Harlow and the Behaviourist

The behaviorist in this research study would predict that the monkeys would seek the wire mother because it provided the monkey with milk. They would expect this because based on nature it would be the monkey's instincts to want to obtain nourishment (survival) over anything. Instead, the monkey sought out the cloth mother, especially when frightened and to sooth it's anxiety. This is damaging because in order to understand the situation you would have to consider nurture as a factor (mental process) and behaviorist are against that view.