Margaret Ruth Kuenne Harlow (1918–1971) was an American
developmental psychologist
Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development, ...
.
She was married to
Harry Harlow
Harry Frederick Harlow (October 31, 1905 – December 6, 1981) was an American psychologist best known for his maternal-separation, dependency needs, and social isolation experiments on rhesus monkeys, which manifested the importance of caregiv ...
from 1946 until her death in 1971.
Early life
Margaret Ruth Kuenne was born in
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
on 29 August 1918 to Edward S. Kuenne and Margaret E. Kuenne; she was the oldest of three children (her siblings were economist Robert E. Kuenne and atomic physicist Dorothy Kuenne Stearns).
She received her bachelor's degree from the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...
, where she was a member of
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
, at the age of twenty, and her master's degree from the same university two years later in 1940.
She received her doctoral degree in
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
from the
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...
, where she studied
Hull's theories of conditioning in children under
Kenneth Spence
Kenneth Wartinbee Spence (May 6, 1907 – January 12, 1967) was a prominent American psychologist known for both his theoretical and experimental contributions to learning theory and motivation. As one of the leading theorists of his time, Spence ...
, in 1944.
Her dissertation considered how theoretical research could be conducted with children to bridge the gap between studies with mature humans and studies with animals such as monkeys.
Career
After receiving her doctorate, she worked as an instructor at the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...
for two years before becoming an associate professor at the
University of Wisconsin
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
in 1946.
Shortly after her arrival at the University of Wisconsin, she was recruited by Harry Harlow to run studies with children to supplement his work on learning with monkeys. She assembled a small group of children with high IQs, and measured the speed at which they learned to solve puzzles for a small reward.
She remained at the University of Wisconsin until her death, where she worked closely with Harlow, whom she married in 1948, and served as a project associate in his primate laboratory. (The university's nepotism rules meant that she was not allowed faculty status for the majority of her time there.)
Toward the end of her career, she raised monkeys in
nuclear family
A nuclear family, elementary family, cereal-packet family or conjugal family is a family group consisting of parents and their children (one or more), typically living in one home residence. It is in contrast to a single-parent family, the larger ...
situations to study the effects of paternal love.
In 1965, she returned to teaching as a lecturer in the Department of Educational Psychology, and was made a full professor in 1970.
Margaret Harlow was a talented editor and administrator as well as an accomplished psychologist. She was a leading member of the
Society for Research in Child Development
The Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) is a professional society for the field of human development, focusing specifically on child development. It is a multidisciplinary, not-for-profit, professional association with a membership of ...
. She founded the publications office of the
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...
(now the Office of Publications and Databases) in 1950, and served as its first director.
With Harry Harlow, she published numerous articles and co-edited the ''
Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology
The ''Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology'' was a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Psychological Association. It was established in 1921 as the result of a merger between two journals, ''Psychobiology'' (191 ...
''.
Personal life
While working with Harry Harlow at the University in Wisconsin, the two gradually developed affections for each other, and married on 3 February 1948 in
Anamosa, Iowa
Anamosa is a city in Jones County, Iowa, United States. The population was 5,450 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Jones County.
History
What is now Anamosa was founded as the settlement of Buffalo Forks in 1838 and incorporated as ...
. They kept the marriage quiet in hopes of evading the university's
nepotism
Nepotism is an advantage, privilege, or position that is granted to relatives and friends in an occupation or field. These fields may include but are not limited to, business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, fitness, religion, an ...
policies, but the administration eventually found out, and Margaret was forced to step down from her professorship (though the Harlows managed to circumvent university policy by employing her as a project associate in Harry's primate lab).
Though her family had always called her "Margaret", Harry called her "Peggy."
They had two children together; their daughter Pamela was born in 1950, and their son Jonathan in 1953.
The family lived in a house that was close to both the university and the zoo.
In 1967, Margaret was diagnosed with
breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...
. She continued to work for several more years, citing a desire to teach as a full professor as a driving force, but regretted that she likely would not see the results of her nuclear family monkey studies.
She died on 11 August 1971.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harlow, Margaret Kuenne
1918 births
1971 deaths
American women psychologists
20th-century American psychologists
Developmental psychologists
20th-century American women