Post by corrado1 on Oct 3, 2017 19:26:04 GMT
Harlow and the Behaviourists
Harlow raised infant monkeys in the presence of wire mothers (that provided food) and cloth mothers (that did not). What result would behaviourists predict from these monkeys when they were frightened? Why would they expect this? Why is the actual result damaging to the behaviourist view of learning and behaviour?
The results that behaviourists predicted from the monkeys would be for him to go to the wired mother that provided food over the monkey that had cloth all over it.
They expected the monkey to go towards the mother with the bottle over the one with the cloths over it because of the mother having food which is the main reason why there is an attachment between the two. The behaviourists assume that since the one wired monkey had food then the baby monkey was going to go towards the wired mother if the baby monkey ever got frighten, but that isn't the case. The actual results that happened during that experiment was the opposite of what happened. The baby monkey ran towards the wired monkey with cloth all on instead of the wired monkey with food. The baby monkey decided to go to the clothed mother instead because of the baby monkey wanting that sense of comfort to relax its mind and body after the incident that happened. The monkey knew that the mother with food could not comfort him, so instead he went to the clothed mother instead. After going to the clothed mother, the baby monkey calmed down dramatically. The baby monkey wouldn't have had that physical comfort if he went to the other wired mother.
Harlow raised infant monkeys in the presence of wire mothers (that provided food) and cloth mothers (that did not). What result would behaviourists predict from these monkeys when they were frightened? Why would they expect this? Why is the actual result damaging to the behaviourist view of learning and behaviour?
The results that behaviourists predicted from the monkeys would be for him to go to the wired mother that provided food over the monkey that had cloth all over it.
They expected the monkey to go towards the mother with the bottle over the one with the cloths over it because of the mother having food which is the main reason why there is an attachment between the two. The behaviourists assume that since the one wired monkey had food then the baby monkey was going to go towards the wired mother if the baby monkey ever got frighten, but that isn't the case. The actual results that happened during that experiment was the opposite of what happened. The baby monkey ran towards the wired monkey with cloth all on instead of the wired monkey with food. The baby monkey decided to go to the clothed mother instead because of the baby monkey wanting that sense of comfort to relax its mind and body after the incident that happened. The monkey knew that the mother with food could not comfort him, so instead he went to the clothed mother instead. After going to the clothed mother, the baby monkey calmed down dramatically. The baby monkey wouldn't have had that physical comfort if he went to the other wired mother.