attachment Flashcards
what is attachment
attachment is a close two way emotional bond between two individuals in which each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security
outline reciprocity
the. caregiver infant interaction is reciprocal when both caregiver and baby repsond to each others signals and each elicits a respond from the other
outline interactional synchrony
it refers to how a caregivers speech and an infants behaviour becomes finely synchronised so that they are in direct response to one another . when people interact they tend to mirror what the other person is doing such as facial and body movements
outline keith moore and andrew meltzoff study on interactional snchrony
in 1977 they both observed the begining of interactional synchrony in babies as young as 2 weeks old . an adult displayed one of three facial expressions or one of three distinctive gestures. the babies response was fimed and labelled by independent observers. babies expressions were more likely to mirror those of the adults more than chance would predict ie there was significant association
what is the study that shows the importance of attachment
russel isabella et al observed 30 mothers and babies together and assessed the degree of syhrony the researchers also asssesed the quality of mother baby attachment . they found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality of mother -baby attachment
what is a strength of caregiver infant interactions1/3
care giver - infant interactions are usually filmed in a laboratory. this means that other activity which might distract a baby can be conrolled also using films means that observations can e recorded and analysed later . therefore it is unlikely that researcher miss out on seeing key behaviours. futhermore, having filmed interactions means that more than one one observer can record data and establish the inter-rater reliability of observations .finally, babys dont know they are being observed so their behavior does not change in respnse to observation.therefore the data collected in such research has good reliabilitya and validity
what is a limitation of caregiver infant interactions
it is hard to interpret a babys behaviour as young babies lack cooridnation and most of their bodies are almost immobile . the movements being observed are just small hand movements and subtle changes in expression for example we cannot be sure weather amovement sucha s a hand twitch is random or triggered by something the cargiver has done . this means that we can not be sure that behavious seen in care giver infant interactions have a special meaning
meltzoff and moore research outcome
what is another strength of caregiver-infant interactions
meltzoff and moore (1977) an experimenter displayed facial gestures such as sticking a tongue out and opening their mouth in shock to 12-21 day old infants. recordings of the infants responses were rated by people blind to the experiment .it was found that the infants responses matched the experimenters facial expressions . these results suggest the ability to observe and reciprocate through imitation is present from a very earlyage
who proposed it
what are stages of attachment
stages of attachment proposed by schaffer are a sequence of different behaviours linked to specific stages
what are the 4 stages of attachement
asocial stage
indiscriminate attachment
specific attachment
multiple attachments
its the first stage of attachment
what is the asocial stage
what are infants behaviours like?
the asocial stage is the first stage of attachment,0-6 weeks in the asocial stage babies tend to prefer to be with other peopele , they also tend to show a preference or the company of farmiliar people and are more easily comforted by them. at this stage babies are forming bonds with others . these forms the basis of later attachments
it is the second stage of attachment
what is the indiscrimnate stage
babies behaviours
the indiscriminate stage is from 2-7 months of age.babies start to display more observable behaviours as they now show a clear preference for being with other humans other than inanimate objects. they also recognise and prefer the company of familiar people however at this stage babies usually accepts cuddles andd comfort from anyone.and they do not show seperation and stranger anxiety
third stage of attachment stage
what is the specific attachment stage
anxiety (stranger, seperation
one particular person
in the specific attachment stage from aroun 7 months majority of babies start to display the signs of attachment towards one particular person . these signs include stranger anxiety and seperation anxiety when mother leaves the room . at this point a baby is said to have formed a specific attachment with their primary attachment figure.this is a person who responds to the babys signals with the most skill (usually the mother)
last stage of attachment
what is the multiple attachment stage
many people
schaffer and emersons findings (29%)
the multiple attachment stage is when babies start to show attachment towards one person, they usually exted this behaviour to multiple attachments with other people with whom they regularly spend time with . these relationships are called secondary attachments . schaffer and emerson found that 29% of infants formed secondary attachments withn a month of forming a specific (primary) attachment. by the age of one year majority of babies had
developed multiple attachments
schaffer and emersons research -longitudinal study
strength of schaffers stages of attachement
research, findings, results
in 1964 schaffer and emerson identified he four stage s of atatchment from a longitudinal study
procedure-60 working class babies and their families from glasgow were studied . in the first year data was collected through monthly observations and interviews with an additional follow up visits at 18 months . two types of behaviours were assesed , stranger anxiety and seperation anxiety
findings- it was found that seperation anxiety occured in babies by 2-32 weeks with stranger anxirty occuring in most babies one month later in the 18 month follow up 87% of the babies had developed mulitple attachments and the strongest attachments were to those mothers with consistent -caregiver -infant interactions
this results suggest that the development occurs in stages outlined by schaffer perhaps being a biologically influenced process. as multiple attachments develop quickly . they are important not just the primary atatchment to the mother as argued by researchers such as bowlby also the quality of caregiver infant interactions directly impacts the strength of attachment for infants and their mothers
real world application
what is another strength of schaffers stages of attachment
it has practical application in day care. in the asocial and discriminate stages day care is likely to be straightforwar as bbaies can be comforted by any skilled adult. however scaaffer and emersons research tells us that daycare especially starting it with an unfammiliar adult may be problematic in the specific attachment stage. this means that prents use of daycare can be planned using schafferand emersons research
what is a limitation of schaffers stages of attahment
one limitation of schaffer and emerson stages is that the sample in shaffers study may not be generalised as it only included a group of working class mothers in 1960s glasgow.this culture is not represnattive of much of the uk or rest of the world as in collectivist cultures multiple attachments from a very early age is more the norm(van ijendoorn 1993) .
