Love At Goon Park: Harry Harlow and the Science of Affection (Science Matters)

Very readable and informative history of primate research by Harry Harlow's team, famous for the "cloth monkey" studies that established the importance of a mother's love. Although it may seem obvious now, the author argues that infant care was very different at the beginning of the 20th Century.

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The influential psychologist John B. Watson "led a professional crusade against the evils of affection." Mothering would warp a child, he taught. Harlow's studies with primates proved otherwise. Harlow set out to understand the total nature of love, including its withdrawal. In this respect, many of his studies are today seen as cruel and unjustified. Blum maintains that not only were many studies by others much crueler, but that we "didn't fully believe" before Harlow came along that caring was so important to a child.

Dr. William McKinney, a one-time coworker of Harlow's reviews this book in Am J Psychiatry 160:2254-2255, December 2003. He notes: "Also discussed in the book are the contributions of Harry Bakwin, John Bowlby, Katherine Wolf, William Goldfarb, David Levy, Loretta Bender, René Spitz, James Robertson, and others whose writings seriously questioned the prevailing notions of not cuddling infants or providing much love and affection. All of these people underwent professional ridicule and isolation as they presented their theories. It is a painful chapter in the field of human and animal development, and psychiatrists were prominent in promulgating this viewpoint. Harry Harlow played a major role in obtaining and presenting data, based on his experimental work with rhesus monkeys, to support the role of supportive physical contact and love in development. He took the field well beyond drive reduction as explaining the basis of attachments."

Blum ends her engaging book with the plea: "Let us remember the best of Harry's contributions as well as the worst. Let us not slip backwards, ever, into believing that we are not necessary to each other's health and happiness. You don't have to like the way Harry found his answers. Almost no one could admire every choice he made. But neither should we pretend that he did anyting less than arrive at some fundamental truth. Our challenge is not to squander it."

(JAF)

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