Heather

>
> <There is much of value in his work, but his methods seem so horrific.>
>



Yes, it seems so obvious to us.
But the scientists of his day were so sure that even human babies would be
better off being raised AWAY from their mothers.

"Unconditional love - holding, nuzzling, and cuddling children for no reason
- was seen as the surest way to make children lazy, spoiled, and weak.
Freudians and behaviorists were united in their belief that highly
affectionate mothering damages children, and that scientific principles
could improve child rearing. ...John Watson, the leading American
behaviorist (in the years before B. F. Skinner), published the
best-seller *Psychological
Care of Infant and Child*. Watson wrote of his dream that one day babies
would be raised in baby farms, away from the corrupting influences of
parents."

When Harlow took the baby monkeys away from their mothers, it was to save
them from infections in the crowded lab. But when those same monkeys were
reunited with other monkeys, they were stunned and unnerved. They never
developed normally and became useless for experiments. It took Harlow and
his students awhile to figure out that the babies NEEDED their mothers. I'm
glad they did <g>.

heather
in tucson


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

ENSEMBLE S-WAYNFORTH

I know. Or at least I sort of knew. I've spent the last few hours reading a bunch about Harlow. My response was a very kneejerk response and as such it is interesting for me to examine. I'm not comfortable with a lot of the later work that he did. Or really the early work. But, realizing that Bowlby recognized him as a saviour for attachment theory...that is really fascinating. It is fun to have my beliefs challenged.

Thanks,
Schuyler
www.waynforth.blogspot.com

----- Original Message ----
From: Heather <heather@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Sunday, 23 March, 2008 5:40:27 PM
Subject: [unschoolingbasics] Re: Harry Harlow

>
> <There is much of value in his work, but his methods seem so horrific.>
>



Yes, it seems so obvious to us.
But the scientists of his day were so sure that even human babies would be
better off being raised AWAY from their mothers.

"Unconditional love - holding, nuzzling, and cuddling children for no reason
- was seen as the surest way to make children lazy, spoiled, and weak.
Freudians and behaviorists were united in their belief that highly
affectionate mothering damages children, and that scientific principles
could improve child rearing. ...John Watson, the leading American
behaviorist (in the years before B. F. Skinner), published the
best-seller *Psychological
Care of Infant and Child*. Watson wrote of his dream that one day babies
would be raised in baby farms, away from the corrupting influences of
parents."

When Harlow took the baby monkeys away from their mothers, it was to save
them from infections in the crowded lab. But when those same monkeys were
reunited with other monkeys, they were stunned and unnerved. They never
developed normally and became useless for experiments. It took Harlow and
his students awhile to figure out that the babies NEEDED their mothers. I'm
glad they did <g>.

heather
in tucson


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Heather

Well, you probably know more about his work than I do <g>.
I just learned the bit that was in this book (the happiness hypothesis) I
was reading...

heather

On Sun, Mar 23, 2008 at 10:49 AM, ENSEMBLE S-WAYNFORTH <
s.waynforth@...> wrote:

> I know. Or at least I sort of knew. I've spent the last few hours
> reading a bunch about Harlow. My response was a very kneejerk response and
> as such it is interesting for me to examine. I'm not comfortable with a lot
> of the later work that he did. Or really the early work. But, realizing that
> Bowlby recognized him as a saviour for attachment theory...that is really
> fascinating. It is fun to have my beliefs challenged.
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Jodi Bezzola

I'm reading Robert Karen's book Becoming Attached right now...read his other book The Forgiving Self, and then became interested in Becoming Attached because I like his writing so much. It's cool that much that has been discussed in this thread is pretty thoroughly outlined in Becoming Attached. Anyone interested in learning the history of attachment theory, etc. would likely find it a fascinating read.

Jodi


---------------------------------
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Stacey

i haven't heard of him specifically, but 'have' heard of similar
experiments. Thanks!! will look and see:)
stacey
>
> I'm reading Robert Karen's book Becoming Attached right now...read
his other book The Forgiving Self, and then became interested in
Becoming Attached because I like his writing so much. It's cool that
much that has been discussed in this thread is pretty thoroughly
outlined in Becoming Attached. Anyone interested in learning the
history of attachment theory, etc. would likely find it a fascinating
read.
>
> Jodi
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.
Try it now.
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

BRIAN POLIKOWSKY

It is a good read indeed specially for people lime me that has not studied anything of that nature. I recomend to anyone.
Alex



Jodi Bezzola <jodibezzola@...> wrote:
I'm reading Robert Karen's book Becoming Attached right now...read his other book The Forgiving Self, and then became interested in Becoming Attached because I like his writing so much. It's cool that much that has been discussed in this thread is pretty thoroughly outlined in Becoming Attached. Anyone interested in learning the history of attachment theory, etc. would likely find it a fascinating read.

Jodi

---------------------------------
Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]






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