Attachment Flashcards
Attachment definition
Attachment = emotional bond between two individuals in which they see eachother as essential for their own emotional security
Behaviours involved with attachment
Behaviours involved with attachment:
-Proximity - people are distressed when an attachment figure leaves
-Seperation distress - people distressed when attachment figure leaves
-Secure base behaviour = explore the environment, but return to attachment figure for comfort
Why are human babies ‘atricial’?
Atricial - they are born at a relatively early stage of their development - they form bonds with adults who will protect an dnurture them
Why are animals ‘precocial’
Precocial animals - animals born at an advanced stage of development
Short term and long term benefits of attachment
Short term benefits of attachment: survival
Long term benefits of attachment: emotional relationships - it is believed that this first relationship between baby and parents act as a template for later relationships
Reciprocity of attachment
Reciprocity of attachment:
-Alert phases: signals that they are ready for interaction, mothers typically pick up on these alerts, however it is dependent on skill of mother and external factors eg stress
-Active involvement - babies are more active than passive
What did Brazelton et al (1975) state about reciprocity?
Interactions between mother and child are like a dance - where they respond to eachother
Interactional synchrony
Interactional synchrony = ‘the temporal co-ordination of micro-level social behaviours’ (Feldman 2007) - when two people interact and tend to mirror each other in terms of facial expressions, body movements, imitating emotions and behaviours
Meltzoff and Moore (1977) experiment
Meltzoff and Moore (1977) experiment:
-Conducted the first systematic study of interactional synchrony - found that infants as young as two to three weeks old imitated specific hand gestures
-Study was conducted using an adult model who displayed one of three facial expressions or hand movement where the fingers moved in a sequence
-A dummy was placed in the infant’s mouth during the initial display to prevent any response
-Following the display, the dummy was removed and the child’s expression was filmed
-They found that there was an association between the infant behaviour and that of the adult model
Why is it difficult to test infant behaviour in attachment experiments?
It is difficult to test infant behaviour in experiments eg Meltzoff and Moore experiment -> as infants mouth constantly moving therefore difficult to distinguish between general activity and specific imitated behaviours -> low internal validity due to uncertainty wether what is being recorded is interactional synchrony or just natural movement
AO3 evaluation of involvement of reciprocity and interactional synchrony
AO3 evaluation of involvement of reciprocity and interactional synchrony:
- = Observations don’t tell us the purpose of synchrony and reciprocity
- = It is difficult to test infant behaviour
- = Caregiver-infant interactions is not found in all cultures
-/+ = Research into care-giver interaection is usually conducted within a labatory setting
Stage 1 (of attachment) - Asocial stage
Stage 1 (of attachment) - Asocial stage :
-First few weeks of birth
-Baby recognises and forms bonds with carers
-Baby’s behavior towards non-human objects and humans is quite similar
-Babies show preference for familiar adults in that those individuals find it easier to calm them
-Babies happier when in the presence of other humans
Who proposed the stages of attachment?
Shaffer and Merson proposed the 4 stages of attachment
Stage 2 of attachment - indiscriminate attachment
Stage 2 of attachment - indiscriminate attachment:
-2-7 months
-Preference for people than inanimate objects
-Recognise and prefer familiar adults
-Usually accepts cuddles and comfort from any adult
-Don’t show separation anxiety or stranger anxiety
Stage 3 of attachment - specific attachment
Stage 3 of attachment - specific attachment:
-From 7 months
-Anxiety towards strangers
-Separation anxiety when separated from specific attachment
-Specific attachment = primary attachment figure
-This is the person who offers the most interaction and responds to the signals the most
Stage 4 of attachment - multiple attachments
Stage 4 of attachment - multiple attachments:
-Babies soon start to show attachment to more than one adult
-Adults who they regularly spend time with
-These are secondary attachments
-These form quite quickly after specific attachment (29% had one within one month)
-By the age of 1, most infants had multiple attachments
AO3 of the 4 stages of attachment
AO3 of the 4 stages of attachment:
- = Problems studying the asocial stage - as babies are difficult to study at this stage as they don’t move/talk
- = Conflicting evidence on multiple attachments - Bowlby believed in monotropy wheras Van Ijzendoorn believed babies have multiple attachments
- = Measuring multiple attachments - baby gSetting distressed may not be due to absence of person they are attached to
