Infant
For my Human Sexuality course I read “The Nature of Love” by Harry F. Harlow which I found to be a very interesting article. Harlow states “psychologists have failed[…]. The little we know about love does not transcend simple observation, and the little we write about it has been written better by poets and novelist.” He challenged psychologists saying “[they] tend to give progressively less attention to a motive which pervades our entire live” and “they seem to be unaware of [love’s] very existence.” This was not that long ago that Harlow felt the need to write this.
In the text it talks of love and the styles of attachment. Attachment is defined as the ‘intense emotional tie that develops between two individuals, such as the tie between an infant and a parent.’ Also, ‘it is also possible to experience attachment without love , but it is unlikely that love of one person for another can exist in the absence of attachment.’ There are two umbrella attachment styles discussed in the book derived from psychologist Mary Ainsworth, securely attached and insecurely attached; then under insecurely attached: anxious-ambivalent and avoidant. Infants that were securely attached used their mothers as a base for their exploration of the new environment, the appeared to feel safe, expressed only a little distress when they lost sight of their mothers, and seemed confident. Those that showed more apprehension and no inclination to leave their mother, those that wailed when their mothers left, and behaved angry, and hostile upon their mothers return were labeled insecurely attached. She divided the two into those anxious-ambivalent, infants with extreme separation anxiety when their mothers left, and those avoidant, who seemed to want close contact with their mothers but ‘were reticent to seek this because of apparent awareness of the mothers’ detachment or indifference. It has been proven that securely attached children, who learn that parents are a source of security and trust, are likely to demonstrate much greater social competence. Anxious-ambivalent children often fear new situations, and have negative reactions to situations, as well as ambivalence of how to respond. Avoidant children develop negative views on others and are reticent to let others close to them. The text states that attachment styles acquired from parent-child relationships will superimpose themselves on relationships with peers with whom they become emotionally and sexually involved. Thus, there are securely attached adults who seem to be best at establishing stable, satisfying relationships. Then, anxious-ambivalent adults who have poor self-image and are insecure in relationships. These adults are likely to want to be close to a partner but have some ambivalence about getting too close because they fear their partner does not want to be close to them. Then, avoidant adults who are uncomfortable with any closeness with anyone. These adults have issues with trust, have negative views, and fear intimacy. So there is a direct link between the attachment you form with your mother as a baby, and the attachments you form as an adult.
What does that have to do with Harlow?
Well, Harlow began experimenting on baby macaque monkeys and “primary object-clinging”. The monkeys were taken from their mothers 6 to 12 hours after birth, and bottle-fed. Harlow confirms that “our bottle-fed babies were healthier and heavier than monkey-mother-reared infants.” They introduced, into some of the monkey’s cages, a wire cone as a surrogate mother, all of this within five days of life. Harlow explains, “if a wire-mesh cone is introduced, the baby does better; and, if the corner is covered with terry cloth, husky, healthy, happy babies evolve.” He goes onto say, “we were impressed by the possibility that, above and beyond the bubbling fountain of breast or bottle, contact comfort might be a very important variable in the development of the infant’s affection for the mother.” Thus Harlow begins to delve into contact comfort, response, and attachment to the surrogate mothers.
Harlow explains that he has thought on the implications of his research, that “the socioeconomic demands of the present and the threatened socioeconomic demands of the future have led the American woman to displace, or threaten to displace, the American man in science and industry. If this process continues, the problem of proper child-rearing practices faces us with startling clarity. It is cheering in view of this trend to realize that the American male is physically endowed with all the really essential equipment to compete with the American female on equal terms in one essential activity: the rearing of infants.”
Personally I think it was fascinating that he thought of something like this. He thought about testing out his theory of child rearing, and his theory on love, on not infants but monkeys. As well as proving that the attachment an infant, monkey or human, is vital to it’s ability to form relationships in later. Thus, it’s ability to form stable, satisfying sexual relationships as an adult. So maybe now, we have found out the nature of love.
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