PS390 Study Guide - Final Guide: Harry Harlow, Social Forces, Attachment Theory
Document Summary
Converges w attachment theory; harlow strengthened popular proposition that quality of mother infant relations ( bonding ) affects child"s capacities for attachment for life. Showed rhesus infant monkeys" drives to satisfy thirst and hunger are secondary to drive for contact comfort (comfortable physical attachment) received from a cloth mother . Contradicted behavioural position that nursing comfort (suckling at breast) was sufficiently reinforcing. Did not posit that infants" need for maternal love was instinctive and upon further research rejected the necessity of mother love in the development of rhesus infants, while emphasizing the important role of peers and social stimulation. Person"s development is shaped by social forces and psychological ones. Human development spans life cycle and changes in relation to immediate and remote environmental influences and social systems. Reflecting lewin"s thought, bronfenbrenner proposed concept of person environment fit and a topological model of influences on individuals.
