Discovering Love Testing In 1958, developmental psychologist Harry Harlow wanted to test whether or not an infant needs love and comfort just as much and if not more than the need for hunger and thirst. To test this, Harlow would create an environment that he could scientifically manipulate. Harlow used groups of rhesus monkeys and two different surrogates that were built. This particular monkey most resembles humans, and he believed that both humans and the rhesus monkey were closely related in the way they respond to needs of nursing and affectionate contact. The first surrogate was made with smooth wood and covered in cloth that also contained a light bulb within it to create warmth. The second surrogate was similar, but made out of wire mesh and provided no comfort from cloth. Both provided milk. Eight monkeys were assigned to two different groups. For group one, the cloth mother had the feeder and in the second group the wired mother had the feeder. The two groups were observed for five months as Harlow was trying to test the desire for comfort versus feeding. Next, Harlow wanted to test where the monkey would
go if it were afraid. To test this, he put unknown objects in their cages and recorded which mother they went to. Harlow wasn’t done at just this though, he wanted to find out how the monkeys would react with or without one of the surrogate mothers present. To test this he either removed the cloth mother, the wired mother, or both and put the monkeys in a room with objects that they had seen before. Harlow wanted to
test the monkeys ability to explore different situations with or without the mother. Lastly, he wanted to find out the connections formed between the surrogates and the monkeys. He removed them from the mothers for periods of time and then reunited them. Results In the first experiment the monkeys chose the cloth mother over the wired mother, the needs of the monkey such as hunger and thirst was of no importance to the monkey. The monkeys preferred comfort and safety over their needs, even if they got fed by the wired mother they would
quickly go to the cloth mother when finished. The monkeys seemed to be more stressed when raised by the wired mother. In the experiment with unknown objects, the monkeys when frightened would cling to the cloth mother even if raised by the wired mother. In the experiment where they had to explore objects they have seen before, they would first cling to the cloth mother, but then venture out on their own. When placed in the same room with the wired mother, they would become panicked and start crying. In the final experiment, they were separated from the surrogates. The monkeys when left alone did not tend to explore as they needed the safety they felt from the cloth surrogate. Psychological Impact To conclude, Harlow’s testing showed that putting the monkeys with two different surrogates in
different scenarios brought light to the idea that the need for comfort, touch, and security is just as important starting at infancy as any basic need such as hunger and thirst.