Monkey Love
First on More4 Dec 2005; rpt Wed 28 June 2006 9pm
What is the truth about Harry Harlow, and what is the legacy of his work?
Harry Harlow, American research psychologist, was responsible for some of the most controversial experiments to have been performed in animal laboratories.
View the Harry Harlow image gallery
On his 'Rape Rack', disturbed female monkeys were forced to breed against their will. In the 'Pit of Despair' baby monkeys were hung upside down in total darkness for up to two years. And with the 'Iron Maiden', infant primates were confronted by a placid surrogate mother that began suddenly to tear at their flesh.
So what motivated Harry Harlow to conduct such disturbing experiments? Experiments that made Harlow the 'poster boy' of the animal rights movement in the United States. Bizarrely, the answer is love. Harry Harlow's work was an attempt to understand the nature of love, particularly that between mother and child.
According to Harlow's defenders, it is work we benefit from today. Defenders maintain that Harlow revolutionised and brought warmth to the way we parent infants. That he influenced crucial policies which operate in children's homes, social service agencies and the birthing industry in Britain and throughout the world today.
Can cruelty teach us anything about love?
Related links
Webchat Mon 12 Dec, with Simon Festing (head of the Research Defense Society) and John Curtin (animal rights activist). Read the transcript.
View the timeline
Displays events in the animal liberation movement and key dates of medical advances.
