Study of Primates 1

Harry Halow: Study of Primates

Ny’Keria Pritchett

Advanced Placement Psychology

Mr. Rickey Griffey

Fall 2022
Study of Primates 2

Abstract

Harry Harlow was an experimental psychologist who was well known for his

conditioning primatology studies on Rhesus Monkeys primates. Harlow’s many studies and

researches from Wisconsin and Stanford, with help from known names like Paul R. Darnsworth

and Calvin P. Stone, were key in helping him obtain some world renowned awards and medals.

While teaching for Wisconsin, Harlow and a group of his former students began their research on

primates in Harlow’s official laboratory, it was here that Harry conducted his studies on Rhesus

Monkeys and how their relations to nurture and affection are those very similar, if not the same,

as humans.
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Harry Harlow: Study of Primates

Harry Harlow is believed to be one of the most influential psychologists of our time. He

developed many case studies and helped educate many scholars and Americans on his beliefs on

primate love, human and primate connection, affection, and how all those aspects may affect the

future life of those same primates.

Background

Harry Frederick Harlow was born in Fairfield, Iowa on October 31, 1905 to Lon. H and

Noble Israel. Harlow was often described as a shy child up until his young adulthood (Sidowski

and Lindsley 1979). After beginning his college studies at Reed College in 1923, he followed

behind his brother and transferred to Stanford University the following year, Sidowski (1979).

In 1927, Harlow received his bachelor’s degree in Psychology, and returned right away to

achieve his graduate degree. As a grad student, Harry held many assistantships on Social

Psychology and behavior rats alongside Paul R. Darnsworth and Calvin P. Stone, who was

elected into the National Academy of Sciences in 1943. There, Harlow began his primate studies,

and in 1970 he transferred to the University of Arizona,

Professions

Although his mentors at Stanford tried to sway him away from the opportunity, Harlow

took on an assistant professor of Comparative Animal Psychology job at the University of

Wisconsin-Madison, E. Herman (2012). Upon arriving, Harlow had to obtain his own laboratory,

since the smell and nature of the rats he was running studies on was unwanted by the board
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members directly above Harlow’s laboratory. Harry began his primate studies along with his

graduate students in 1933. They were able to determine that “perceptual discrimination involving

figures and patterns that differ relate in time delays between stimulus presentation,” Sidowski

(1979). This, as Harlow believed, would allow them to study both learning and memory decay in

Rhesus Monkeys. Harlow spent the next twenty years swiftly doing research and observational

experiments, but after time he and his students began to venture out of their fields and conduct

more extreme experiments.

Harlow’s famous Rhesus Monkey experiments on neglect and abandonment weren’t

conducted until the early 1950s, Herman (2012). Harry and his students were able to determine

that “perceptual discrimination involving figures and patterns that differ relate in time delays

between stimulus presentation,” Sidowski (1979). This, as Harlow believed, would allow them to

study both learning and memory decay in Rhesus Monkeys. He began by separating infant

Rhesus Monkeys from their mothers a few hours after birth, and split them between two groups.

The infants were set to be raised by two different kinds of surrogate wire mothers, one provided

milk while the other did not, Cherry (2020). One “mother” was made of wire and covered in

terry cloth, and the other was made entirely of wire mesh. Harlow’s observations concluded that

the infants that were given the choice of which mother were found spending more time clinging

to the terry cloth surrogate, he quoted that “by providing reassurance and security to infants,

cuddling kept normal development on track,” Herman (2012). Harlow then conducted a second

observation, and regrouped the infants. Giving them no choice in which mother, and set nutrition

and take up levels equal. Harlow determined that the monkeys grew the same, but noticed when

loud noises went off, the terry cloth infants retreated to the terry cloth surrogate, while the wire

mesh infants did not retreat to their surrogate. He noted that these behaviors resembled
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“behaviors of autistic and deprived children, as well as the pathological behavior of an adult

confined to a mental institution,” Herman (2012). Harry presented this theory as the American

Psychological Association convention, calling it the “nature of love,” Clark (2020).

Acknowledgment

These discoveries made by Harlow confirmed that the mental drag on developing life or

fully-developed life, or adulthood, is often caused by an outbreaker from early childhood. With

these experiments, Harlow and fellow psychologist John Bowlby and Pediatrician Benjamin

Spok, attached these theories to effects on child care, child mental and physical health, children

in adoption agencies, children brought out of abusive homes, and many more world-known

issues faced. Over the years of his multiple different studies, observations, and experiments,

Harlow has been acknowledged and appreciated through many acts over time. Shortly after this

breakthrough, Harlow was crowned President of the American Psychological Association, H. A.

Leroy (2008). Harlow was also granted the Howard Crosby Warren Medal in 1953, then went on

to win the National Medal of Science in 1967, and the American Psychological Association gold

medal in 1973, G.T.E. Team (2011). Harry Harlow sadly passed on December 6, 1981; it has

been believed that he went “off the rails,” after the death of his second wife Clara, estranging his

kids and work, Leroy (2011).

References

Cherry, K. (2020, December 3). How Harry Harlow's research on love shaped how we treat

children today. Verywell Mind. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from

https://www.verywellmind.com/harry-harlow-and-the-nature-of-love-2795255

Cherry, K. (2020, November 26). How Harry Harlow influenced what we know about social

isolation. Verywell Mind. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from

https://www.verywellmind.com/harry-harlow-biography-1905-1981-2795510

Gartner, M. C. (1970, January 1). Harry Harlow. SpringerLink. Retrieved September 30, 2022,

from https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_122-1

Herman, E. (2012). Harry F. Harlow, Monkey Love Experiments. Adoption history: Harry

Harlow, Monkey Love Experiments. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from

https://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~adoption/studies/HarlowMLE.htm
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LeRoy, H. A. (2008, August 27). Harry Harlow: From the other side of the desk - integrative

psychological and behavioral science. SpringerLink. Retrieved September 29, 2022,

from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12124-008-9070-y

Sidowski, J. B., & Lindsley, D. B. (1989). Read "Biographical memoirs: Volume 58" at nap.edu.

Harry Frederick Harlow | Biographical Memoirs: Volume 58 |The National Academies

Press. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from

https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/1645/chapter/10

Team, G. T. E. (2011, November 11). Harry Harlow (1905-1981). Harry Harlow Biography.

Retrieved September 29, 2022, from

https://www.goodtherapy.org/famous-psychologists/harry-harlow.html