Summary
Highlights
The video introduces a monkey raised with a wire mother designed for nursing and a cloth mother. Despite being weaned on the wire mother, the monkey spends significantly more time with the cloth mother, demonstrating that 'contact comfort' is vastly more important than the source of nourishment for attachment and security.
The experiment questions what 'love' means for an infant. It suggests that a key aspect of love is the feeling of security a baby gains in the mother's presence. When frightened, a baby seeks comfort from its mother, and that comfort dissipates fear and replaces it with security, indicating love for the mother.
A 'diabolical' apparatus with flashing eyes, loud sounds, and moving parts is used to frighten a baby monkey. In the presence of its cloth mother, the frightened monkey runs to her, finding comfort and security. Contact with the mother transforms its behavior from fear to confidence, even causing it to 'threaten' the scary object.
A six-foot-square room with toys, a new and strange environment, is used to test the monkey's reaction without a mother. The monkey enters cautiously and remains disturbed, searching for comfort. When a wire mother (even if it nursed the monkey) is introduced, it offers no help or comfort.
When a cloth mother is placed in the fearful room, the monkey's behavior changes dramatically. It rubs against the cloth mother, seeking contact comfort, which builds its reservoir of affection and security. Its body relaxes, fear disappears, and it begins to explore the new environment, becoming a normal, curious baby.