Harry Harlow 839100 225718279 2008-07-15T01:47:12Z ImageRemovalBot 4851336 Removing deleted [[:Image:Harlow.jpg|image]] {{Cleanup|date=July 2008}} {{Infobox Scientist |name = Harry Harlow |box_width = |image = |image_size =150px |caption = Harry Harlow |birth_date ={{birth date|1905|10|31|mf=y}} |birth_place = {{flagicon|USA}}&nbsp;[[Fairfield, Iowa|Fairfield]], [[Iowa]], [[United States|U.S.]] |death_date ={{death date and age|1981|12|6|1906|10|31|mf=y}} |death_place = |residence = |citizenship = |nationality = [[United States]] |ethnicity = |field = [[Psychology]] |work_institutions = |alma_mater = |doctoral_advisor = |doctoral_students = |known_for = |author_abbrev_bot = |author_abbrev_zoo = |influences = |influenced = |prizes = National Medal of Science (1967), Gold Medal from American Psychological Foundation (1973),Howard Crosby Warren Medal (1956), several others |religion = |footnotes = |signature = |Titles = President, The American Psychological Association; Consultant to Army Scientific Advisory Pannel }} '''Harry Frederick Harlow''' ([[October 31]], [[1905]]&ndash;[[December 6]], [[1981]]) was an American [[psychologist]] best known for his maternal-separation and social isolation experiments on [[rhesus monkey]]s, which demonstrated the importance of tangible affection in social and cognitive development. He conducted most of his research at the [[University of Wisconsin-Madison]], where he worked for a time with [[humanistic psychology|humanistic psychologist]] [[Abraham Maslow]]. Harlow's work was ground breaking. His findings repudiated the ignorant consciousness of the previous century decrying the consoling of infants and young children as an implement of corruption. Harlow's research demonstrated the terrible, heart-wrenching reality of affective deprivation in the forms of severe cognitive deficiencies, complete emotional disparity, and sexual indifference. Harlow's experiments isolating young rehesus macaques in small, unlit cages were controversial. Harlow and his research were influential to many in the animal rights movement. Deborah Blum's "The Monkey Wars" describes the influence of Harlow's research on the burgeoning animal rights movement and subsequent improvement of research animal treatment. <ref name=Blum1994/96>[[Deborah Blum|Blum, Deborah]]. ''The Monkey Wars''. Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 96.</ref> ==Biography== {{refimprove|date=July 2008|section}} Born '''Harry Israel''' on [[Halloween]] night, 1905 to Mabel Rock and Alonzo Harlow Israel, Harlow grew up, largely, in Fairfield, Iowa, the second youngest of four brothers. Early in his education, he demonstrated special aptitudes in several facets, most notably [[English studies|English]] and the [[visual arts]]{{Fact|date=July 2008}}. Although he graduated 13th out of a class of 71, he scored two [[standard deviations]] higher on an [[aptitude test]], created by the [[University of Iowa]], than his nearest competitor{{Fact|date=July 2008}}. After a year at [[Reed College]] in [[Portland, Oregon]], Harlow achieved admission to [[Stanford University]] on a special aptitude test. After a semester as an English major with near disastrous grades, he redeclared himself as a psychology major. An example of Harlow's poetry{{Citequote}}: :Apathetic Annie was complacent and serene :Though suffering from paresis, :Consummation and gangrene :But Annie did not really care :Though life was nearly gone :For Annie had a tumor in the diencephalon Harlow largely studied under [[Lewis Terman]], the developer of the [[Stanford-Binet IQ Test]]. Terman shaped Harlow's future to a large extent. After he received a Ph.D. in 1930, he changed his name from Israel to Harlow. Although Harlow's family was not [[Jewish]], the [[Anti-semitism in the United States|unjust reality of America in the early part of the 20th Century]] would have served to preclude a professorship on account of his name. It is commonly thought that Terman was responsible for the inaction of this change, but, in reality, it was probably the result of Harlow's intense drive. Directly after his doctoral dissertation, Harlow was offered and accepted a professorship at the [[University of Wisconsin-Madison]]. There he built the new, feeble Department of Psychology into a thriving, world-renowned organization{{Fact|date=July 2008}}. In terms of departmental development, his most significant achievement was his persuasion of the University to construct the esteemed Primate Laboratory, one of the first of its kind in the World. It was and is a vicinity of cutting-edge research at which some 40 students earned their Ph.D.'s under Harlow's direction. Numerous awards and honors have been delegated to Harlow. Among them were the [[National Medal of Science]] (1967), Gold Medal from the [[American Psychological Foundation]] (1973), and the [[Howard Crosby Warren Medal]] (1956). He served as Head of Human Resources Research Branch of Department of Army from 1950-1952, Head of Division of Anthropology and Psychology of National Research Council from 1952-1955, a Consultant to Army Scientific Advisory Panel, and as the President of the [[American Psychological Association]] from 1958-1959. Harlow's personal life was complicated, and at