Analysis of Nature of Love, Essay Sample for You

Theories expounded about affections lie on the grounds of what is observed, instituted, and discerned guesswork. What is available is just mere speculation and superficial observations from generalizations. The common belief among social researchers is that primary motives like hunger and thirst drive affection. In fact, previous efforts to expound on love has been brushed off, for instance, the conclusion of John B. Watson associating love with simulated erogenous zones. An analysis of the works of Harry F. Harlow indicates a considerably in-depth study of love beyond the highlighted beliefs. Since human specimens express few motor characteristics, infant macaque monkeys are used in this research because they mature rapidly since birth, but their affection traits are similar to those of human beings. The variables tested are feeding, closeness, and sight expression and retained affection.

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Hypothesis

Contact portrays deeper infant-mother affection than nursing.

Visual/auditory response expound love.

Affection is retained throughout life so long as there is contact.

Methods

Eight 6-12 hours old neonatal monkeys are bottle-fed with synthetic nutrients constantly cared in a cage. Their cages' floors are covered with cloth pads which were replaced regularly. Sometimes the monkeys were exposed to a bare wire-mesh cage, wire-mesh cone, cone covered with terry cloth and the patterns observed. Two artificial surrogate mothers were introduced to the infants, one made from cloth and heated by a bulb posteriorly and another from meshed wire. Four monkeys on cloth mother lactates while four others on wire-mesh mother do not, and the reverse is done next. During the first fourteen days of the infant life, floor of the cage is wrapped with a hot gauze pad, removed after fourteenth day and time when the babies access either mother is recorded.

The mother was availed in the post-separation period, at initial nine days then at thirty days intervals. Testing conditions were applied two times during the intervals.

Placing the artificial mother in the middle of the room and covering her in a glass box.

Results

Time with wire mother decreased while that spent on cloth mother increased. Infants responded more to the nonlactating cloth mother than the lactating wire mother. In both cases, there was an equal amount of milk taken, and weight gained, but monkeys of wire mother produced a softer stool.

The babies emblazed the mother playfully without leaving her initially and not focusing on other items in the surrounding.

The specimen tried to manipulate the box to get access to the mother in vain. With time, they adapted to the situation and covered around the box and usually played around it.

Criticism

Concurrently, assessment of lactation, contact, early and late exposure to mother indicate persistent and robust affection responsiveness. Since the monkey specimen indicate insignificant differences to human characters, the same could be said for human beings. Therefore, Harry is right to study the nature of love and the results acquired are reliable.

Conclusion

Being close outweighs nursing in portraying affectional response. With the wire-mother, there was biological adequacy but psychological deficiency.

The deprivation of mother figure had overwhelmed them making other motives plainly inexistent at first.

Presence of the mother despite inaccessibly provided safety emotionally. From John Bowlby works on primary object following, the visual search indicates affection.

Therefore, I concur with the study that love is naturally propagated and retained in life through other factors save for thirst and hunger. Such factors are contact, retainage, visual and auditory responsiveness.