Bruce Hood - The Self Illusion

Monkey Love

The Romanian orphans responded similarly to the rhesus monkeys in Harry Harlow’s infamous isolation studies during the 1960s. 59Harlow had been inspired by Bowlby’s theory of why children raised in orphanages develop antisocial behaviour, but he wanted to rule out the alternative explanations that these were children from poorer backgrounds or that poor nutrition in the institutions had led to these effects. To test this, he raised infant rhesus monkeys in total social isolation for varying amounts of time (these studies would never be approved today now that we know how similar monkeys are to humans). Despite feeding them and keeping them warm, those monkeys that spent at least the first six months of life in total isolation developed abnormally. They compulsively rocked back and forth while biting themselves and found it difficult to interact with other monkeys. When they became mothers themselves, they ignored or sometimes attacked their own babies. The social deprivation they had experienced as infants had left them as socially retarded adults. If they were introduced to the rest of the monkeys before the six months was up, then they recovered more social behaviours. Monkeys that were only isolated after the first six months were not affected. Clearly monkeys and humans from birth require something more than sustenance. It isn’t food and warmth they need, it is love – without the love of others, we are lost as individuals, unable to form the social behaviours that are so necessary to becoming a normal social animal.

What is it about social isolation that is so destructive for the developing primate? There is no simple answer and one can speculate about different mechanisms. For example, babies who are born extremely prematurely can spend several weeks isolated in an incubator to provide a suitable breathing and sterile environment for their immature lungs. Not only are they born too early, but they are also very small and have a low birthweight. However, if you interact with them by stroking them and massaging them while they are still inside the incubator, this minimal contact significantly improves their physical development. They grow and put on weight much faster than premature babies left alone. The most likely explanation comes from animal studies that show that grooming and tactile contact stimulate the release of growth hormones in the brain. These growth hormones affect metabolism and the calorific uptake so that these little guys can absorb more from their food. In the United States, psychologist Tiffany Field 60has shown that simply stroking premature babies for fifteen minutes each day for ten days leads to significantly increased body weight, an earlier discharge from hospital and an estimated saving of around $10,000 for each infant. It may all seem a little too touchy-feely, but massaging babies makes sound financial sense on top of all the health benefits.

It’s not just weight gain; brains also thrive with social interaction. As noted above, rat pups like a bit of rough-and-tumble play. In the 1940s Donald Hebb, 61looked at the effects of raising baby rats in complete isolation compared to those raised in social cages containing lots of other rats with which to interact. He found that not only were isolated rats significantly slower on problem solving, such as running around a maze, but their brains were not as well developed as the social rats, which had heavier brains and thicker cortical areas. If you remember back to the wiring illustration in Chapter 1 (Figure 5), this thicker cortex was due to increased connectivity between the neurons. So being raised in isolation is not healthy for a social animal. 62We now know that loneliness stunts growth and impairs the health of humans, monkeys, rabbits, pigs, rats, mice and even the humble fruit fly, ‘Drosophila’ 63– and the Drosophila does not even have much of a cortex let alone brain!

In addition to physical growth, for humans, one of the real problems of social isolation is not having access to those who know more about the world. Adults usually look after – and look out for – the child. Even if an infant manages to survive, not having older and wiser individuals around means uncertainty. Without the ability to understand, control, communicate, regulate, navigate or negotiate the world, an individual is helpless. And without others to help, these uncertainties create stress and anxiety, which in the long term are corrosive to our health and mental well-being.

It’s not just love and attention children need: they also require order and structure. They seek out adults who behave predictably. Paradoxically, they will even form strong attachment to parents who are abusive just so long as they are reliably abusive. 64This is because the abuse creates anxiety in the child that, in turn, increases their need to attach. This becomes a vicious dysfunctional cycle of love and hate that sets the scene for abusive relationships later in adult life. 65Infants need adults that respond reliably to them because they are attentive and predictable. That’s why most babies love ‘peek-a-boo’ – it’s more than just a game – it’s a way for infants to identify adults who are prepared to invest their time and effort. 66

Of course, sustenance and nutrition are vital, but infants require other people in order to discover who they are. Without others, we cannot develop the sense of self that most of us have – an integrated, coherent individual existing independently as a member of a larger social group. Who knows what kind of self, if any, would emerge in a child raised in total isolation? One can only speculate that such an inhuman situation would produce an inhuman self.

Copy Me

It is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. By the time infants reach their first birthday, they are always looking for opportunities to imitate. Their social brains, percolating with explosions of connectivity, are on the lookout for useful information from others. By watching others, babies are making use of thousands of years of evolution that has equipped them to learn rapidly by observation – which is so much easier and better than trying to figure stuff out for themselves.

It would appear that most of us like to be imitated or at least we like people who copy our behaviours. Have you ever noticed how people in love do this? The next time you are in a park where couples hang out or maybe a popular restaurant where romantic, candlelit dinners are common, take a look at the actions of people in love. Even though you may not be able to hear the sweet nothings they exchange, you can immediately tell when two people fancy each other by the amount of imitation they share, just by looking at their body postures and non-verbal communication.

To be able to copy others is one of the most powerful skills with which humans are born. 67From the very beginning, babies are sophisticated people-watchers, following adults around and copying their behaviours. No other animal has the same capacity for copying the way we naturally do. This ability probably existed before we evolved language, as it would have been really useful as a way to pass on knowledge about tools. No other animal makes or uses tools as conspicuously as humans, and despite the isolated reports of nut-cracking or termite-prodding with sticks by chimpanzees, these pale into insignificance compared to what babies spontaneously learn from watching others.

This is because humans have been programmed to imitate. If an infant watches an adult perform some new action on a never before seen object, a one-year-old will remember and copy the behaviour one week later. 68The child knows what the goal of the action is even when the adult is thwarted by some problem. In one study, 69a female adult looked and smiled at fourteen-month-old infants and then leaned forward to activate a light-switch on a box by bending over and touching it with her forehead. When presented with the light-switch box, the babies produced the same bizarre movement. However, if the woman had her arms wrapped in a blanket and did exactly the same movement with her forehead, the babies did not copy the head movement, but activated the light-switch on the box with their hands. The babies must have reasoned that, because the woman’s hands were restricted, her goal was simply to press the switch. When her hands were not bound, however, babies must have reasoned that using your head was important for activating the light-switch.