Harry Harlow Essay

Harlow was researching the primates at the Henry Vilas Zoo, to study learning and memory in monkeys. While doing this Harlow observe something very interesting, the monkeys were starting to develop strategies for Harlows studys that he set up. They were know as learning sets but then later to be verbalise as Learning to learn. To further this development, Harlow was in extremity of first-string access to baby primates. He then thought breeding his give birth colony of Rhesus monkeys in the year 1932. To help the studies Harlow decided to tump everyplace rear the infants in a nursery setting, where he would separate the infants from their beats 12 hours after birth and place them in conducting wire cages on their admit with a textile on the floor. While caring for the infant monkeys, Harlow was intrigued as to why every time they took the cloth away to give them a clean one, they would cry and through a fit. In human infants we would turn to this behaviour a tantrum.They often cling on to the cloth with their trivial hands as hard as they could and while sleeping they would cling to up to it. Most scientists didnt pay much attention to this, they would translate that its because of reduction of food, that if they could feed 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 find nigh this matter. The scientist learned to hand rear the infants properly, but when they were with other infants, they huddled in a corner 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 days scientists were to believe that if you fussed over your child to much that it would become spoilt. It was a big thing to inadvertence your Childs cries unless for feeding or changing. With the infant monkeys, Harlow wanted to found this theory wrong, that babies do need nurturing to de velop better in life, that they need the bond between mother and child. To begin the tests Harlow invented what he called a deputy mother. Separated from their mother about 12 hours after birth, the infant monkeys were increase with a surrogate mother.Harlow tried 2 different types of mother telegram mother who was made completely out of wire with a spoon food so the infant monkeys can feed, the other was a cloth mother made with wood 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 discover that the infants who w ere being raised by a wire mothers were having difficulties in digesting the milk. Although the cloth surrogate infant was gaining the same weight as the wire surrogate infant, the wire mother infants were having constant diarrhea. Harlows interpretation on this special behavior was that the lack of contact and comfort was psychologically impacting on their speech pattern levels which was effecting their digestive system.