- = Measurement issues - stranger and separation anxiety are crude measures of attachment
Difference between caregiver and attachment figure
-Primary caregiver: person who spends most time with a baby
-Primary attachment figure - the person to whom the baby has the strongest attachment
Shafferson and Merson (1964) attachment experiment procedure
Shafferson and Merson (1964) attachment experiment procedure:
-60 babies from Glasgow, from working-class families
-Researches visited the babies and mothers at home every month for a year and again at 18 months
-Seperation anxiety: measured by asking mothers about their children’s behaviour during everyday seperations eg mother leaving the room
-Stranger anxiety also measured by asking mothers questions about their children’s anxiety response to unfamiliar adults
Findings and conclusions of Shafferson and Emerson (1964) attachment experiment
Findings and conclusions of Shafferson and Emerson (1964) attachment experiment:
-Babies developed attachments through a sequence of stages, from asocial through to a specific attachment to multiple attachments
-The specific attachment tended to be the person who was most interactive and sensitive to babies’ signals and facial expressions - not necessarily who the baby spent the most time with
Strengths of Schaffer and Emerson’s study into attachment
Strengths of Schaffer and Emerson’s study into attachment:
+ = Has external validity -> most observations (not serperation anxiety) were made by parents during ordinary activities and reported to researchers -> alternative would’ve been for reasearchers to oberserve in the homes which may have changed the babies behaviour -> means it is highly likely they behaved how they normally would
+ = Real-world application to day care -> in early stages (Asocial and indiscriminate attachments) babies can be comforted by any skilled adult -> but if child starts day care at later stage, unfamiliar adults may cause distress -> means Schaffer and Emerson’s stages can help parents making day care decisions
Two limitations of Schaffer and Emmerson’s attachment experiment
Two limitations of Schaffer and Emmerson’s attachment experiment:
- = Poor evidence for asocial stage -> because of eraly stage of physical development babies have poor co-ordination and mobility -> makes it difficult for mothers to accurately report signs of anxiety and attachment for this age group -> means babies might actually be quite social but appear asocial due to flawed methods
- = Based stages on a single but large-scale study of babies development in glasgow -> however child-rearing practises depend on cultural and historical context -> means observations madecannot be generalised
Positives of using behavioural categories in observational studies
Positives of using behavioural categories in observational studies:
-Categories provide clear focus to the researcher
-Categories enables proposal of a testable hypothesis
-Categories allow for more objective recording
-Use of categories should result in greater reliability
-Categories provide data that is easier to quantify/analyse
-Tallies or ticks and crosses can be used to mark when a behaviour is displayed which can then be compared
Who conducted the 1935 gosling animal study into attachment?
Lorenz conducted the 1935 gosling animal study into attachment
Conclusions of Harlow’s monkey attachment experiment
Conclusions of Harlow’s monkey attachment experiment:
Importance of contact comfort- infant monkeys
prefer a soft toy mother to a wire one, regardless
of which produces milk
Maternal deprivation- Monkeys brought up
without a mother were dysfunctional as adults
Critical period- monkeys has around 90 days to
attach to a mother figure or they could not form
an attachment
Aim of 1958 Harlow monkey experiment
To investigate which of the two alternatives would have more attachment behaviours directed towards it.
Harlow 1958 monkey experiment procedure
Harlow 1958 monkey experiment procedure:
Harlow conducted research with 8 rhesus monkeys which were caged from infancy with wire mesh food dispensing and cloth-covered surrogate mothers
-Harlow measured the amount time that monkeys spent with each surrogate mother and the amount time that they cried for their biological mother.
Harlow 1958 monkey experiment findings
Harlow 1958 monkey experiment findings:
-Harlow’s findings revealed that separated infant monkeys would show attachment behaviours towards a cloth-covered surrogate mother when frightened, rather than a food-dispensing surrogate mother.
-Monkeys were willing to explore a room full of novel toys when the cloth-covered monkey was present but displayed phobic responses when only the food-dispensing surrogate was present.
-Furthermore, Harlow reviewed infant monkeys that were reared in a social (non-isolated) environment and observed that these monkeys went on to develop into healthy adults, while the monkeys in isolation with the surrogate mothers all displayed dysfunctional adult behaviour