As we discussed in our last meeting, developmental psychology is interested in looking at the relationship between heredity and the environment. One question of enormous interest has been how important is the infant-caregiver bond on later development? What can the quality of that bond tell us about the growth and temperament of the individual?
Two psychologists, Mary Ainsworth and Harry Harlow were interested in this question and conducted important experiments in order to examine the importance of these early social interactions. Read a brief description of
Ainsworth's work and watch footage of her experiment. You may want to skim this article which provides
extensive background on Harry Harlow before watching t
his video, which includes an interview with Harlow and original footage and
this one, which is a bit more appalling.
After watching both experiments, please
complete this task. Extra points for typed responses!
