Attachment theory focuses on the psychological phenomena that occur when we make emotional connections with other people, how we do it will depend on how our parents cared for us as children, so many times if the relationship was not positive, certain types of toxic relationships can lead to emotional dependence.
Children who have been separated from their parents seek in their future relationships an attachment that has been taken from them in the past.
- Bowlby was the forerunner of this attachment theory and found that maternal deprivation can seriously affect babies.
- Be so harmful that even children can acquire intellectual retardy and assimilate a very bad way to relate to emotions.
- Harlow.
- An American psychologist.
- Decided to test Bowlby’s attachment by doing an experiment that many.
- If not all.
- Consider cruel.
Harlow used rhesus monkeys in his experiment, an Asian species that is very easily accustomed to living with humans. The intention was to study his behavior in the lab to test Bowlby’s attachment theory. Unsurprisingly, Harlow separated the cubs from their mothers to see how they reacted.
But Harlow not only looked at what happened, he used a curious methodology: there were two objects in the cages where the chicks were: a bottle that provided them with the right food and a stuffed animal, a doll, who looked like an adult monkey. The stuffed animal had no food resource to offer the puppy.
What did the girls choose? It was something Harlow wanted to discover not only to prove Bowlby’s theory of attachment, but also to discover the reality of unconditional love. The result showed that the puppies preferred the doll, even if it did not provide them with any food.
The puppies held on to their wrists when they were afraid, as it provided them with great security.
This allowed Harlow to see how important the relationship/attachment between the puppies and their mothers is. Although they didn’t feed them, they chose the doll for her to take on the role of mother. They’d rather spend their time with their wrists. The other object was simple food that brought neither warmth nor affection.
Harlow did not settle for everything he had already shown, he decided to go further, regardless of the well-being of rhesus monkeys, placed them in even smaller spaces, where there was only food and drink, so that he could see how they would behave in absolute isolation.
Many monkeys have been trapped in these small cages for months or even years. Deprived of any social and sensory stimulus, the monkeys began to show changes in their behavior, the result of all this isolation. The monkeys held for a year were in a catatonic state They were passive and indifferent to everything and everyone.
When trapped monkeys reached adulthood, they were unable to communicate properly with others. They didn’t find a partner, they didn’t need to have a child, and sometimes their passivity made them stop eating and drinking. Many have died.
Females were even less fortunate, so to speak. Taking her research to the extreme, Harlow realized that women could not get pregnant because they had no interest in procreation, so, in support of forced reproduction, she fertilized the females against her mother. will and interest.
The result was completely frightening. The raped mothers were in total disagreement with their young people, ignored them, did not feed them, they certainly did not like young people, so much so that many of them mutilated their young to die.
Although they were just a doll, a toy, the monkeys regarded the stuffed animal as their mother and came to see it if necessary.
In addition to whether or not Bowlby’s attachment theory was proven, Harlow’s macabre experience made it clear that the needs of monkeys went far beyond obtaining food or the possibility of resting. For healthy development, puppies preferred to provide “heat” rather than their nutritional needs. .
On the other hand, with this experience it was also clear the importance of early relationships in the behavior of monkeys in adulthood, so we have seen that deprivation of social stimulus at a very young age led monkeys to stop being interested in this type of contact later, when they had the opportunity.
By bringing these conclusions to humans, children who do not receive the necessary affection from an early age, who are isolated or rejected, have more difficulty developing healthy relationships, a gap that cannot be erased, that leaves an emotional need and a need to seek someone who can provide them, at any cost, what they did not have during their first years of life. We’re talking about emotional dependence, of course.
Editor’s note: Fortunately today, the ethical requirements that an investigation must meet, whether with people or animals, are much stricter and this terrible experiment could not be carried out in any way, unfortunately we cannot repair the torture to which these animals have been subjected, but we can make their suffering honorable , not to mention what we have been taught.