Attachment Flashcards
What is attachment
A close emotional relationship between an infant and their caregiver
What will securely attached infants show in different scenarios
A desire to be close to their primary care giver (usually biological mother)
Show distress when they’re separated
Then show pleasure when they’re reunited
What are caregiver-infant interactions involved in
Developing and maintaining the attachment
Name the caregiver-infant interactions
Sensitive responsiveness
Imitation
Interactional synchrony
Reciprocity/ turn taking
Motherese
What is sensitive responsiveness
The caregiver responds appropriately to signals from the infant
What is imitation
The infant copies the caregiver’s actions and behaviour
E.g. Meltzoff and Moore found that infants between 2 and 3 weeks appeared to imitate the facia expressions and hand movements of the experimenter
What is interactional synchrony
Infants react in time with the caregiver’s speech, resulting in a ‘conversation dance’
Condon and Sander provided evidence for this by showing how babies appear to move in time with adult conversations
What is reciprocity/ turn taking
Interaction flows back and forth between the caregiver and infant
(Mutual interaction)
What is motherese
The slow, high pitched way of speaking to infants
But there is no evidence that this influences the strength of an attachment between parent and infant
What did Schaffer create
He identified stages in attachment formation
What is the pre-attachment (asocial) phase
During 0 to 6 weeks of life
Baby learns to separate people from objects but doesn’t have an strong preferences about who cares for it
Behaviour includes crying and smiling to seek attention, this is not directed at anyone in particular
What is the indiscriminate (diffuse) attachment phase
Between 6 weeks and 6 months
Infants starts to clearly distinguish and recognise different people, smiling more at people it knows than at strangers
Still no strong preferences about who cares for it
However, behaviour still includes seeking and being happy to receive attention from anyone
What is the discriminate (single) attachment phase
From 7 to 11 months
Infant becomes able to form a strong attachment with an individual
Shown by being content when that person is around, distressed when they leave and happy when they return
May be scared of strangers and avoid them
What is the multiple attachment phase
From 9 months
Infant can form attachments to many different people
Some attachments may be stronger than others and have different functions e.g. for play or comfort
Baby becomes increasingly more independent
Doesn’t seem to be a limit to how many attachment it can make
Although, Schaffer found that after 18 months, approx 32% of babies that had at least 5 attachments, the original attachment is still the strongest
Method of Schaffer and Emerson’s study on evidence for attachment stages
60 babies were observed in their homes in Glasgow every 4 weeks from birth to about 18 months
Interviews were also conducted with their families
Longitudinal study
Results of Schaffer and Emerson’s study on evidence for attachment stages
Schaffer’s stages of attachment formation were found to occur
Also, at 8 months, 50 of the infants had more than one attachment
About 20 of them either had no attachment with their mother or had a stronger attachment with someone else, even though the mother was always the main carer
Conclusion of Schaffer and Emerson’s study on evidence for attachment stages
Infants form attachments in stages and can eventually attach to many people
Quality of care is important in forming attachments, so the infant may not attach to their mother if other people respond more accurately to its signals
Evaluation of Schaffer and Emerson’s study on evidence for attachment stages
There is now a lot of evidence to support results
However, a limited sample was used
Evidence from interviews and observations may be biased and unreliable
Cross cultural difference that should be considered:
Tronick found that infants in Zaire had strong attachments with their mother by 6 months of age but didn’t have a strong attachments with others, even though they had several carers
How did Schaffer and Emerson find that the attachment between caregiver and infants vary across infants
Found that their mother was the primary attachment for only half the infants
1/3 of infants preferred their father, whilst the rest had their strongest attachment with their grandparents or siblings
How did Goodsell and Meldrum investigate the role of the father in attachment and what did they find
Conducted study into relationship between infants and their fathers
Found that those with a secure attachment to their mother are also more likely to have a secure attachment to their father
How did Ross et al investigate the role of the father in attachment
Showed that the number of nappies a father changed was positively correlated to the strength of their attachment
Supported by Caldera who found that when the father was involved in care giving activities, they were more likely to develop a stronger attachment with their child
What did Geiger say about the roles of the mother and father
Suggested that a mother’s relationship is primarily nurturant caring whereas a father’s relationship is more focussed around play
Negative evaluations for interactional synchrony and reciprocity: observing infants
It is difficult during observations to see infant’s perspective
Is the behaviour conscious or deliberate?
