Bereavement Reactions, Consequences, and Care (1984) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 177-196
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Monkeys ' Responses to Separation and Loss
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Because of the many parapets with human responses, researchers are studying nonhuman primates to better understand bereavement and howpre- and post-bereavement circumstances affect adjustment to Joss.
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CHAPTER 7 Monkeys' Responses to Separation and Loss An infant, having reached an age when independent locomotion is readily accomplished, wanders around a room, eagerly touching and exploring everything he sees. He plays vigorously with two young companions.
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Working with appropriate animal models, however, while bearing in mind the ethical issues that must still be considered, the environment and experiences can lee controlled and the impact of important events can be assessed at preselected times under the rigorous light of experimental scrutiny. VARIATIONS IN THE RESPONSE TO LOSS Like people, nonhuman primates are genetically heterogeneous and intelligent enough to be influenced in complex ways by their past experiences and current circumstances.
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This range of species has been particularly important because the combination of closely related species and a phylogenetically quite distant one allows an assessment of both the effects of a number of social and environmental conditions and the role of clearly primate, but nonetheless quite diverse, genetic predispositions. These studies make it clear that although each of these species shows emotional disturbance following a Toss, the intensity and duration of the reaction as well as its qualitative form may vary from species to species.
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During this "protest" period the infant may briefly interact with either its social or physical environment. Even brief play bouts may be seen.
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This is a significant alternate hypothesis to the one proposed earlier that the loss of the mother is extremely disturbing psychologically and emotionally for nonhuman primates. Observations of the presumed depression after loss in primates make clear that the separation pattern is indeed the result of severe emotional
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Detachment Phase Several studies have been done to assess the actual nature of the most severe forms of depressive response to the loss of mother, as well as to test the applicability of a "detachment phase" to nonhuman primates. In a variety of circumstances during reunions following a prolonged separation from their parents, human infants have been observed either to avoid the parents or to behave in an emotionally detached manner in their presences 3i Such behavior seems counterintuitive if not paradoxical.
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Monkeys' Responses to Separation and Loss / 185 Studies by Rosenblum32 33 provide strong evidence in support of the emotional disturbance hypothesis and indications of the detachment phase as well. In one portion of this work, five pigtail infants, 7-8 months of age, were separated from their mothers for a period of 8-10 weeks.
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From page 186... ...
Despite early anecdotal reports that infant monkeys come to recognize their mother in the first days or week of life, experimental evidence indicates that, as in humans, such recognition matures more slowly and may be affected by a number of factors. Consider the case of bonnet macaque infants, raised In a complex social group that contains a number of mothers and infants.
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Monkeys' Responses to Separation and Loss / 187 According to Bow~by,2 the reliability with which the attachment figure is able to respond appropriately to the infant's needs {the degree to which the mother is "available and accessible"22, influences the security of the attachment. Thus one speaks of relatively "anxious" or "secure" attachments, with those subjects at the anxious end of the continuum more likely to show severe reactions to loss.
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188 / Bereavement: Reactions, Consequences, and Care Further support for the influence of the security provided by the attachment bond has been obtained in other recent research on bonnet macaques.38 In an effort to determine the effects of maternal "employment" on mother-infant relations and infant development, "working" bonnet mothers were required to spend a portion of their day searching for food, which was hidden within specially constructed "foraging devices." Control mothers, living in identical pens, had their food provided for them without any work required. During the course of early development, the infants of the foraging mothers appeared to lie functioning more independently than the infants in the no-work group.
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Monkeys' Responses to Separation end toss / 189 searchers to the continuity of emotional responses between a pre-Ioss and Toss period. It appears from these comparative data that in nonhuman primates, and presumably in humans beings, many of the types of behavior that are clearly recognized as emotional responses to Toss may appear in various degrees and configurations as part of the ongoing pattern of interaction prior to the final loss experience.47 Arhficia]
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Social Environment A number of studies of bonnet macaques,37 38 squirrel monkeys,4 36 pigtails,32 and langurs~ 6 have indicated that when an infant is able to receive substitute caretaking from some other member of the group, the overt disturbance of behavior following loss of the mother is markedly reduced or even eliminated almost completely. This ameliorative effect of substitute care-giving in nonhuman primates fits well with the general experience with human infants under comparable circumstances.2
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Similarly, there is an indication In rhesus monkeys that infants left with familiar peers are less emotionally disturbed folTowing separation than those left with unfamiliar peers.45 Physical Environment Current data make it clear that when separation is confounded with the transfer to a novel environment, the pattern of response is altered. Unfamiliar environments appear to increase and prolong initial protest reactions of the infant and either delay or ameliorate subsequent despair behaviors 9 Similarly, when surrogate-reared squirrel monkeys are separated from the surrogate, only when they are simultaneously placed into a novel environment do they show marked emotional distress {reflected particularly in their hormonal stress responses.
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From page 192... ...
It is clear from the data on nonhuman primates that the more familiar a subject is with the setting confronted following a loss and the more supportive the individuals within it are, the less severe the sustained emotional response will be and the more rapid the recovery. Furthermore, individuals confronted with a readily accomplishable and rewarding task may show fewer behavioral difficulties after a loss.
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Although research on the response to loss of significant partners has shown considerable progress during the past two decades, in many areas researchers have just begun to examine a number of important issues. Pursuit of these topics in further animal studies is sure to enhance researchers' growing understanding of the bereavement process in human beings and help them to distinguish among the numerous interacting factors that are often confusingly interwoven at the human level.
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Endocrine and immune responses to maternal loss in nonhuman primates. Paper presented at American Psvcholc,~ical A.~sociation meeting Anaheim, California, 1983.
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Psychoanalytic Study of the Child 26:264-315, 1971.
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From page 196... ...
Psychoanalytic Study of the Child 2:313-347, 1946.
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