schaffer and emerson the role of the father
in only 3% of cases the father was the first sole object of attachment. In 27% of cases the father was the joint first object of attachment with the mother. Most fathers go on to become important attachment figures. 75% of the babies studied formed an attachment with their father by 18 months old.
outline grossmans study and what did grossman et al study into the role of the father show
Carried out a longitudinal study where babies attachments were studied until they were in to their teens. Quality of baby’s attachment with the mother, not the father, was allocated to attachments in adolescence. This suggests that attachment to fathers is less important. However they also found the quality of fathers play with babies was related to quality of adolescent attachments. Suggests they have a different role from mothers that is more to do with play and stimulation, and less to do with emotional development.
the role of the father as the primary caregiver
in the modern western society , mothers are more likely to take place in the workplace , there is evidence to sugest that if men take on the role of primary caregiver s,their interactional synchrony changes to be more like mothers , increasing their capacity for sensitive responsiveness
what did Grossman et al show about the difference between the role of the father and the mother?
the role of the father is more to do with play and stimulation and the role of the mother is more to do with emotional development
field 1978-role of the father
field filmed 4 month old babies in face to face interactions with primary caregiver mothers , primary caregiver fathers and secondary caregiver fathers
fied found thatPrimary caregiver fathers, like mothers, spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than the secondary caregiver fathers. This behaviour seems to be more important in building an attachment to an infant
Seems that fathers can be the more nurturing attachment figure and take on traditionally maternal role. The key to the attachment relationship is the level of responsiveness not the gender of the parent.
real world application
the role of the father strength
it can be used to offer advice to parents . parents often agonise over who should take on the priamry caregiver role . for some it can involve worrying bout having children at all ,mothrs may feel pressured to stay at home because of sterrotypical views of mothers and fathers role . especially fathers they may feel pressured to focus on work rather than parenting.for some fammilies this may not be economically the best solution. reserach into the role of the father can be used to offer reassuring advice to parents for example heterosexual parents can be informed that fathers are quite capable of becomming primary attachment figures and lesbian-parent and single mother parebts can be informed tthat not having a fathr around does not affect a childs development this means that parental anxiety about the role of fathers can be reduced
what is a limitation of the role of the father
socialy sensitive
research into the role of the father is socialy sensitive. research that argues that the role of the mother cannot be replaced by the father may lead to father led single famillies and famillies with two fathers feeling like they cannot fully provide for needs of infants.while research that suggests that fathers can provide that role may give all the fathers cofidence to take a more active role in their child caregiving
what is Imprinting
An innate readiness to develop a strong bond with a mother figure, taking place during a critical period.
animal studies
Lonrenz’s Study : Aim
To observe the phenomenom of imprinting
animal studies
Lorenz’s Study: Procedure
- He randomly divided goose eggs
- Half the eggs hatched with the mother goose, the other half in an incubator, with Lorenz being the first thing they saw
Lorenz’s Study: FIndings
- The incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere
- The control group that hatched with their mother followed her
- This action was called imprinting - where bird species that are mobile from birth attach to and follow the first moving object they see.
- There is a critical period for imprinting - this can be a few hours after hatching.
- If imprinting did not happen during the cirtical period chicks would not attach themselves to a mother figure.
animal studies
Sexual Imprinting (Lorenz)
A peacock that was reared in a reptile house imprinted to giant tortoises as it was the first moving object it saw.
The bird would only direct courtship behaviour to giant tortoise
evaluation-harlow-limitation
generisability and ethical issues
the ability to generalise to humans- rheseus monkeys are much similla to humans than birds and all mammals share the same common attachment behaviours. however the human brain and human behaviour is still more complex than that in monkeys
ethical issues
monkeys should have been protected from physical and psychological harm
- Severe effects later on
animal studies RWA
evaluation - harlow-strength
it has real world applications
for example it has helped social workers understand that a lack of bonding experirnce may be a risk factor in a childs development allowing them to intervene to prevent poor outcomes.+ Understand the importance of attatchment figures for monkeys in zoos and the wild.
this means that value of harlows research isnt just theoretical but practical
animal studies
Harlow’s Rhesus Monkeys: Aim
Tested the idea that soft objects serves some of the functions of a mother.