We cannot assume the interaction has a specific meaning
Positive evaluations for interactional synchrony and reciprocity: Controlled observations capture fine detail
Often observations are videotaped from different angles to capture all details
Babies do not know or care that they are being observed – they should not change their behaviour
Improves validity
Mixed evaluations for interactional synchrony and reciprocity: Observations do not tell us the purpose of synchrony and reciprocity
Feldman suggests that synchrony simply describes behaviours that occur at the same time.
They do not tell us their purpose.
However, there is evidence that reciprocity and synchrony are helpful in the development of mother and infant attachment, as well as helpful for stress, responses, empathy, language and moral development.
Negative evaluation for the role of the father: inconsistent findings
Not easy to define as the researcher asks different questions
Do not know if the father is primary or secondary care giver
Evaluations for the role of the father: If fathers have a distinct role, why aren’t children without fathers different
Distinct role is to do with play/ stimulation
Study shows that children who grow up in single or same-sex parent families do not develop differently
Evaluations for the role of the father: Why don’t fathers generally become primary attachments?
Possibly because of traditional gender roles
Oestrogen - higher levels of nurturing and therefore women are biologically pre-disposed to be primary attachment figures
Evaluations for the role of the father: Socially sensitive research - working mothers
Research suggests that children may be disadvantaged by certain child-rearing practices
Mothers who return to work quickly after giving birth, restrict the opportunity for achieving interactional synchrony
However: results from a study revealed that maternal employment itself does not enhance or deteriorate attachment with the child
It is combinations of factors that revolve around it impact on their bond
Positive evaluation for stages of attachment: good external validity
The study was conducted in ppt’s own homes and most of the observations were done by the parents during normal activities
Behaviour of the babies was not effected be researchers
Babies behaved naturally
Positive evaluation for stages of attachment: longitudinal design of stages of attachment study
Same children were observed over a period of time
Longitudinal has better internal validity as they do not have confounding variables of individuals differences between participants
Better than cross-sectional design: different children at different ages
What did Konrad Lorenz find
Found that geese automatically ‘attach’ to the first moving thing they see after hatching
They follow it everywhere
This is called imprinting
How did Konrad Lorenz investigate imprinting
Randomly divided a clutch of greylag goose eggs into two groups
Left one group with the mother and incubated the other eggs
Results of Lorenz’s study
The goslings from the incubated eggs followed him around in the same way the goslings from the other eggs would follow their mother
Put both sets of goslings together
Observed that when they were released, the two groups re-formed as each gosling went to search of their ‘mother’
Both sets of goslings has imprinted on the first moving object they had seen
Conclusions of Lorenz’s study on imprinting
After further experiments, Lorenz’s determined that imprinting was most likely between 13 and 16 hours after hatching
Imprinting seems to occur during a ‘critical period’
It’s a fast, automatic process
After this critical period, birds cannot imprint
How do the conclusions of Lorenz’s study differ to humans
Our attachments take longer to develop and we don’t automatically attach to particular things
Quality care seems more important in human attachment formation
Method of Harlows study of The need for ‘contact comfort’
Harlow aimed to find out whether baby monkeys would prefer a source of food or a source of comfort and protection as an attachment figure
In laboratory studies rhesus monkeys were raised in isolation
Had two surrogate mothers
One was ,ade of wire mesh and contained a feeding bottle
The other was made of cloth but didn’t contain a bottle
Results of Harlows study of The need for ‘contact comfort’
Monkeys spent most of their time clinging to cloth surrogate and only uses the wire surrogate to feed
Cloth surrogate seemed to give them comfort in new situations
When the monkeys grew up they showed signs of social and emotional disturbance
The Females were bad mothers who were often violent towards their offspring
Conclusions of Harlows study of The need for ‘contact comfort’
Infant monkeys formed more of an attachment with a figure that provided comfort and protection
Growing up in isolation affected their development
Evaluation of Harlows study of The need for ‘contact comfort’
Labortstity experimen: strict control of the variables
Unlikely results were affected by an unknown variable
Can be argued that you cannot generalise the results of this study to human beings, because the humans and monkeys are qualitatively different
Ethical problems:
Monkeys were out in stressful situations, later showed signs of psychological damage from the experiment
Monkeys are social animals so it’s unfair to keep them in isolation
Keeping the monkeys in isolation made the experiment lack ecological validity - monkeys weren’t in their natural environment, so the results can’t be reliably applied to real life
Experiment cannot be repeated because of ethical guidelines in place now
How did Harlow and Zimmerman adapt Harlow’s research
Added a fear stimulus (e.g. oversized toy) which was placed in the cage
The monkey would cling to the cloth surrogate before the exploring the object
Monkeys with a wire surrogate would remain frozen or run wildly around the cage
The researcher concluded that a strong attachment with a primary caregiver is therefore highly important in the develop of an infant
How did Harlow and Sumoi adapt Harlow’s experiment
Investigated other factors in generating a strong attachment
Placed a cloth surrogate with food and a cloth surrogate without food in the cage
Found that the one with food was preferred
Concluded that food may still be significant factor in developing attachments
What happens when animals are used in psychological research
The findings of the study should be interpreted carefully
It is hard to generalise the findings from one species to another because the behaviour of an animal can often be different to that of a human
Although the results of animal studies might not be generalisable to human populations, they can often influence policies and theories in different areas of research
What type of species did Lorenz use and how does this differ to humans
Used a presocial species
Species that have their eyes open and can walk right from birth
Very different from human infants, who cannot walk until a lot later
Advantages and disadvantages of animals studies
Advantage: some research designs couldn’t have been conducted in humans ethically (e.g. Harlow’s study of attachment)
Disadvantage: can be seen as unethical to inflict suffering on animals, especially when they can’t give consent
Negative evaluation for animal studies: not generalisable to humans
We cannot generalise the findings from Lorenz’s study to humans.
