfort was more important than just being fed. These monkeys went onto becoming severely debilitated in their social relationships and also made incapable parents. Bowlby also believed that another important aspect in the development of child rearing is the importance of timing. There is a critical period of bonding between mother and baby which must take place at 6-12 hours after the birth; the contact must take place within that time otherwise attachment risks failure. This belief comes from the ethologists influence of imprinting with young animals primarily goslings.
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
As humans, building relationships between others is a form of connecting and communicating. It is a social situation that is experienced every day through the course of a lifetime. The initial relationship that is made is between the mother and the child. This bond that connects two people is known to be called attachment. The theory of attachment begins at birth, and from that, continuing on to other relationships in family, friends, and romance. Attachment is taught through social experiences, however the relationship with the mother and her temperament are the key factors in shaping the infants attachment type, which
Our skin is the largest part of our body and needs constant care and miniaturization to achieve a healthy glow. First thing to healthy-looking skin is maintaining an internal regimen; drinking lots of water and eating fruits and veggies will keep skin nourished, moisturized and blemish free.
In each person's life much of the joy and sorrow revolves around attachments or affectionate relationships -- making them, breaking them, preparing for them, and adjusting to their loss by death. Among all of these bonds as a special bond -- the type a mother or father forms with his or her newborn infant. Bonding does not refer to mutual affection between a baby and an adult, but to the phenomenon whereby adults become committed by a one-way flow of concern and affection to children for whom they have cared during the first months and years of life. According to J. Robertson in his book, A Baby in the Family Loving and being Loved, individuals may have from three hundred to four hundred acquaintances in there lifetimes, but at any one