Harry Harlow's Controversial Experiments

During the twentieth century, Harry Harlow performed one of the most controversial experiments that led to a scientific breakthrough concerning the parent-child relationship. It paved the way for understanding terms such as secure, insecure, ambivalent, and disorganized relationships (Bernstein, 2014, 364). During the course of this study, Harlow separated baby monkeys from their birth mothers and isolated them in frightening environments. According to the video “H.H. Overview”, this proved the monkey’s preference for a comforting mother versus a nutritional one. However, this raises the question: can his experiments be deemed ethical, or did his scientific inquiry overstep boundaries?

According to our class discussions and Harlow’s experiment, holding and comforting a baby is psychologically more important than food. However, Harlow was recorded stating that “the best way to understand the heart, was to break it”. Referring to the question previously asked, can his study be deemed ethical? Ethics can be defined as morals, or wanting to prevent discomfort to others (Bernstein, 2014, 37). Based on this definition, I do not believe he exercised his ethical responsibility to these baby monkeys, which correlates to our discussion in class that it can be seen as unethical. Also, our moral code dictates that

The cost, in this experiment, was the separation of a baby monkey from its mother. Also, it was forced to endure inhumane conditions by being frightened, not knowing what it did to deserve such treatment. I understand the positive implications that can result from experiments on animals, but only the tests that are absolutely necessary should be performed. In saying this, Harry Harlow crossed the line when he caused the baby monkeys psychological scarring. He had already collected definitive data from the previous wire and cloth mother tests, so this extra step was not called