Harlow's Contact Comfort

            Harry Harlow conducted an experiment involving a rhesus monkey and two dolls posing as mother monkey (Harlow & Harlow, 1962). The baby monkey was deprived of any physical contact but was fed with milk. Days later, he was put in a cage where the terry-cloth (TC) and wire-mesh (WM) “surrogate mothers” are placed. WM doll was fitted with a milk bottle. Meanwhile, TC doll was covered with comfortable cushion but did not have a milk bottle.  

            The baby monkey was observed to cling on to the TC doll all the time until hunger pang set in. It crossed over to the WM doll to drink the milk but was feeling uncomfortable with the wire structure. Immediately after feeding himself, he returned to the cushioned doll. The baby monkey found comfort in clinging to a cushioned TC doll which he thought was his own mother.

            The case of contact-deprived monkey coupling with observational studies on orphaned infants from World War II (Spitz, 1945) served as confirmation that humans and infrahumans alike possess the essential needs for comfort of physical contact as well as sustained closeness with a caregiver.