PSYC1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Harry Harlow, Mary Ainsworth, John Bowlby
PSYC1001
14TH MARCH 2018
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
× Early experience and later experience- introducing the methodology used to study social
and emotional development in infants, humans and animals, and exploring the effects of
atypical social/emotional experience on human development
× What is the social world to an infant like? How do social relationships develop? What are the
consequences of social and emotional deprivation?
× Attachment- relationship that infants form with primary caregiver:
- Want to be close to caregivers
- Seek security from caregivers
- Exhibit distress when caregivers are absent
× Harry Harlow conducted an experiment investigating whether infant rhesus monkeys,
removed from their mothers at birth, would gravitate more towards comfort or food
- ‘Raised’ by inanimate mothers- wire monkey with bottle, soft monkey with bottle
- Baby monkeys spent most of their time clinging to soft mother, only going to the
wire mother for their basic needs- food for survival
- This attachment relationship serves many social and emotional functions,
particularly the psychological need for comfort and security
× Attachment theory: John Bowlby
- Attachment in humans analogous to imprinting in animals; adaptive bond
- Attachment figure becomes a safe base from which children can explore the world
- Disruptions to attachment may have a long-term impact on emotional and
cognitive development
× How does the attachment relationship develop?
- Newborns recognise their mother/primary caregiver’s voice & appearance very
quickly, and show visual preferences for faces over objects
- Infants recognise their mother’s face within first few days
- Separation anxiety- first seen 6-7 months, peaks early in the second year
× How do we measure attachment?
- Mary Ainsworth, a student of John Bowley, devised a very elaborate coding
scheme (‘strange situation’) that allows researchers to observe the interactions
between mother and baby, and then determine, based on the outcome, whether
the relationship is secure attachment, or another kind
- Taking place in an attractive but unfamiliar environment-
1. Mother plays with child
2. Stranger enters the room and reads a magazine (not interacting with child)
3. Stranger attempts to play with child
4. Mother leaves room
5. Stranger tries to sooth baby (but in vain)
6. Mother returns and the stranger leaves (1st reunion)
7. Mother settles child
8. Mother leaves, and child is alone
9. Stranger returns, and tries to comfort child again
10. Mother returns (2nd reunion)
- The child’s response when their mother returns is coded
1. Secure attachment- welcomes return, seeks closeness, comforted
Document Summary
Early experience and later experience- introducing the methodology used to study social and emotional development in infants, humans and animals, and exploring the effects of atypical social/emotional experience on human development. Attachment- relationship that infants form with primary caregiver: Harry harlow conducted an experiment investigating whether infant rhesus monkeys, removed from their mothers at birth, would gravitate more towards comfort or food. Raised" by inanimate mothers- wire monkey with bottle, soft monkey with bottle. Baby monkeys spent most of their time clinging to soft mother, only going to the wire mother for their basic needs- food for survival. This attachment relationship serves many social and emotional functions, particularly the psychological need for comfort and security. Attachment in humans analogous to imprinting in animals; adaptive bond. Attachment figure becomes a safe base from which children can explore the world. Disruptions to attachment may have a long-term impact on emotional and cognitive development.
