Harlow's Studies on Dependency in Monkeys

Summary

This script describes a psychological experiment observing baby monkeys' attachment to 'wire' and 'cloth' mothers. Despite being nursed by the wire mother, the babies showed a strong preference for the cloth mother for comfort. When frightened, they sought the cloth mother, indicating a deep emotional bond. The experiment also highlighted the importance of physical contact for a baby's sense of security and its impact on behavior, such as exploration and curiosity.

Takeaways

• 🐒 **Wire Mother Experiment**: The script describes an experiment involving a monkey raised with both a wire mother and a cloth mother.
• 🤔 **Preference for Cloth Mother**: Despite being weaned on a wire mother, the baby monkey prefers the cloth mother, indicating a preference for comfort.
• ❤️ **Importance of Contact Comfort**: Contact comfort is found to be of significant importance, overshadowing other variables including nursing.
• 👶 **Attachment as Love**: The script suggests that a baby's attachment to its mother can be considered a form of love, providing a sense of security.
• 😱 **Fear and Comfort**: When frightened, the baby monkey seeks out its mother for comfort, indicating a strong emotional bond.
• 🔬 **Experimental Apparatus**: The experiment uses an apparatus designed to frighten the monkey, simulating a stressful situation.
• 🏃 **Reaction to Fear**: The baby monkey's reaction to fear is to run to its mother, showing a natural instinct for seeking safety.
• 👾 **Diabolical Apparatus Effect**: The baby monkey's fear response to the 'diabolical' apparatus is used to study its emotional reactions.
• 🧠 **Change in Personality**: Contact with the mother changes the baby monkey's behavior, reducing fear and promoting exploration.
• 🌍 **New Environment Anxiety**: A new and strange environment can cause fear in baby monkeys, similar to human children.
• 🆚 **Comparison of Mothers**: The script contrasts the ineffectiveness of the wire mother in providing comfort with the positive impact of the cloth mother.

Q & A

What was the primary focus of the experiment with the monkeys?

The experiment focused on understanding the importance of contact comfort in infant monkeys, particularly comparing the preference for a wire mother versus a cloth mother.

How much time did baby monkey 106 spend with the wire mother and the cloth mother daily?

Baby monkey 106 spent less than one hour a day with the wire mother and the majority of the day, 21.7 hours, with the cloth mother.

What was the unexpected finding regarding the variable of contact comfort?

The variable of contact comfort was found to be of such significant importance that it overshadowed all other variables, including nursing.

What did the researchers predict about the preference of the baby monkeys for the cloth mother?

The researchers predicted that the baby monkeys would prefer the cloth mother due to creature comfort, similar to how a human baby would prefer a blanket.

How did the baby monkey react when frightened in the experiment?

When frightened, the baby monkey ran to its mother for comfort, and upon contact, the fear disappeared and was replaced with a sense of security.

What apparatus was used to frighten the baby monkey during the experiment?

The apparatus used to frighten the baby monkey included flashing eyes, loud sounds, and moving mechanical parts.

What was the purpose of the six-foot square room with toys and objects?

The room was designed to create a new and strange environment for the baby monkeys to observe their reactions and behaviors when placed in unfamiliar surroundings.

How did the baby monkey behave when placed in the strange room without its mother?

The baby monkey entered the room cautiously, appeared disturbed, and searched for comfort, indicating fear and unease.

What was the difference in behavior when the wire mother was placed in the room with the baby monkey?

The wire mother, despite having nursed the baby monkey, did not help much and did not provide the comfort the baby monkey needed.

What happened when the cloth mother was placed in the room with the baby monkey?

The baby monkey rubbed against the cloth mother, seeking contact comfort, which helped build up its reservoir of affection and security, leading to relaxation and exploration of the environment.

What does the experiment suggest about the nature of love in infant monkeys?

The experiment suggests that love in infant monkeys is associated with the feeling of security and comfort provided by their mothers, rather than just the act of nursing.

