Mother-infant separation and the nature of inter-individual relationships: experiments with rhesus monkeys

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Abstract
Whether a period of separation from the mother can affect the personality development of the human infant was studied. The evidence that a brief period of separation can have long-term effects in monkeys adds force to the evidence, now itself considerable, that long term effects can occur in man. Evidence comes not only from the experiments reviewed here, but also from those conducted in a number of other laboratories. The monkey data also provide evidence about what sort of individuals are most likely to be most affected, and how the effects can best be ameliorated, evidence whose relevance to the human case is certainly worth assessing. This material also reveals questions of even more far-reaching importance, questions concerning the nature and dynamics of inter-individual relationships. Human personal relationships are infinitely more complex than relationships between monkeys, because monkeys are relatively simple, their study may be used more readily to elucidate concepts, to generate principles and to suggest methods which are worth testing in humans.