The Harlow Research

      In his work with Rhesus monkeys, University of Wisconsin
researcher Harry Harlow found that animals deprived of play amid a
peer group while growing up became, upon reaching maturity, totally
incapable of reproducing on their own. In fact, this was found to be true
even for animals that had not been deprived of mother love. Peer group
deprived female monkeys refused to permit even very socially successful
males to mount them. These sexually disinterested females had to be
impregnated by artificial insemination. Upon giving birth they tended
to treat their young as though it were feces. They stomped on it, threw
it against the cage wall, ignored it, and in some cases actually started
eating it. The male monkeys that had been deprived of a peer group
while growing up tended to sit in a corner and simply stare at the
females. Harlow placed deprived males into enclosures with a large
number of normally sexually receptive females. Yet in spite of the favor-
able gender-ratio and lack of sexual competition, these males refused to
make any efforts towards sexual mounting behavior. In fact, in most
cases they didn't even make an effort to play with the females. In most
cases they simply sat on the sidelines watching and staring.
     One thing which particularly struck me about Harlow's findings
is that the "watching" and "staring" reaction of the deprived monkeys
seems to be very commonplace among love-shy human males. In essence,
rather than risk making an approach, love-shy human males quite com-
monly just simply watch and stare and daydream. Moreover, this "star-
ing" behavior seems to persist even in environments offering a favorable
gender ratio. There can be six women to every man, and the love-shy
male will still "watch and stare and daydream" in lieu of taking positive
action.
     As Harlow was able to demonstrate in his work with monkeys,
play and the multitudinous play-related experiences of childhood con-
stitute a crucial and indispensable preparation for adult roles. And so
it is with human children. To the extent that a person had been deprived
of a childhood incorporating a great deal of happy, carefree play with
other children, to that extent he could be expected to come of age inad-
equately prepared to competently fulfill adult family and employment
roles.