Harry Frederick Israel
Love at Goon Park
By: Bethany Klais
Childhood
 Harry Frederick Israel was born in Fairfield, Iowa on
October 31st, 1905
 Alonzo Harlow Israel and Mable Rock Israel
 Four Children-Robert, Delmer, Harry, and Hugh
 Delmer’s Illness
Education
 Very smart child
 Interested in poetry and drawing
 Coasted through High School
College
 Stanford University
 Began as an English major
 Mentors
 Calvin Stone-animal behaviorist and editor of the Journal
of Comparative and Physiological Psychology
 Walter Miles-vision expert
 Lewis Terman-developer of the Stanford-Binet IQ Test
 Graduated in 1930 with PhD in Psychology
 Last name change
 Job opportunity
Previous Views
 More than ¼ of the children in the U.S
died before age 5 between 1850-1900
 “Avoid staying too close to your
children.”
 Handle sickness with isolation
 “The apparent repression of love by
modern psychologists stands in sharp
contrast with the attitude taken by many
famous and normal people.”-Harry
Harlow
University of Wisconsin
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Immediately moved to Madison
Madison vs. Stanford
Pronunciation difficulty
Married Clara Mears on May 7th, 1932
Clara forced to give up her Psychology career
Limited resources
Early in Harry’s Career
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Convinced the UW to give him a lab
Rat Studies
Cat Studies
Frog Studies
Henry Villas Zoo
 Maggie- “Girl with a one track
mind, a determination to keep
Jiggs on the straight and
narrow.”
 Jiggs- “Nicest and sweetest
orangutan that had ever lived.”
 Blocks and Puzzle Experiments
 Tommy
Rhesus Monkeys
 Built the first UW primate
lab
 Harry’s Reuse of the
monkeys
 Harry’s treatment of the
monkeys
 Cheapest Primate possible
 Rh factor in blood (positive
or negative) discovered
because of Rhesus monkeys
WGTA
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Wisconsin General Test Apparatus
Cube-Shaped Cage
Tray
How it worked?
Harry’s Personal Life
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Clara and Harry have two sons-Robert and Richard
Harry begins withdrawing from the family
Began questioning his love for Clara
Clara and Harry divorce
Clara wins custody of their two boys
Period of intense loneliness and disconnection
Meets Peggy Kuenne and marries her a year and a
half after divorce from Clara
 Two children with Peggy
Wire Mother vs. Cloth Mother Study
 Separation of young
monkey from mother
 Housed with cloth
mother and wire mother
 Results: Monkey’s clung
to cloth mother
 Sense of security from
cloth mom when
frightened
Social Isolation Study
 Interested in studying depression
(state of helplessness and
hopelessness)
 Total isolation
 Vertical Chamber or “Pit of Despair”
 Results
 Reversing the Damage
Review of Harry’s Studies
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weXEaTKckzY
Harry’s Later Years
 First and only primatologist to win the National
Medal of Science
 Peggy passes away from cancer on August 11, 1971
 Harry remarries Clara
 Parkinson’s disease
 Resignation from Wisconsin
 Move to Arizona
 Harry’s death
Contribution to Psychology
 Demonstrated the importance
of affection toward the child
from the caregiver
 Demonstrated the importance
of feelings of security
 Demonstrated the devastating
effects of isolation
 Harlow Lab
Recent UW Madison
Primate Controversy
 http://wisconsinwatch.org/2014/07/univers
ity-of-wisconsin-to-reprise-controversialmonkey-studies/
Discussion Questions
 Much of Harry Harlow’s research was focused on
animals as subjects. What are your opinions on this
type of research?
 Completely isolating children when they were sick
and not showing children affection were common
during the early 1900’s. What practices that we use
today do you think will be looked back on as
ridiculous?