Harlow’s experiments

Harry Frederick Harlow (October 31, 1905 – December 6, 1981) was an American psychologist.

Harlow’s experiments

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​In contrast to the psychoanalytic concept of libido, according to which the mental mechanisms that ensure the heterosexual orientation of sexual desire are formed autochthonous, and external influences only delay this development or lead to regression, throwing the individual back to early , more primitive stages (oral-cannibalistic, analpo-sadietic, etc.), Harry and Margaret Harlow from the Primate Behavior Laboratory (University of Wisconsin) showed that the formation of behavioral skills in rhesus monkeys, culminating in the ability to normal mating, requires the active influence of certain environmental factors, that these factors are of a social nature and that the exclusion of these social factors leads to a severe disability of the individual.

If the experiments of I. R. Tarkhanov on male frogs revealed the role and significance of the somatic component of libido, then the experiments of Harlow et al. without exaggeration can be called studies on the modeling of love.

The reason for the experiments was an observation that is very far from the sexual sphere. While studying the development of learning abilities, Harlow isolated young monkeys from adults in order to exclude the influence of the latter on the formation of skills. The pups were weaned from their mothers a few hours after birth and kept in individual cages. Comparing then animals completely isolated for 3, 12 and 3 months, the researchers established the fact of disability, which deepened in proportion to the duration of being alone. If the monkeys isolated for 6 months, being released into the enclosure, showed signs of severe emotional disorders, but still eventually adapted to life among relatives, then the monkeys isolated for 8 months and released to their peers could no longer recover until the end of their lives. life: they sat huddled together, clasping their hands and swaying, completely withdrawn into themselves. Over the next 12 months, they were never able to get in touch with their normal peers, and only a few sometimes showed interest in each other and tried to play with each other. As for the 10-month complete isolation, such animals completely lacked any rudiments of exploratory or play activity (Suppression of the cognitive instinct). After 12 weeks, we had to stop monitoring the maintenance of these animals in the general enclosure, since normal monkeys literally tore the 6-month-old isolates apart, and they did not make any attempts to defend themselves (Suppression of the instinct of self-preservation). Striking differences are noted in the masturbatory practices of these animals: In the group of 12-month-old isolates, masturbation, although rare, was still observed, and in the XNUMX-month-old isolates it was practically absent, while in the control group there was frequent and regular masturbation (Suppression of the sexual instinct).

Associated with these observations were observations on another series of animals that were kept in separate cages from the moment of birth, could see and hear each other, but had no physical contact. This form of isolation has been labeled «partial social isolation». At the end of the experiments on «intellectual» learning, the animals of this group, which had reached physical maturity, were transferred to the herd of producers. “And then we noticed that something was wrong with them … weeks, months passed, and these animals did not mate … And then we realized that we had raised a herd of sexually abnormal monkeys” (Suppression of sexual instinct).

Why is it that even partial social isolation, which seems to be a relatively mild form of influence, affects the behavior of the animal so destructively? A monkey brought up in partial social isolation does not know motherly love. Since she lives in a cage, she cannot develop peer attachment, which requires physical contact with other young monkeys in order to develop. And, finally, under the conditions of a wire cage, adequate manifestations of sexual desire are not formed.

Some of the females raised in complete isolation were then artificially inseminated, and then Harlow et al. discovered that they had created a new species of animal, which they called the “momless mother”. Such an ape-mother, who grew up without a mother and did not know motherly love, did not herself feel love for her children (Suppression of the maternal instinct). Many such mother monkeys did not pay any attention to their cubs, but there were also those who treated them with unusual cruelty — they pressed the baby face to the floor, bit off his fingers and hands, and one of them even put the baby’s head in her mouth and bit her.

Based on these facts, Harlow et al. came to the conclusion that for the normal formation of the main forms of social and sexual interaction between individual adult monkeys, it is necessary, starting from infancy, to provide them with a specific emotional impact, the bearer of which at the earliest stages of ontogenesis is the mother.

To elucidate the components that are most important for the normal psychophysiological formation of the individual, various types of surrogate mother substitutes were constructed, some of which provided the cub with a feeling of comfort caused by touching the body of an “artificial” mother, others — the pleasure of sucking or a feeling of fullness. In the vast majority of cases, babies preferred cloth mothers who did not feed them milk to wire surrogates who gave milk. Since then, photographs of little monkeys clinging trustingly to a soft artificial mother have gone around the world, clearly demonstrating that the feeling of comfort that arises in a monkey cub when touched by a mother is the main factor, the main motive force that binds him to her. . By observing the behavior of babies in an isolated room, researchers have established the main property of a rag mother — the ability to instill in babies a sense of security and confidence. If the cub was placed in an isolated room with toys, but without a rag mother (or with a wire surrogate that gives milk), then he usually curled up in a ball and squealed in fear. However, as soon as the rag mother was brought in there, the baby hurriedly hobbled towards her and clung to her with all his might.

As soon as his fear passed, the cub began to explore the surroundings and play, from time to time returning to his inanimate mother to touch or hug her tightly and thereby ease his sense of fear and insecurity.

In the presence of an artificial mother, the monkey feels completely safe.

Comparing artificial mothers with real ones, the researchers concluded that real mothers are, of course, better: “A rag mother can supply her baby with milk, but not from such a convenient dish as a living one. A real mother does not allow the baby to suck after he has had enough, while no artificial mother can stop useless sucking (regulation of the food instinct). A real mother teaches her cub to put feces in one place …, teaches her baby to understand the gestures and voice signals of other monkeys. A real mother is mobile and responds to all the needs of a baby… while a surrogate mother can only passively accept everything.

Later, the mother plays an active role in the rejection of the infant from herself … and this prompts him … to explore the environment … of the environment (activation of the cognitive instinct). Finally (and this is especially important for the development of future ability to communicate with peers), a real mother with much more success … can regulate the first infant games.

Summarizing their observations, Harlow et al. came to the conclusion that the basis for the formation of many types of social and sexual interaction is love, which develops in rhesus monkeys through the successive change and interaction of the main types, or “systems”, of love, which include maternal love, infant love for mother, love for peers, heterosexual love, paternal love.

While playing, the monkey touches the artificial mother from time to time to drive away fear and gain confidence.

An important function of motherly love is to direct the play of the little ones so that they play successfully together and not apart. Thus, maternal love appears to be a stage in the development of peer love, which the Harlows consider the most important type of love in terms of its role throughout the animal’s life. Arising on the basis of curiosity and research activity and then developing in the process of games, communication with peers contributes to the formation of attachment to comrades, the development of basic social roles, the inhibition of aggressiveness and the maturation of sexual feelings.

Heterosexual love, in turn, develops out of love for peers.

In different families of animals, heterosexual love differs in form and function. “If this is a rat and its sex life is determined by the endocrine system, everything is very simple. But if you have a monkey in front of you … or a man, and heterosexual behavior here is realized mainly by the gonads — then things are bad … In primates, sexual life without love preceding and accompanying it is distorted and violated.

Vasilchenko G.S. General sexopathology, a guide for doctors. Moscow, “Medicine”, 1977, pp. 133-138.