Rhesus Monkeys In Harry Harlow's Study

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. Eight infant Rhesus monkeys were split into two groups, each with a different substitute mother. Each model mother was equipped with a fake breast that supplied warmth with a light bulb
and could be nursed from.
However, one mother was structured out of wood, rubber and was covered with a soft cloth, while the other was only made of wire. First, the mothers were placed in different cubicles that were connected to the two separate monkey cages. Then, the time the infant monkeys spent with their mothers was monitored for the first five months. To confirm what Harlow had already expected, he performed other tests. The first he tried was to see how the infants would react to a foreign and frightening object. He then tried two other experiments to observe how the two groups of monkeys would adapt to a new environment and how they could survive independently. The results were extreme and undeniable. After observing the infants’ behavior in great depth Harlow discovered that the monkeys with the cloth mother spent more time with their mom than did the monkeys with the wire mother. Even the monkeys that were nursed by the wire monkey preferred the cloth monkey for comfort. They would only leave the cloth monkey for a brief time to nurse with the wire one, and then they would immediately return. The other experiments showed the same nature of
results. Harlow setup a room that was foreign to the monkeys and placed them in it with the cloth monkey. All the monkeys would immediately run to the cloth monkey for security. After the infants felt safe, they started to explore the room. However, when the cloth mother was removed the reaction of the monkeys was instantly different. They wouldn’t move and they resorted to childish acts of fear such as sucking their thumbs or crying. Some of the monkeys even went to the side of the room where the mother had previously been, and would run around screaming and crying. When the wire monkey was placed in the room they acted no differently. The results of the test with frightening objects proved no different. Whenever the infants were scared they always would run for comfort from the cloth mother, even if they had been nursed by the wire monkey. The final part of the study consisted of separating the infants from the mother for various amounts of time after they stopped nursing. After the longest amount of separation, when the monkeys were reunited with the cloth monkey they would snuggle and play with it. Harlow concluded that the key to successful parenting is “contact comfort and not the mammalian capabilities of women”. This showed that the father is able to successfully participate in the rearing of an infant, and not just the mother. Due to the fact this experiment was performed in the late 1950s the results were revolutionary, and changed the ways families raised their children almost immediately. I thought the experiment was highly creative and well thought out. The results however, were not surprising. I also believe his experiment provided troubled families with answers and has made raising children less of a mystery. “It is unmistakable that his discoveries changed the way we view the connection between infant and mother”.