Outlines

00:00

🐒 Attachment and Comfort in Monkeys

The script discusses an experiment involving a monkey raised with two 'mothers': a wire mother and a cloth mother. Baby 106 was weaned on the wire mother but spent significantly more time with the cloth mother, indicating a preference for comfort over nursing. The experiment aimed to measure the importance of contact comfort. The script suggests that the monkey's attachment to the cloth mother is akin to a baby's attachment to its human mother, seeking security and comfort. The experiment also includes a scenario where a baby monkey is frightened and runs to its mother for comfort, demonstrating the strength of the infant's love and attachment.

05:01

🔍 Exploration and Security in Infant Monkeys

This paragraph describes how a monkey raised with a wire mother, despite being nursed by it, did not find affection or security from the wire mother. The monkey's behavior contrasts with another monkey that was raised with a cloth mother, which seeks contact comfort and builds a reservoir of affection and security. This monkey's body language changes from fear to relaxation, and it积极探索新环境，indicating a positive response to the cloth mother's presence. The script suggests that the presence of a comforting mother figure allows the monkey to explore and investigate its surroundings, becoming a curious and happy infant.

Keywords

💡Monkey

Monkeys are primates, often used in scientific research due to their genetic and behavioral similarities to humans. In the video's context, monkeys are the subjects of an experiment to understand the importance of maternal contact. The script mentions a baby monkey, '106', which was raised on a 'wire mother', illustrating the study's focus on the effects of different types of maternal figures on monkey behavior.

💡Wire Mother

A 'wire mother' is an artificial surrogate mother used in psychological experiments, typically made of wire and equipped with a bottle for feeding. It represents a non-nurturing, purely functional form of mothering. The script describes how baby monkey '106' was weaned on a wire mother, highlighting the stark contrast between the nurturing 'cloth mother' and the utilitarian 'wire mother'.

💡Cloth Mother

The 'cloth mother' is another type of surrogate mother used in the experiment, covered in soft cloth to provide a comforting tactile experience. It symbolizes the nurturing aspect of mothering beyond mere sustenance. The script notes that despite nursing from the wire mother, the baby monkey spends significantly more time with the cloth mother, indicating a preference for comfort and contact.

💡Weaning

Weaning refers to the process of gradually replacing milk feeding with other foods. In the script, baby monkey '106' is weaned on a wire mother, which is a significant detail as it sets the stage for observing the monkey's behavior and preferences post-weaning.

💡Contact Comfort

Contact comfort is the emotional security and well-being derived from physical contact, especially with a caregiver. The video's theme revolves around the importance of contact comfort, as evidenced by the baby monkey's preference for the cloth mother and the subsequent experiments designed to measure the monkey's reaction to fear and comfort.

💡Experiment

The term 'experiment' in the script refers to the scientific procedures conducted to study the effects of different maternal figures on the emotional development of monkeys. The script describes various experiments, including those involving frightening the baby monkey to observe its reaction to the wire and cloth mothers.

💡Security

Security in the context of the video refers to the psychological state of feeling safe and protected, particularly in the presence of a caregiver. The script uses the example of a frightened baby monkey running to its mother to illustrate how contact with the mother provides a sense of security, replacing fear with comfort.

💡Affection

Affection is the warm feeling of fondness or love, often associated with physical contact and emotional bonding. The script contrasts the wire mother, which provides no affection, with the cloth mother, which the baby monkey seeks out for comfort, indicating the importance of affection in emotional development.

💡Diabolical Apparatus

The 'diabolical apparatus' mentioned in the script refers to the frightening experimental setup used to induce fear in the baby monkeys. It includes flashing eyes, loud sounds, and moving mechanical parts. This apparatus is crucial for testing the猴子's reaction to stress and its subsequent search for comfort.

💡Strange Environment

A 'strange environment' in the script is used to describe a new and unfamiliar setting that can cause fear or anxiety. The six-foot square room filled with toys represents such an environment for the baby monkeys, simulating the human experience of a child in an unfamiliar place without a mother.

