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"separation effects were unstudied;... 1. Chamove: "separation effects were unstudied;... it was unknown what the effects would be from rearing youngsters with individuals other than her mother;... the role of contact in attachment was unknown (with many/most mothers sleeping out of contact from their children in the first years of life);... Was the animals' suffering worth the knowledge we gained about raising children today?... Knowing that contact is important in adoption centres in saving the lives of over half those babies; is it worth it?" Things to consider: 1959: Harlow published “Basic social capacity of primates” in February 1959 and “Love in Infant Monkeys” in June, in Scientific American. His previous decade of publishing the results of his primate experimentation had nothing to do with attachment or separation. His and his students' publications in this area began in 1959. 1952: In the preface to the second edition of his report (see below) Bowlby writes: "It is pleasing that the welcome given to the first edition of this monograpgh should so soon have necessitated a second." 1950: The World Health Organization, in response to concern voiced by the Social Commission of the United Nations, publishes John Bowlby's commissioned study on the mental health aspects of "children who are orphaned or separated from their families for other reasons and need care in foster homes, institutions, or other types of group care." Bowlby's report, Maternal Care and Mental Health, is an exhaustive review of research into the effects of institutionalization and methods developed to avoid and counter the effects of maternal deprivation. Bowlby writes, "Whether research in this field is undertaken with a view to promoting better preventative measures or greater fundamental understanding, henceforward it should be regarded as unnecessary to spend time demonstrating the validity of the general proposition respecting the adverse effects of deprivation." In the preface to the first edition, Bowlby writes: "I found a very high degree of agreement exhisting both in regard to principles underlying mental health of children and the practices by which it may be safeguarded." 1946: Benjamin Spock publishes The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care. The book was an instant success. It is the best selling book of all time, (second only to the Bible.) One source notes: "In post-war America, parents were in awe of doctors and other childcare professionals; Spock assured them that parents were the true experts on their own children. They had been told that picking up infants when they cried would only spoil them; Spock countered that cuddling babies and bestowing affection on children would only make them happier and more secure. Instead of adhering to strict, one-size-fits-all dictates on everything from discipline to toilet training, Spock urged parents to be flexible and see their children as individuals." It is a matter of historical fact, supported by overwhelming and widely published evidence, that Harlow and his students' work in this area was grotesquely redundant and added absolutely nothing to what was then known about raising emotionally healthy human children. "Was the animals' suffering worth the knowledge we gained about raising children today?... Knowing that contact is important in adoption centres in saving the lives of over half those babies; is it worth it?" Chamove's questions demonstrate that he, like all of Harlow's apologists, reconstruct the historical record by simply ignoring the plain facts. |
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Madison's Hidden Monkeys is a joint project of the |
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