Harlow in brief!

Harry Harlow (1905-1981)

education

Ph.D from Stanford in 1930.

work

Most of his career was at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. His animal laboratory (rats) was not built yet and he turned to the local zoo for research where he became acquainted with their monkeys.

students (3 dozen or so Ph.D students)

Abraham Maslow to Suomi (See Maslow's early bibliography)

research topics

brain structure and behaviorintelligence and learning sets"mother love" and attachment

(note the role of chance in his work!)

implications and benefits of his work

measuring intelligence

as learning to learn

the role of early experiences

He noted the importance of a "critical period" of development when basic aspects of personality were established or disrupted.

depression: causes & treatmentmore than food reward governs primatessocial/sexual adjustment (parents, peers)

ethical treatment of animals

practical and ethical benefits of treating research NHPs in as natural a setting as possible.

relation between early socialization and cognitive functions

including curiosity, self-confidence

methodology
WGTA"learning sets",isolation experiments, "strange situation" methods
The "mothers" role in security, attachment, and exploration was evaluated in the "strange situation" paradigm, since used with human children by Ainsworth and others studies of human attachment.

A copy of his famous "Mother Love" paper, 1958 is available online.

Harlow, Harry F. (1958). The nature of love. American Psychologist, 13, 573-685.