Video - Harlow's Rhesus Monkey

Harlow's study with the Rhesus Monkey -- This is a classic study performed in the 1950's on love and attachment. "In subsequent experiments, Harlow’s monkeys proved that 'better late than never' was not a slogan applicable to attachment. When Harlow placed his subjects in total isolation for the first eights months of life, denying them contact with other infants or with either type of surrogate mother, they were permanently damaged. Harlow and his colleagues repeated these experiments, subjecting infant monkeys to varied periods of motherlessness. They concluded that the impact of early maternal deprivation could be reversed in monkeys only if it had lasted less than 90 days, and estimated that the equivalent for humans was six months. After these critical periods, no amount of exposure to mothers or peers could alter the monkeys’ abnormal behaviors and make up for the emotional damage that had already occurred. When emotional bonds were first established was the key to whether they could be established at all."  http://pages.uoregon.edu/adoption/studies/HarlowMLE.htm Links to an external site.