Comparing Ainsworth And Harlow's Theory

Compare and Contrast the work of Harry Harlow and Mary Ainsworth on understanding attachment.

There has been extensive psychological research on relationships and in particular the bond between mother and child. This, and other strong bonds, has become known as ‘attachment’ due to a theory from a psychologist called John Bowlby.
Bowlby’s theory was that infants have an inbuilt tendency to form relationships in order to assure their own survival from an evolutionary point of view. This was a radical point of view compared to those generally accepted at the time. This led to the experiments by Ainsworth and Harlow and this essay will look at the methods, experiments and results that arose from those efforts. Harry Harlow wanted to test the theory that Bowlby had offered by preventing one group of mothers from feeding their children while another group would be prevented from physical contact. Harlow knew that he couldn’t conduct this study on humans due to ethical restrictions so he decided to use monkeys. Harlow had observed infant monkeys protesting when sanitary pads were removed from their cages which led him to theorise that the monkeys required ‘contact comfort’ as well as
The behaviourists believed that infants ‘learned’ to love their parents because of positive rewarding experiences (e.g. being fed and receiving affectionate responses). The psychoanalysts, however, believed that infants love their parents because they fulfil any biological needs that they have. Bowlby referred to this as ‘cupboard love’ as they both relied on food as a motivation for the infant’s relationship. Ainsworth and Harlow’s finding showed that these theories were not necessarily correct and that attachment was more complex than a drive for basic needs to be met. Their findings also provided support to the theories of Bowlby which had been lacking