times, chaotic. He first married to Clara Mears in 1932. One of the select children with an IQ above 150 whom Terman studied at Stanford, Clara was Harlow's student before becoming romantically involved with him. The couple begot two children, Robert and Richard, and divorced in 1946. Harlow married the child psychologist Margaret Kuenne the same year. The marriage resulted in another two children, Pamela and Jonathan. Margaret died in 1970 after a prologued struggle with [[cancer]], and in 1971, Harlow remarried Clara Mears. The couple lived together in [[Tucson, Arizona]] until Harlow's death in 1981. A Timeline: {| class="wikitable" | align="left" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Year''' | align="left" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Event''' |- | 1905||Born October 31 in Fairfield, Iowa Son of Alonzo and Mabel (Rock) Israel |- | 1930-44||Staff, University of Wisconsin at Madison; Married Clara Mears |- | 1939-40||Carnegie Fellow of Anthropology at Columbia University |- | 1944-74 ||George Cary Comstock Research Professor of Psychology |- | 1946||Divorced Clara Mears; Married Margaret Kuenne |- | 1947-48 ||President, Midwestern Psychological Association |- | 1950-51 ||President of Division of Experimental Psychology, American Psychological Association |- | 1950-52||Head of Human Resources Research Branch of Department of Army |- | 1953-55||Head of Division of Anthropology and Psychology of National Research Council |- | 1956||Howard Crosby Warren Medal |- | 1956-74 ||Director of Primate Lab, University of Wisconsin |- | 1958-59||President, American Psychological Association |- | 1959,65||Sigma Xi National Lecturer |- | 1960||Distinguished Psychologist Award, APA / Messenger Lecturer at Cornell University |- | 1961-71||Director of Regional Primate Research Center |- | 1964-65||President of Division of Comparative & Physiological Psychology, APA |- | 1967||National Medal of Science |- | 1970||Margaret (spouse) died |- | 1971||Harris Lecturer at Northwestern University / Remarried Clara Mears, Children: their 2 sons, his son and daughter |- | 1972||Martin Rehfuss Lecturer at Jefferson Medical College / * Gold Medal from American Psychological Foundation / * Annual Award from Society for the Scientific Study of Sex |- | 1974||University of Arizona (Tucson) Honorary Research Professor of Psychology |- | 1975||Von Gieson Award from New York State Psychiatric Institute |- | 1976||International Award from Kittay Scientific Foundation |- | 1981||Died December 6, 1981 |} ==Early papers== * The effect of large cortical lesions on learned behavior in monkeys. Science. 1950. * Retention of delayed responses and proficiency in oddity problems by monkeys with preoccipital ablations. ''Am J Psychol''. 1951. * Discrimination learning by normal and brain operated monkeys. ''J Genet Psychol''. 1952. * Incentive size, food deprivation, and food preference. ''J Comp Physiol Psychol''. 1953. * Effect of cortical implantation of radioactive cobalt on learned behavior of rhesus monkeys. ''J Comp Physiol Psychol''. 1955. * The effects of repeated doses of total-body x radiation on motivation and learning in rhesus monkeys. ''J Comp Physiol Psychol''. 1956. ==Surrogate mother experiment== In a well-known series of experiments conducted between 1963 and 1968, Harlow removed baby rhesus monkeys from their mothers, and offered them a choice between two surrogate "mothers," one made of terrycloth, the other of wire. In the first group, the [[terrycloth]] mother provided no food, while the wire mother did, in the form of an attached baby bottle containing milk. In the second group, the terrycloth mother provided food; the wire mother did not. It was found that the young monkeys clung to the terrycloth mother whether it provided them with food or not, and that the young monkeys chose the wire surrogate only when it provided food. Whenever a frightening stimulus was brought into the cage, the monkeys ran to the cloth mother for protection and comfort, no matter which mother provided them with food. This response decreased as the monkeys grew older. When the monkeys were placed in an unfamiliar room with their cloth surrogates, they clung to it until they felt secure enough to explore. Once they began to explore, they would occasionally return to the cloth mother for comfort. Monkeys placed in an unfamiliar room without their cloth mothers acted very differently. They would freeze in fear and cry, crouch down, or suck their thumbs. Some of the monkeys would even run from object to object, apparently searching for the cloth mother as they cried and screamed. Monkeys placed in this situation with their wire mothers exhibited the same behavior as the monkeys with no mother. Once the monkeys reached an age where they could eat solid foods, they were separated from their cloth mothers for three days. When they were reunited with their mothers they clung to them and did not venture off to explore as they had in previous situations. Harlow claimed from this that the need for contact comfort was stronger than the need to explore. The study found that monkeys who were raised with either a wire mother or a cloth mother gained weight at the same rate. However, the monkeys that had only a wire mother had trouble digesting the milk and suffered from [[diarrhea]] more frequently. Harlow interpreted this to mean that not having contact comfort was psychologically stressful to the monkeys. Critics of Harlow's claims have observed that clinging is a matter of survival in young rhesus monkeys, but not in humans, and have suggested that his conclusions, when applied to humans, overestimated the importance of contact comfort and underestimated the importance of nursing. <ref>Mason, W.A. Early social deprivation in the nonhuman primates: Implications for human behavior. 