Harry Harlow Essay

Harlow was researching the primates at the total heat Vilas Zoo, to study learning and memory in monkeys. While doing this Harlow discovered something very interesting, the monkeys were starting to set up strategies for Harlows tests that he set up. They were known as learning sets but then later to be give tongue to as Learning to learn. To further this development, Harlow was in need of regular access to infant primates. He then thought breeding his own colony of Rhesus monkeys in the year 1932. To help the studies Harlow clear-cut to hand rear the infants in a nursery setting, where he would separate the infants from their fixs 12 hours after kind and place them in wire cages on their own with a cloth on the floor. While sympathize with for the infant monkeys, Harlow was intrigued as to why every time they took the cloth away to give them a orderly one, they would cry and through a fit. In human infants we would call this behaviour a tantrum.They often advert on to the cl oth with their little hands as hard as they could and while sleeping they would nest up to it. Most scientists didnt pay much attention to this, they would say that its because of reduction of food, that if they could kick in like they would of a mother, the infant would be satisfied. Harlow did not accept this answer and was rather intrigued with what he could produce about this matter. The scientist learned to hand rear the infants properly, but when they were with other infants, they huddled in a respite while clinging to the cloth, the infants were unable to socialise. With this as inspiration, Harlow wanted to test the bonds between mother and child. In those eld scientists were to believe that if you fussed over your child to much that it would become spoilt. It was a big thing to neglect your shavers cries unless for feeding or changing. With the infant monkeys, Harlow wanted to prove this theory wrong, that babies do need nurturing to develop better in life, that they need the bond between mother and child. To begin the tests Harlow invented what he called a transposition mother. Separated from their mother about 12 hours after birth, the infant monkeys were raised with a surrogate mother.Harlow move 2 different types of mother Wire mother who was made comp permitely out of wire with a nipple so the infant monkeys can feed, the other was a cloth mother made with woodland wrapped with cloth. Both surrogate mothers were equipped with a light bulb to keep the infants warm by imitating the warmth from a real mother. Eventually the infant ran and clung to the cloth mother. Thinking that the infant would let go when it is hungry, the scientists observed the infant for hours to notice that when the infant became hungry it would hang on to the cloth mother and reach over to the wire mother to feed. It would repeat this actions several times.While Harlow was undergoing all this research, he observe that the infants who were being raised by a wire moth ers were having difficulties in digesting the milk. Although the cloth surrogate infant was gaining the aforementioned(prenominal) weight as the wire surrogate infant, the wire mother infants were having constant diarrhea. Harlows interpretation on this particular behavior was that the lack of contact and comfort was psychologically impacting on their stress levels which was effecting their digestive system.