Harlow: Procedure
- Monkeys would either have a wire ‘mother’ or cloth covered ‘mother’
- In one condition milk was dispensed by the plain wire mother and in the other by the cloth covered mother.
- The baby monkeys cuddled the cloth mother in preference to the wire, and went to the cloth one when scared, regardless of which mother had milk.
animal studies
Harlow: Findings
- Contact comfort was of more importance than food in attatchment behaviour.
- There is a critical period for attatchment formation - a mother figure had to be introduced to a young monkey within 90 days for an attatchment to form
maternally depried monkeys as adults
Harlow: Consequences of the experiment
- Maternally deprived monkeys as adults
- Monkeys with the wire mothers were most disfunctional but those with cloth mothers did not develop normal social behaviour.
- Deprived monkeys were more aggressive and less sociable
- They bred less than typical
- Neglected their young, attacked and even killed them.
evaluation
lorenz - strength
one strength is the existence of support for the concept of imprinting-a study by regolin and vallortigara 1995 supports lorenzs idea of imprinting . chicks were exposed to a similar shape combiniations taht moved such as triangle with rectangle infront. a range of shape combinations were then moved infront of them and they followed the original most closely. this supports the view that young animals are born with an innate mechanism to imprint on a moving object present in the critical window of deveopment as predicted by lorenz.
what is a limitation of lorenz study
its ability to generalise findings and conclusion from birds to humans as the mamalian attachment system is quite different and more complex than that in birds. for example in mamalian attachment it is two way process so it is just not the young who become attached to their mothers but also the mamalian mothers show an emotional attachment to their young , this means that it is probably not appropriate to generalise lorenzs ideas to humans
explanations of attachment ;learning theory
Define “cupboard love” theory
Argues that infants become attached to their caregiver because they give them food
How does the cupboard love theory use classical conditioning?
Food (UCS) —> happy baby (UCR)
Food (UCS) + mother (NS) —> happy baby
mother (CS) —> happy baby (CR)
learning theory of attachmeny=t
Define ‘positive reinforcement’
Behaviour is more likely to occur when receiving a reward
learning theory of attachment
Give an example of positive reinforcement for cupboard love theory
When a parent feeds a crying baby, the baby is more likely to repeat the crying to get food
learning theory of attachment
Define ‘negative reinforcement’
negative reinforcement is when someone avoids something unpleasant
Give an example of negative reinforcement for cupboard love theory.
Parent feeds a crying baby. Feeding removes the unpleasant feeling of hunger so the baby will cry when hungry to remove discomfort.
what is classical conditioning
classical conditioning involves learning to associat two stimuli together so that we begin to respond to one in the same way as we already respond to the other
what is operant conditioning
operant conditioning is involves learning from consequence of behaviour
learning theory attachment
Dollard & Miler
Researchers who developed the drive reduction theory
Primary drive
Innate drive related to basic needs like food and relief from hunger
Secondary drive
Drive for attachment as a source of relief from hunger
what is a limitation of learning theory explanations for attachments
one limitation is the lack of support from studies conducted on animals . for example lorenzes geese imprinted on the first moving object they saw regardless of whether this object was associated with monkeys. there is no support for the importance of food. when given a choice harlows monkeys displayed attachment behaviour towards a soft surrogate mother in preference to a wire one which provided milk . this shows that factorss other than association with food are important in the formation of attachments
strength of learning theory as explanantion for attachment
elements of conditioning could be involved i some aspects of attachment. it seems unlikely that association with food plays a central role in attachment,but conditioning may still play a role , for example a baby associate feeling warm and comfortable with the presence of a particular adult. this means that learning theory may stilll be useful in understanding the development of attachments
bowlbys theory of attachment
monotropic attachment
the idea that babies for one main attachment to their primary caregiver (usually the mother)
critical period
the time frame in which a an attachment must form if it is to form at all. Eventually changed to a sensitive period which was most active at 6 months old and possibly extends to around 2 years old. If an attachment is not formed here , a child will find it much harder to form one later
limitation of monotropy
point - lacks validity
evidence - schaffer and Emerson found a significant minority of babies formed multiple attachments at the same time
explain - first attachment may have a strong influence on how strong later relationships are, but may not affect the quality
link - may be incorrect to say there is a unique quality and importance to the child’s primary attachment.
law of continuity
the more constant and predictable a child’s care, the better quality their attachment
law of accumulated separation
the effects of every separation from the mother add up and the ‘safest dose is therefore zero dose’
