Attachment in Professional Caregiving

Abstract

The study of Attachment Theory began with Harry Harlow’s experiment with monkeys and attachment relationships with artificial mothers. The experiment consisted of monkeys being tested on which surrogate mother they would go to. One surrogate mother was comforting and the other had milk. Harlow’s hypothesis expected monkeys to run to the surrogate mother with milk, which was proven false when the monkeys would go to the milk surrogate but quickly moved to the comforting surrogate. The next step of Harlow’s experiment was to see the reaction of the monkeys to the rejection of the surrogate mother. The result of the part of the experiment was that the monkeys tried everything in their power for the comforting surrogate mother to love and comfort them. From this conclusion, a British psychologist, John Bowlby, formulated how attachment is fundamental within the development of a person. This emphasizes Harlow’s research and how quality of care