Final answer:
The monkeys that were isolated from their mothers in Harry Harlow's research showed deficits in adulthood in their ability to form social relationships and display appropriate social behaviors. These monkeys experienced difficulty with peer interactions and parenting, highlighting the importance of maternal comfort and security in healthy development.
Step-by-step explanation:
Research by psychologists Harry Harlow and his contemporaries shed light on the importance of early social contact and maternal-infant bonding for healthy development. Harlow's investigations, particularly with rhesus monkeys, revealed that the monkeys separated from their mothers and raised with surrogate mothers made of either wire mesh or soft cloth overwhelmingly preferred the comfort of the cloth mother. This preference held even though the wire mother provided the necessary nourishment. When these monkeys matured, Harlow’s research showed that they experienced significant social and emotional deficits due to this early deprivation.
The monkeys that were separated from their real mothers and raised under surrogate conditions presented impairments in their social abilities as adults. They had difficulties establishing normal social relations and exhibited reduced social competence, which included problems with peer interactions and parenting their offspring. These observations demonstrated the critical role of maternal comfort and security in the healthy psychosocial development of primates, which can be extrapolated to human development. Instead of focusing exclusively on the biological necessity of nourishment, Harlow emphasized the profound impact of psychological and emotional nurturing.
Through Harlow’s findings, it has become clear that maternal contact providing comfort and security is as significant, if not more so, than providing food for the healthy psychological development of young primates, including humans.