What experiment on babies was cruel?
The 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s were known for the horrifying cruelty of Harry Harlow’s experiments on monkeys. Harlow tore infants away from their mothers, gave some babies surrogate mothers made of wire and wood, and kept other traumatized infants in isolation in tiny metal boxes, sometimes for up to a year. A few hours after birth, Harlow took young monkeys away from their natural mothers and left them with these mother substitutes to raise them. The experiment showed that the baby monkeys spent significantly more time with their cloth mother than with their wire mother.The creation of inanimate wire and wood surrogate mothers for the rhesus infants was one of the unethical experiments carried out by Harlow. Each baby grew close to its particular mother after recognizing her distinct face.Because of how the baby monkeys were treated, this experiment was deemed controversial or unethical. Harlow’s rhesus macaque experiments received harsh criticism for their cruelty and little scientific value.