We have been looking at the Blakemore Copper study recently, an incredibly unethical study here kittens are kept in darkness for the first 9 months of their life. Another unethical example of animal use in research is Harry Harlow’s 1960 Well of Despair experiment on baby monkeys. He took them away from their mothers once they had bonded, and put two different models of a mother in a cage. They were left in isolation, with one of the models being a cold mesh wire monkey, which was a source of food, and the other monkey was warm and fury, but had no source of food. The studies found that many choose the source of food, although they grew up depressed and many of the monkey did not have children or killed their children as a result of the psychological harm.
crossculturalpsychology
An international Psychology project between Glyn School, UK and East Troy, USA
Blakemore and COOPER
When our psychology class studied Harlow and his monkeys we found out that the young monkeys liked the comfort of the blanketed false mother, but they also wanted to be fed. In one situation the monkeys wanted to be held by the soft mother and receive the nutrients they needed from the wire covered mother at the same time. I agree with you this is an unethical approach to study attachment but I believe it needed to be done to find the right results.
For the Blakemore Cooper experiment were the results the same as the experiment with the monkeys? (The psychological harm that was done to them). What did the researchers do with the kittens after the 9 months? Did the researchers come in and feed them or how did they survive? This seems like a very interesting, but dark experiment.
Wow, this seems like a really unethical study. It reminds me of Genie. Genie was a child who was not part a scientific study, rather she was kept in isolation by her parents. Rumors suggest that the underlying cause behind her isolation was her parents being ashamed of her. They believed that she was severely mentally retarded upon birth and attempted to hide her from the world by locking her up in a room and tying her to a toilet seat.
Psychologist today are unable to determine whether or not she was mentally retarded upon birth because many of her abnormal conditions may have also been caused by her isolation. Afterall, her abuse was not discovered until she was 13 years old. At this point in her life, Genie was unable to normally walk, speak, or comprehend language. Psychologists, physicians, and teachers worked closely with Genie and attempted to help her live a normal childhood. She was eventually adopted and did begin to show signs of improvement in the learning process. At this point however, it is unfortunately very difficult to begin learning about language and the environment.