A biography of this complex and highly controversial psychologist...
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century science and scientists made little if any recognition of the role of human relationships in the general well being of the individual. Far from encouraging human contact medical advice even to mothers with small children was that physical contact with their child was unhygienic, likely to 'spoil' the child and to be too sexual for the nature of the relationship.
Harry Harlow (1906-1981) was an American psychologist who challenged these ideas and shaped our contemporary understanding of human relationships by proving the crucial role of affection in human development through studies of social behaviour of monkeys. His research contributions (in the areas of learning, motivation, and affection) have major relevance for general and child psychology, yet it is one of the many paradoxes and tragedies of his work that the importance of love and humanity was only proved by a series of horrific and inhuman experiments, which subjected young primates either to isolation or to the custody of neglectful or evil surrogate mothers. Perhaps predictably these experiments showed that young animals reared by an attentive and loving parent grow into well-adjusted adults; those reared by neglectful or abusive parents grow into insecure, maladjusted and highly stressed adults who frequently repeat the pattern of abuse.
Written by Pulitzer prize-winning author Deborah Blum, this is a biography both of Harry Harlow and of the new concepts that he developed. It recounts his life, discusses the implications of his work and addresses the many ethical issues raised by his scientific legacy.
? A biography of a complex and highly controversial figure. The author neither condemns nor condones his actions but shows the reasons behind them
? An exploration of the role of emotions in our well being and how this came to be recognised
? A balanced discussion of the ethical issues surrounding scientific experiment
? An exploration of the importance of a loving environment for the development of children.