70-101; in Glass, D.C. (ed.) ''Environmental Influences''. New York: Rockefeller University and Russell Sage Foundation, 1968. Excerpt in Stevens, M.L. ''Maternal Deprivation Experiments in Psychology: A Critique of Animal Models''. 11; The American Anti-Vivisection Society. 1986.</ref> Harlow first reported the results of these experiments in "The nature of love," the title of his address to the sixty-sixth Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D. C., August 31, 1958. The studies were motivated by [[John Bowlby]]'s [[World Health Organization]]-sponsored study and report, "Maternal Care and Mental Health" in 1950, in which Bowlby reviewed previous surveys of the effects of institutionalization on child development such as [[René Spitz]]'s<ref>Spitz, R. A., & Wolf, K. M. Anaclitic depression: an inquiry into the genesis of psychiatric conditions in early childhood. II. ''Psychoanalytic Study of the Child'',(2),313-342. 1946.</ref> and conducted his own surveys on children raised in a variety of settings. In 1953, his colleague, [[James Robertson (psychoanalyst)|James Robertson]], produced a short and controversial documentary film titled ''A Two-Year-Old Goes to Hospital'' demonstrating the almost immediate effects of maternal separation. Bowlby's report, coupled with Robertson's film, demonstrated the importance of the primary caregiver in human and non-human primate development. ==Partial and total isolation of infant monkeys== From around 1960 onwards, Harlow and his students began publishing their observations on the effects of partial and total social isolation. Partial isolation involved raising monkeys in bare wire cages that allowed them to see, smell, and hear other monkeys, but provided no opportunity for physical contact. Total social isolation involved rearing monkeys in isolation chambers that precluded any and all contact with other monkeys. Harlow ''et al'' reported that partial isolation resulted in various abnormalities such as blank staring, stereotyped repetitive circling in their cages, and self-mutilation. These monkeys were then observed in various settings. Some of the monkeys remained in solitary confinement for 15 years.<ref>A variation of this housing method, using cages with solid sides as opposed to wire mesh, but retaining the one-cage, one-monkey scheme, remains a common housing practice in primate laboratories today. (Reinhardt V, Liss C, Stevens C. "Social Housing of Previously Single-Caged Macaques: What are the options and the Risks?" Universities Federation for Animal Welfare, ''Animal Welfare'' 4: 307-328. 1995.)</ref> In the total isolation experiments baby monkeys would be left alone for three, six, 12, or 24<ref>Harlow, H.F. Development of affection in primates. Pp. 157-166 in: Roots of Behavior (E.L. Bliss, ed.). New York: Harper. 1962.</ref><ref>Harlow, H.F. Early social deprivation and later behavior in the monkey. Pp. 154-173 in: Unfinished tasks in the behavioral sciences (A.Abrams, H.H. Gurner & J.E.P. Tomal, eds.) Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins. 1964.</ref> months of "total social deprivation." The experiments produced monkeys that were severely psychologically disturbed. Harlow wrote: {{Quotation|No monkey has died during isolation. When initially removed from total social isolation, however, they usually go into a state of emotional shock, characterized by ... autistic self-clutching and rocking. One of six monkeys isolated for 3 months refused to eat after release and died 5 days later. The autopsy report attributed death to emotional anorexia. ... The effects of 6 months of total social isolation were so devastating and debilitating that we had assumed initially that 12 months of isolation would not produce any additional decrement. This assumption proved to be false; 12 months of isolation almost obliterated the animals socially ...<ref name=Harlow65>Harlow HF, Dodsworth RO, Harlow MK. "Total social isolation in monkeys," ''Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A''. 1965.</ref>}} Harlow tried to reintegrate the monkeys who had been isolated for six months by placing them with monkeys who had been reared normally.<ref>Suomi, S. J., Leroy, H. A. "In memoriam: Harry F. Harlow (1902-1981). Amer. J. Prim. 2: 319-342.</ref><ref>1976 Suomi SJ, Delizio R, Harlow HF. "Social rehabilitation of separation-induced depressive disorders in monkeys."<!--where? book or paper?--></ref> The rehabilitation attempts met with limited success. Harlow wrote that total social isolation for the first six months of life produced "severe deficits in virtually every aspect of social behavior."