Harlow’s work was based in a laboratory and was a long term experiment using monkeys. The treatment of the animals was seen as poor and unethical. Certain parts to the experiments could even be called cruel. Harlows work on attachment was based around the theory that attachment was formed to things that provided comfort to the animals, after discovering that they did indeed seek solace in more comfortable items which happened to be either a sanitary pad or its terry-cloth mother. The monkeys were taken completely out of their natural habitats and forced to live whatever way Harlow saw fit which is now not allowed. Since Harlow’s work there have been a lot of changes on experiments including animals and Harlows work would not have been allowed today.…
2. Explain Mary Ainsworth’s Strange Situation experiment, and its significance in the development of attachment.…
Harlow later in the story conducts an experiment with an infant monkey and its mother that should give him closure about his hypothesis. Without compassion he begins tests, “Anxiety first, shown in trembling and shaking; then come the screams” (311). This examines Harlow and his lack of realization and empathy towards mothers and how they have essentials that are beyond scientific. Slowly though, he begins to show and give in to his inner feelings about mothers. It takes a few experiments for him to realize “Time after time, baby monkeys return. Bad mother is better then none” (312). It took time and cruel methods but Harlow is almost at the…
3. The importance of secondary attachments was found in a study by Harlow where monkeys who were raised just with their mothers for 6 months were later socially abnormal and were then unable to act socially around other monkeys.…
An infant develops an attachment based on the psychoanalytic concept of “cupboard love”. In other…
Ainsworth conducted a study to observe types of attachment behaviours with occur between a mother and a child. She used observation to witness these behaviours. By placing the child in a set up play room with one way glass allowed natural behaviour to be observed without interference from the psychologist.…
In 1958 a developmental psychologist, Harry Harlow, began a study to determine what makes an infant love a parent. Harlow wanted to prove that it was possible to “prevent or change” the strength of love formed between the infant and mother by changing the mother’s ability to meet the infant’s needs. Due to the fact that Harlow had used Rhesus monkeys for previous studies and that they are biologically similar to humans, Harlow decided to use Rhesus monkeys again. If Harlow could prove this, he believed he could apply it to a family’s daily life to improve child and parent relationships.…
His theory hinged on the universal need for contact. Harlow's famous wire/cloth "mother" monkey studies demonstrated that the need for affection created a stronger bond between mother and infant than did physical needs (food).…
One theory of attachment that behaviourists such as Dollard and Miller (1950) have put forward is Learning Theory, this theory believes that all behaviours are acquired though learning which takes place through classical and operant conditioning. Learning theory provides explanations on how attachments between the caregiver and baby are formed, one explanation is through classical conditioning; learning by association. This is based upon Pavlov’s work with dogs in 1927. Before conditioning an unconditioned stimulus produced an unconditioned response, during conditioning a neutral stimulus and unconditioned response would produce an unconditioned response then after conditioning the conditioned stimulus would result in a conditioned response. In the case of learning theory the unconditioned stimulus would be the food and the unconditioned response would a be a happy baby, the neutral stimulus which then becomes a conditioned stimulus would be the mother, therefore after conditioning the mother will make the baby happy as the baby associates the mother with food; a source of pleasure for the baby. Another explanation learning theory provides is that attachments are formed through operant conditioning; learning by reinforcement – positive or negative. This can explain the mothers bond with the child for example a mother will receive reinforcements for behaviours that affect the baby’s wellbeing; an example of negative reinforcement would be feeding a crying baby so it stops crying – the mothers actions have resulted in the subtraction of something negative. An example of positive reinforcement would be when the mother talks to the baby the baby may smile.…
This means children need to feel they are loved it’s a primary essential. As shown by the theorist, Harlow’s monkey’s.…
The learning theory, firstly proposed by Dolland Miller (1950) argues that attachment is a form of nurture and so is learnt. Behaviourists came up with the idea that it is learnt either through classical or operant conditioning. The learning theory was introduced by behaviourists who base most of their explanation on the effects of nurturing. They proposed that all behaviour is learned rather than inborn and In terms of attachment, through either classical or operant conditioning. Psychologists have based their explanation of attachment on Pavlov’s experiments into classical conditioning. They argue that for infants the sensation of hunger and the need for food is an unconditioned stimulus and producing a sense of pleasure happens when the baby receives food. The baby then has an unconditioned response to receiving food. The person who produces the food becomes associated with the pleasure the baby feels. If that is repeated enough the baby then reacts in a similar way to the mother as it does to food, even in the absence of food. The baby then learns to become attached to the mother.…
Harry Harlow founded a primate lab and started studying how infant monkeys developed when separated at birth from their mothers. He put these lonely monkeys in cages with two dolls. One was made out of wire with a wooden head and contained a bottle for the monkey's nourishment. The other was made of soft foam and covered in cuddly cloth but did not have a bottle. With this setup, Harlow attempted to separate the two things the monkey gets from its mother: nourishment and comfort. The wire mother gave food, while the cloth mother gave warmth and comfort.…
| Babies develop very strong bonds with their parents and main contact at the beginning, this will help them to develop their social, emotional and behavioural development. Babies who grow up in a secure environment and the confidence that “mum” is close by will have an easier time with socialisation. As children are developing they will learn how to play side by side. This stage in their development also sees a time when children become frustrated and this leads to tantrums!…
Ainsworth (1970) developed an experimental procedure in order to observe the variety of attachment forms exhibited between caregivers and infants.…
Children may grow up to be similar to there parents but this may be because the child is learning and imitating from the parents. We can see that personality is not something that we are born with but something that we learn based on studies of feral children who have been severely abused and neglected. If a child is locked in a room its whole life and kept alive it does not gather personality or behavioural patterns automatically, the child will be unable to talk or gather personality and basically be like an object and not a person at all. The child will act nothing like the mother or father. The case would be that we are born with the potential to walk and talk but without any social contact we will not learn to do so. We see this in the case study of Anna, a young girl neglected from birth.Locked in a room without any social contact. Anna was found when she was 5 years old. She was tied up by her arms and barely kept alive.Anna hardly seemed human.Her plight reveals that, isolated in this way an individual develops scarcely any capacity for thought emotion and meaningful behaviour.(John J. Macionis, Ken Plummer, 1997).Anna clearly never learned any personality or behavioural patterns because of the neglect she received in her young life. Soon after Anna was rescued she benefitted from intense social contact and showed improvement. it was noted that she after only ten days she was more alert and even smiled. during the next year anna showed more advancement showing interest in people and even learning to walk. Psychologist John B Watson devised a theory called behaviourism which held that behaviour patterns are not instinctive but learned. For Watson human nature was absolutely…