+1 862 207 3288 This essay will compare and contrast the research carried out by two psychologists Mary Ainsworth and Harry Harlow. Firstly, to give some background to these two sets of research it may be useful to explain why the research was carried out and how. Mary Ainsworth was interested to find that contrary to Sigmund freuds theory that excessive petting and cuddling was detrimental to a childs psychological health she observed that infants seemed to thrive on physical attention from their mothers. To study this further she set up what was called the strange situation experiment in the 1950s. This consisted of a mother and child entering a room they were previously unacquainted with. Then a stranger would enter the room. Then a sequence of comings and goings of the mother and stranger as well as attempts to comfort the child both by the stranger in the absence of its mother, and by the mot…(short extract)
