Question

Explain the reasoning behind Harlow’s decision to conduct his famous experiment on monkeys. Explain the experimental setup, the findings, and his conclusions. In your opinion was his experiment worth the “cost”, in terms of the cost to the monkeys’ wellbeing as compared to the knowledge we gained from this research.

Answer 1

Harlow's experiment focussed on effects of maternal separation and social isolation of monkeys.

The reason why he chose to study monkeys for this is accidental. The idea came to Harlow when he was studying the mental processes of primates. As he was experimenting on monkeys he found that slowly the monkeys started developing strategies around his tests. So he started observing this in developing monkeys and he took infant mokeys away from their mother. The succeding changes in them made Harlow think that he could introduce surrogate instead of their biological mothers as he thought the infants would not develop a strong bond with their biological mother if they are separated early.

Harlow's experiments were to prove two things - if surrogate can replace biological mother, and, if bond between mother and child is purely based on physiological need. To prove this, Harlow separated baby monkeys from their mothers within hours after their birth and put them in a nursery where he placed inanimate "surrogates" - one made of heavy wire mesh, one made of wood covered in terry cloth. The wire mesh surrogate was not soft while the terry cloth surrogate was soft and cuddly. Both were of same size. In first experiment, both the surrogates were placed and monkeys had a choice where to go. In second experiment monkeys were divided and half were put with wire mesh mother and the other half with terry cloth mother. The monkeys were found to be more attached to the terry cloth mother than the wire mesh mother and spent more time cuddling. Even though they were getting same food and milk from both mothers, monkeys were more emotionally attached to terry cloth mother.

Harlow's experiment proved that children not only look to satisfy physiological needs but also emotional needs. This is applicable to humans as well. Yes, this experiment was worth the cost because it depicts how important it is to be emotionally attached to children and comfort them.