attachment Flashcards
what is attachment?
a close two way emotional bond between two individuals which takes a few months to develop
what are the signs of attachment?
proximity, separation anxiety, secure base behaviour
why is proximity a sign of attachment?
people will stay near to those who they are attached to
what is meant by separation anxiety?
people will be distressed if the attachment figure leaves
what is secure base behaviour?
the person will return to who they are attached to to feel secure when exploring a new environment
who leads baby parent interaction?
they are baby lead
what are the 2 building blocks for attachment?
reciprocity and interactional synchrony
what is reciprocity?
the baby and the parent will respond to the others signals to facilitate attachment. if the baby cry the mother will care for it and if the mother makes a face the baby laughs
what is interactional synchrony?
they will mirror each other for example if the parent sticks out their tongue so will the infant. it happens both ways and lays foundation for attachment, it is rhythmic as they move the same
what was Tronik et al?
it found that when a baby smiled and the mother ignored them the baby became distressed showing the need for reciprocity in attachment
what did Feldman (2007) find about when reciprocity occours?
reciprocity is more frequent from 3 months onwards
what did Brazelton et al (1975) say about reprocity?
described it as a dance as it is not copying the other but responding to their signals
what did Murray and Trevarthen (1985) find
two feeds was give to a baby on a monitor, in the first condition it was live so the mother could respond directly to the baby. the second condition was not live so the mother could not react and the baby became distressed and turned away further showing how reciprocity is needed in attachment
what did Meltzoff and Moore (1997) find?
an adult model made one of 3 facial expressions to a baby. a dummy was used to stop immediate response and after the dummy was removed the infants response was recorded. infants as young as 3 days imitated the expressions meaning the ability to mirror is innate
what was Shaffer and Emerson (1964)?
Aim: to study development in attachment
method: observed 60 infants from working class families for 18 months with monthly visits for a year and a last one after 18 months, mothers were asked to observe their children and keep a diary of their behaviours
what is stranger anxiety?
when a stranger tries to interact it can cause distress
what is social referencing?
the infant may observe the attachment figure to help to figure out how to respond with a situation
what did Shaffer and Emerson (1964) find?
50% of infants showed separation anxiety between 25&32 weeks
attachment tended to form with those who had the most reciprocity with the infant
after 1 month 29% had multiple attachments
6 months after their first attachment 78% had multiple attachments
at 40 weeks from birth 30% had multiple attachments
what does all infants say mum stand for?
A social stage
indiscriminate attachments
specific attachment
multiple attachments
what is the A social stage
from 0 to 6 weeks infants have a similar response to humans as objects but still prefer people specifically face/eyes
what is the indiscriminate stage?when does it occur?
from 6 weeks to 7 months they enjoy human company, they are equal to any caregiver and get upset if interaction stops
what is specific attachment?when does it occur?
from 7 months onward infants gain a preference for one caregiver, develop stranger anxiety and separation anxiety. the care giver provides comfort, protection and security
what is multiple attachments and when does it occour?
from 10 to 11 months infants become more independent and get several attachments and more likely to bond with those who respond more accurately to their signals
what did Schaffer and Emerson 1964 find about fathers?
mothers are more likely to be the primary attachment
fathers are secondary attachment
3% if primary attachment is fathers
what did Grossman 2002 find?
fathers have a role to play rather than nurture
what did the Israel study find?
women are not naturally better at parenting
Primary caregivers develop neural pathways to make them more responsive to children
the same pathways developed in fathers who were primary caregivers as in mothers
when fathers are the primary caregivers, they develop the attributes of mothers
what did field 1978 find?
filmed 4 month old interaction with primary mothers, primary fathers and secondary fathers
primary fathers, like mothers, spent more time smiling, imitating and holding the infant than the secondary fathers
attachment is not determined by gender but responsiveness
Evaluation of role of the father?
hard to generalise as factors such as culture ect get in the way
economic implications as mothers have a pressure to stay home as research says they are vital for healthy development
is it important as McCallum and Golombok found that infants in single/same sex families don’t develop differently
what are the implications of role of the father?
social policy as paid paternity leave only came in 2002 in the UK
stereotypes sees men as the bread winners
cultural differences for example in India fathers engage less in play
what did Lorenz 1935 find?
gosling eggs in 2 groups
one group left with mother
one group in an incubator
G 1 saw mother first G 2 saw Lorenz first
followed first moving object seen in critical period
12-17 hours
this is imprinting
G 1 followed the mother G 2 followed Lorenz
suggests attachment is innate
supports a biological basis for attachment
what is imprinting?
consequences for short term survival
forms templates for later relationships
if left after critical period it won’t imprint
if left 32 hours, less likely for any attachment
irrreversible
sexual imprinting means mates are based on what they imprinted on
where was sexual imprinting shown?
a peacock that imprinted on a giant tortoise only attempted to mate with other tortoises as an adult
what did Guiton 1966 find?
ducks were imprinted on yellow rubber gloves due to them feeding the duck
ducks sexually imprinted on the gloves
shows imprinting can occur on anything
evaluation of Guiton 1966
can’t be generalised to humans
Guiton stated sexual imprinting was reversible as ducks could later mate with other ducks normally
influenced further research into critical period eg Bowlby
what did Harlow 1959 find?
to show attachment was not due to feeding
16 monkeys in cages with 2 surrogate mothers
one with cloth and one only wire
studied for 165 days
monkeys spent more time with cloth mother
infant only went to wire mother when hungry
would then return to cloth mother
when scared, would go to cloth mother
monkeys left over 90 days had irreversible effects
were aggressive and females were poor mothers
monkeys left less than 90 days could be reversed
what were long lasting effect of Harlow 1959?
monkeys developed abnormally socially and sexually
would freeze or flee when approached by other monkeys
did not show normal mating behaviour or cradle their babies
Evaluation of Harlow 1959
can’t be generalised
ethical concerns
valuable insight to attachment and social behaviour
confounding variables (2 different wire heads)
What did Dollard and Miller 1950 find about how an attachment forms?
Attachment is learned though conditioning
association and reward by caregivers
learn to attach for food
how does classical conditioning work?
UCS (food) causes UCR (dog drools)
NS (bell) rung at same time as UCS caused dog to drool
dog associated NS with UCS causing the NS alone to cause CR
how does classical conditioning apply to attachment?
the same except with a baby and mother and milk with the mother as the NS
how does operant conditioning work?
reinforcements through positive and negative reinforcers.
mouse performs action and is rewarded with food is a positive reinforcement
mouse performs an action and the electric shock stops is a negative reinforcer
