3. Attachment Flashcards
Define - Attachment
an emotional tie or bond between two people,
usually a primary caregiver and a child.
The relationship is reciprocal (shared),
Define - Reciprocal
shared
Define - Reciprocity
when an infant responds to the actions of another person in a form or turn-taking.
Who described infant interaction as a ‘dance’?
Brezelton et al. (1975)
What did Feldman believe about caregiver-infant interation?
3 months
Reciprocity increases - infant and caregiver pay increasing attention to each other’s verbal and facial communications.
will lay the strong foundations for attachment
What is interactional synchrony?
When infants mirror the actions or emotions of another person.
This mirroring can also be referred to as imitation or simply copying the adult’s behaviour.
What was Meltzoff and Moore’s aim?
To examine interactional synchrony in infants.
Who studied interactional synchrony in infants?
Meltzoff and Moore
What was Meltzoff and Moore’s method?
- Using a controlled observation,
- adult model displayed one of three facial expressions, or a hand gesture.
- 1st child had a dummy to prevent a facial response.
- 2nd the dummy was removed and the child’s expressions were filmed.
What were Meltzoff and Moore’s results?
There was a clear association between the infants’ behaviour and that of the adult model.
Later research by Meltzoff and Moore (1983) found the same findings in three-day-old infants.
What was Meltzoff and Moore’s conclusion?
These findings suggest that interactional synchrony is innate and reduces the strength of any claim that imitative behaviour is learned.
What are the stages of attachment?
Stage 1 - Indiscriminate attachment 0-2 months
Stage 2 - Beginnings of attachment 2-6 months
Stage 3 - Discriminant attachment 7-12 months
Stage 4 - Multiple attachments year onwards
Explain the first stage of attachment
Stage 1 - Indiscriminate attachment
An infant shows similar responses to objects and people. preference for faces / eyes.
Explain the second stage of attachment
Stage 2 - Beginning of attachment
- preference for human company
- distinguish between different people, but are comforted by anyone
- not show stranger anxiety yet.
Explain the third stage of attachment
Stage 3 - Discriminate attachments
- preference for one caregiver, displaying separation and stranger anxiety.
- particular person for security and protection.
- joy upon reunion
- comforted by their primary caregiver.
Explain the 4th stage of attachment
Stage 4 - Multiple attachments
- Attachment behaviours displayed to several different people - secondary attachments.
- month after the primary attachment is formed
- the number of multiple attachments which develop depends on the social circle to whom the infant is exposed.
Who did a study on the formation of early attachments?
Schaffer and Emerson 1964
What was the aim of Schaffer and Emerson’s study?
To examine the formation of early attachments.
What method did Schaffer and Emerson use in their study?
- 60 babies (31 male, 29 female)
- working class families
- Glasgow
- 5–23 weeks at the start of the investigation.
- The researchers visited the babies in their homes, every month for the first 12 months and then once again at 18 months.
- The researchers interviewed the mothers and observed the children in relation to separation and stranger anxiety in a range of everyday activities.
What results did Schaffer and Emerson see?
The results provided some support for the different stages of developing an attachment.
- At around 25–32 weeks, 50% of the children showed separation anxiety
- Furthermore, by 40 weeks, 80% of the children had a discriminant attachment
- 30% had started to form multiple attachments.
What conclusion did Schaffer and Emerson pull from his study?
Schaffer’s stages of attachment
attachment develops through a series of stages across the first year of life.
Why can it be argued that Fathers are Simply not equipped to form an attachment with their children?
Biological evidence
The hormone oestrogen underlies caring behaviour in women and the lack of it in men is why they are unable to form a close attachment
What are the three explanations for the role of the father?
- biologically inequipped
- Not a caregiver role but a ‘playmate’
- sensitive responsiveness and respond to the needs of their children and therefore can form a strong emotional tie or bond.
What are the pros of doing animal studies ?
- They are biologically similar to humans
- More ethical than conducting with humans
- Easier to conduct study over life span as they are breed faster than humans do
Who did a study on imprinting with non-humans?
Lorenz (1935)
What was Lorenz’s aim?