Mammalian attachment is different from birds- they show more emotional attachment and mammals may be able to form attachments at any time
Negative evaluation for animal studies: Lorenz’s questionable findings
Imprinting and mating behaviour- Guiton et al. (1966) found that chickens imprinted on yellow washing up gloves, would try to mate with them as adults but with experience they eventually learned to prefer mating with other chickens
This suggests it is not permanent
Positive evaluation for animal studies: theoretical value -Harlow
Profound effect on understanding of mother-infant attachment
Attachment is formed through comfort, not as a result of being fed
Importance of quality of early relationships for later social development including the ability to hold down adult relationships and successfully rear children
Positive evaluation for animal studies: real life uses
Howe (1998)- research has helped social workers understand risk factors in child neglect and abuse and how to prevent it.
Importance of attachment for monkeys in zoos and breeding programmes
Negative evaluation for animal studies: ethical issues
The monkeys suffered greatly as a result of Harlow’s study
Harlow was aware of the damage he had causes and referred to the wire mothers as iron maidens after the medieval torture device
How does the behavioural theory explain why attachments are formed
Focuses on the baby wanting it’s needs fulfilled
Conditioning is given as an explanation.
How does classical conditioning form attachments
Baby learns associations between different thing in its environment
Getting food naturally gives the baby pleasure
The baby’s desire for food is fulfilled whenever it’s mother is around to feed it
So an associated is formed between mother and food
Whenever it’s mother is around, without food, the baby will feel pleasure (attachment)
How can operant conditioning play a role in forming attachments
Dollard and Miller claimed that babies feel discomfort when they’re hungry and so have a desire to get food to remove the discomfort
They find that if they cry, their mother will come and feed them
This means the discomfort is removed (negative reinforcement)
Mother is therefore associated with food and the baby will want to be close to her
This produces attachment behaviour (distress when separated from mother)
What is the drive reduction theory
Suggests that hunger (drive) makes the infant feel uncomfortable, and prompts a behaviour (crying) to reduce the discomfort
Food reduces the discomfort and is therefore rewarding via negative reinforcement
This ‘stamps in’ the feeding behaviour, food is the primary reinforcer because it supplies rewards
The person who supplies the food becomes associated (secondary reinforcer) resulting in the infant becoming attached to the person as they become a source of rewards in his/her own right
Acts as a two-way process: food removes negative stimulus of hunger from baby and food removes negative stimulus of the crying sound for the parent
Strengths of the learning theory of attachment
Lots of support from scientific research
Weaknesses of learning theory for attachment
Reductionist - tries to explain complex attachment using simple stimulus-response processes
Uses animals research, findings aren’t always generalisable
Schaffer and Emerson’s findings don’t fully support learning theory: half the infants didn’t have their mother as the primary attachment
Other theories of attachment have support
Negative evaluation for the learning theory: Counter-evidence from animal research
Lorenz’s geese imprinted before they were fed and maintained this attachment despite who fed them.
Harlow’s monkeys preferred the cloth mother over the wire mother with food
In humans, food does not create the attachment bond
Negative evaluation for the learning theory: Counter-evidence from human research
Schaffer and Emerson (1964)- many of the babies developed a primary attachment to their biological mother even though other care givers fed them
