Harry Harlow
American psychologist known for primate attachment experiments
American psychologist at the University of Wisconsin whose experiments with infant rhesus monkeys and cloth and wire surrogate mothers showed the importance of contact comfort. His isolation experiments are now widely considered unethical.
Why this person matters
Harlow's 1958 presidential address to the APA challenged the view that infants bond with whoever feeds them. His laboratory also produced severe emotional damage in monkeys, and some researchers cite the experiments as a spur to the animal liberation movement.
Main contributions
Surrogate mother experiments
Infant macaques raised with a terry-cloth surrogate and a bare wire surrogate spent far more time on the cloth mother, whichever one gave milk. Harlow called contact comfort 'a variable of overwhelming importance' and found feeding of 'negligible importance' by comparison.
The Nature of Love
He gave the results as his presidential address to the American Psychological Association on 31 August 1958, published in American Psychologist.
Isolation studies
From 1959 Harlow and his students reported on monkeys kept in partial or total social isolation, for up to 24 months in the total condition. The monkeys showed abnormal behaviour including self-mutilation, and long isolation was not reversed by rehabilitation.
Context and limits
Many of his experiments are now considered unethical, both in what was done to the animals and in how Harlow described it; he expressed no regret and argued that the research could help protect children. Gene Sackett, a former student, said they gave impetus to the animal liberation movement. The key surrogate comparisons rested on small groups, in several tests four monkeys. Critics argue that clinging is a survival mechanism in rhesus monkeys but not in humans, so the role of contact comfort may be overstated for people.
In your introductory course
Lifespan development.His cloth mother study appears in development and attachment chapters, and his isolation work appears in discussions of research ethics.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 9.3. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1930
He received his PhD from Stanford University and changed his surname from Israel to Harlow.
- 1958
He gave The Nature of Love as the APA presidential address.
- 1959
He and his students began reporting on partial and total isolation of monkeys.
- 1967
He received the National Medal of Science.
Sources
- York University, Classics in the History of Psychology, The Nature of Love (1958)Original work. Text passages inspected.
- New World Encyclopedia, Harry HarlowReference work. Reference article inspected.
- Wikipedia, Harry HarlowReference work. Reference article inspected.