<ref name=Harlow71>Harlow, Harry F. and Suomi, Stephen J. (1971). [http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/68/7/1534 "Social Recovery by Isolation-Reared Monkeys"], ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America'' '''68'''(7):1534-1538.</ref> Isolates exposed to monkeys the same age who were reared normally "achieved only limited recovery of simple social responses."<ref name=Harlow71/> Some monkey mothers reared in isolation exhibited "acceptable maternal behavior when forced to accept infant contact over a period of months, but showed no further recovery."<ref name=Harlow71/> Isolates given to surrogate mothers developed "crude interactive patterns among themselves."<ref name=Harlow71/> Opposed to this, when six-month isolates were exposed to younger, three-month-old monkeys, they achieved "essentially complete social recovery for all situations tested."<ref>Harlow, Harry F. and Suomi, Stephen J. (1971). [http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/68/7/1534 "Social Recovery by Isolation-Reared Monkeys"], ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America'' '''68'''(7):1534-1538; Suomi, Stephen J; Harlow, Harry F; McKinney, William T. (1972) [http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/128/8/927 "Monkey Psychiatrists"], ''American Journal of Psychiatry'' '''128''':927-932.</ref> The findings were confirmed by other researchers, who found no difference between peer-therapy recipients and mother-reared infants, but found that artificial surrogates had very little effect.<ref>Cummins, Mark S. and Suomi, Stephen J. (1976) [http://www.springerlink.com/content/d13n36l17l10316p/ "Long-term effects of social rehabilitation in rhesus monkeys"], ''Primates'' '''17'''(1):43-51.</ref> ===Pit of despair=== Harlow was well known for refusing to use conventional terminology, and instead choosing deliberately outrageous terms for the experimental apparatus he devised. The tendency is spawned from an early conflict with the conventional psychological movement in which Harlow used the term "love" in place of the popular and archaically correct term, "attachment." Such terms and respective devices including a forced mating device he called the "rape rack," tormenting surrogate mother devices he called "[[Iron maiden]]," and an isolation chamber he called the "[[pit of despair]]" developed by him and a graduate student, Steven Suomi, now director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Comparative Ethology Laboratory, at the [[National Institutes of Health]]. In the latter of these devices, alternatively called the "well of despair," baby monkeys were left alone in darkness for up to one year from birth, or repetitively separated from their peers and isolated in the chamber. These procedures quickly produced monkeys that were severely psychologically disturbed and declared to be valuable models of human depression.<ref>Suomi, JS. "Experimental production of depressive behavior in young monkeys." Doctoral thesis. University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1971.</ref> Harlow tried to rehabilitate monkeys that had been subjected to varying degrees of isolation using various forms of therapy. "In our study of psychopathology, we began as sadists trying to produce abnormality. Today we are psychiatrists trying to achieve normality and equanimity." (p.458)<ref>Harlow, H.F., Harlow, M.K., Suomi, S.J. From thought to therapy: lessons from a primate laboratory. 538-549; ''Americam Scientist''. vol. 59. no. 5. September-October; 1971.</ref> ==References== {{reflist}} ==Further reading== * [http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Harlow/love.htm The Nature of Love (1958)] - Harry Harlow, ''American Psychologist, 13, 573-685'' * [http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~adoption/studies/HarlowMLE.htm Harry Harlow: Monkey Love Experiments] - Adoption History * [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bhharl.html Harry Harlow] - A Science Odyssey: People and Experiments * [http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=285801 Harlow ''et al.'' "Total social isolation in monkeys."] Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1965 July; 54(1): 90–97. * [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLrBrk9DXVk Film footage of Harry Harlow] - demonstrates his wire mother and cloth mother experiment * [http://www.madisonmonkeys.com/history_30-81.htm "A History of Primate Experimentation at the University of Wisconsin, Madison"]. *Blum, Deborah. ''Love at Goon Park: Harry Harlow and the Science of Affection''. Perseus Publishing, 2002. ISBN 0-7382-0278-9 *Blum, Deborah. [http://www.nzzfolio.ch/www/d80bd71b-b264-4db4-afd0-277884b93470/showarticle/2d34e2fc-2145-4244-93e7-428d15bc8d0a.aspx The Inventor of the Cloth Mother] An article about Harry Harlow. {{DEFAULTSORT:Harlow, Harry}} [[Category:1906 births]] [[Category:1981 deaths]] [[Category:Psychologists]] [[Category:Social psychologists]] [[Category:Attachment theory]] [[Category:Animal rights]] [[Category:Animal testing]] [[Category:Stanford University alumni]] [[Category:University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty]] [[de:Harry Harlow]] [[fr:Harry Harlow]] [[he:הארי הארלו]] [[ru:Харлоу, Гарри Фредерик]] [[sv:Harry Harlow]]