To examine the phenomenon of imprinting in non-human animals - first moving object
What method did Lorenz use for his experiment?
- randomly divided goose eggs into two batches.
- control - hatched naturally by the mother.
- second - incubator, with Lorenz making sure he was the first large moving object that the goslings saw after hatching.
- The following behaviour recorded.
- Lorenz then marked the goslings so he knew in which condition they were hatched and then placed them under an upside-down box.
- The box was then removed and their following behaviour of the mother goose and Lorenz was recorded again.
What results did Lorenz pull from his experiment?
- control - followed mother
- Experimental - followed Lorenz
critical period of 4–25 hours after hatching.
This relationship persisted over time and proved to be irreversible.
What was Lorenz’s critical period?
4 - 25 hours after hatching.
This relationship persisted over time and proved to be irreversible.
Who did an experiment on contact comfort?
Harlow (1959)
What was Harlow’s aim?
extent contact comfort and food influences attachment behaviour in baby monkeys.
What method did Harlow follow?
- two surrogate mothers: one harsh ‘wire mother’ and a second soft ‘towelling mother’.
- sixteen baby rhesus monkeys
- four caged conditions:
- no comfort/milk and comfort/no milk
- no comfort/no milk and comfort/milk
- no comfort/ milk
- comfort/ milk
- measure - time spent with each mother and time spent feeding
- test mother preference in stress - a loud noise and their responses recorded.
- A larger cage was used in some conditions in order to observe the degree of exploration by the baby rhesus monkeys.
What were Harlow’s results?
- prefer comfort irrespective of food
- even try to keep contact with towelled to get food
- only wired - showed signs of stress eg. diarrhoea
- In loud noise cling tightly to the soft ‘towelling mother’
- In larger caged conditions, greater exploration when with comfort mother
What conclusions did Harlow draw from his experiment?
innate drive to seek contact comfort suggest attachment through comfort not food contradicts learning theory.
What does the learning theory explanation of attachment explain?
learn to attach to their primary caregiver through the process of either classical conditioning or operant conditioning. focus on food. - “cupboard love”
What are the two processes in the learning theory of attachment?
Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning
What is classical conditioning?
A process of learning by associating two stimuli together to condition (learn) a response.
Eg. mother gives food makes feel good so when mother is there feel good.
Draw a diagram explaining classical conditioning
UCS -> UCR
NS -> No conditioned response
NS + UCS -> UCR
CS -> CR
Who was the first psychologist to study operant conditioning?
Skinner (1938)
What did Skinners experiment show?
- behaviour in non- human animals could be learned through consequences (reward or punishment).
- reward = repeated action
- punishment = action stopped .
Which scientists linked operant conditioning with attachment?
Dollard and Miller (1950)
Is hunger or food the primary drive or the primary reinforcer?
Hunger - primary drive
Food - primary reinforcers
What is positive reinforcement for infants attachment?
When the caregiver provides food, a feeling of pleasure is produced for the infant which is rewarding
What perspective did Bowlby’s monotropic theory take?
Evolutionary perspective
What did Bowlby argue?
That children are born with an innate tendency to form attachments with their parents in order to increase chances of survival.
What were Bowlby’s 5 key terms about attachment?
- Adaptive
- social releasers
- critical period
- monotrophy
- internal working model.
What does adaptive mean?
attachments give humans an advantage
they are kept safe, given food and kept warm by their caregiver.
What are social releasers?
inborn social releasers, which unlock an innate tendency in adults to care for them.
- physical – ‘baby face’ - cutebig eyes and a button nose.
- behavioural – crying, cooing and smiling to get attention.
What are the two types of social releasers?
Physical and behavioural
What is the critical period of attachment for Bowlby?
three and six months of age.
Later - after it was possible however difficult after initial period
damaged for life – socially, emotionally, intellectually and physically.
What is monotropy Bowlby?
one very special attachment with their primary caregiver, most frequently the mother.
If the mother is not available, the infant can bond with another ever- present adult, known as a mother substitute.
What is the internal working model?
- Through the monotropic attachment
- internal template for future relationship expectations.