💡Exploration

Exploration in the video refers to the behavior of the baby monkey investigating its surroundings after gaining security from contact with the cloth mother. This behavior signifies curiosity and a healthy emotional state, contrasting with the fearful, cautious behavior exhibited in the absence of a comforting maternal figure.

Highlights

A monkey raised on a wire mother was observed for its behavior.

Baby monkey 106 was weaned on a wire mother and showed a preference for the cloth mother.

The baby monkey spent significantly more time with the cloth mother than the wire mother.

Contact comfort was found to be a variable of measurable importance.

The preference for cloth over wire was so strong it overshadowed other variables, including nursing.

The experiment suggested that a baby monkey seeks creature comfort similar to a human baby with its blanket.

The term 'love' in the context of a baby monkey's attachment to its mother was discussed.

Security and the disappearance of fear in the presence of the mother were key indicators of 'love'.

An experiment was conducted using an apparatus designed to frighten the monkey.

The baby monkey's reaction to fear was to seek contact with its mother.

Contact with the mother changed the baby monkey's personality, alleviating fear and promoting exploration.

The experiment showed the strength and impact of infant love.

A six-foot square room with toys was used to simulate a strange environment for the monkey.

Baby monkeys without their mothers displayed fear in the strange environment.

A wire mother failed to provide comfort to a baby monkey in a strange environment.

A cloth mother, despite not nursing, offered affection and security to the baby monkey.

Rubbing against the cloth mother built up the baby monkey's reservoir of affection and security.

The baby monkey, after contact with the cloth mother, explored and investigated the new environment confidently.

Transcripts

let me show you a monkey raised on a

nursing wire mother

now here are 106 --is two mothers as you

can see it was weaned on a wire mother

here's baby 106 Wow

he's going to the wire mother

Scott beat the live oh he's going back

he's back on the pot mother and he'll

stay on the clock but actually this baby

spends 217 day Pienaar today on the

clock mother

less than one hour a day on the wire

mother we had predicted that the

variable of contact comfort would be a

variable of measurable importance but we

were unprepared to find that it

completely overwhelmed and overshadowed

all other variables including those of

Nursing frankly doctor if it comes to a

choice between wire and cloth it's

reasonable to expect that any child will

go to the cloth that's a matter of

creature comfort like a baby with its

blanket but is this really love well

what do you mean by saying that a baby

loves its mother certainly one thing we

mean is that it gets a great feeling of

security in the presence of the mother

now mr. Collingwood wouldn't you say

that if you frightened a baby that it

went running to its mother who is

comforted and then all the fear

disappeared and was replaced by a

complete sense of security that that

baby loved its mother now in this

experiment

this is the apparatus we use that looks

diabolical that's just the way the baby

monkey feels about it flashing eyes loud

sound moving mechanical parts all of

these things are designed to frighten a

monkey now here we have a peaceful

resting baby

month let's find out what his reactions

to his mother are when we frighten him

[Applause]

similar situation he runs away it's more

than running away he was running to his

mother to touch her to drive away his

fear contact with the mother changes his

entire personality look now he's

actually threatening the diabolic all

right this gives us part of the picture

of the strength and infant of love this

is a six foot square room with a few

toys and other objects but to the monkey

it's much more menacing we know that

when our own children are taken to a

strange place without their mothers they

are often overwhelmed with fear this

room is just such a new and strange

environment for the baby monkeys no

mother is in there now let's put a

monkey into the room

[Music]

notice how cautiously he enters the room

he's searching for comfort but nothing

believes his disturbance now we'll take

the baby monkey out and put in a wire

mother now this one was nursed by a wire

mother that's right

all his life she doesn't seem to help

much now we'll try the same test with a

clap mother in the room you see the

contrast in the behavior despite the

fact that the wire mother nursed him she

could offer this infant nothing in the

way of affection or security

but here's a monkey by rubbing against

the poor father as if he were seeking as

much contact comfort as he could get

builds up his reservoir of affection and

security first his body relaxes as the

fear disappears but above and beyond

this new positive response patterns

appear he now goes out to explore and

investigate this new strange world he is

now a normal happy curious baby