Attachment Flashcards
Definition of attachment
An affectional bond between two people(usually infant and parent care giver) that endures over time .
Each seek to maintain proximity
There may be signs of separation anxiety when parted.
- ## e.g. crying and stress in childrenwhen two are reunited everything is fine and the child calms down really quickly
Studies of attachment
-measure a lot of these ideas through observations
- not experiments as to run an experiment we need to manipulate
And IV and this is unethical
-however observations are subjective and we may see demand characteristics
- the mother may change behaviour , which may cause the baby to change behaviour
What is infancy
-Infancy is viewed as the period in a child’s life before speech begins
-care-giver infant interactions focus on non-verbal communication
-The two main non -verbal communications
1) Reciprocity -
2) Interactional synchrony -
The more sensitively they respond (caregiver) to the signals of the other(baby) the stronger the attachment bond becomes .
What are the two main non-verbal communications
-Reciprocity
-Interactional synchrony
How do we know this bond has formed ?
- desire to keep close proximity to a particular individual
-expressed through distress at separation
-This is because the individual gives the infant a sense of security , most commonly the child’s mother
-However attachments can be with anyone who provides comfort and security
What do Shaffer and Emmerson argue ?
-say infants from multiple attachments
-They argue it is multiple because each attachment serves a different purpose
-they argue it is quality time over quantity
caregiver infant interactions
- Despite infants having no verbal ability they have ,any complex interactions
- Babies are born with two primitive reflexes - grasping and sucking
- Babies are born with Sensory abilities - turning their head and responding to loud noises
- To assess what babies like we get them to engage in preferential looking tasks
- We track eye gaze and the things they spend the most time looking at = what’s got their attention
Babies are more attracted to stripes and colour contrasts
Interactional Synchrony
-two people are synchronised when they can carry out the same action simultaneously
-In attachment this takes place when the carer and the infants actions and emotions mirror each other
Research supporting Interactional synchrony
Research - Meltzoff and Moore (1977)
- Took two week old babies and initially the baby had a dummy and an adult would pull a face (face expression
- They would then remove the dummy and they found almost simultaneously the bay and the adult pulled the same Facial expression
-The dummy acted as a control
-However the baby was born two weeks ago so this could be a learnt behaviour
-tested this on three day old behaviour and they got the same findings
-tested on babies three hours old =same findings
-so suggests nature and suggests it’s almost a bit of a dialogue as the baby can’t speak - survival idea
Recent research has also suggested that high levels of Interactional synchrony correlates with strong attachment
Reciprocity
-responding to the action of another with a similar action , the actions of one elicit a response from the other (e.g. care and infant )
Alert phases - phases where baby show there keen for interactions
-mothers respond 2/3 of the time - may be due to external factors , stress commitment
-both caregiver and infant initiate interactions and turn take
-the regularity of the interactions helps the caregiver to anticipate and respond to infant behaviour and vice versa
Research supporting reciprocity
Tronick et al - Still Face experiment
-mother and baby interact
-mum turns away -still face lasts for 2 minutes
-baby tries to tempts mother into interacting - point , screech ,laugh , cry
-if left long enough - the baby stops and lies there motionless
-suggesting they use reciprocity for a purpose
caregiver infant interactions A03-STRENGTH
Observations are highly controlled to enable thorough analysis .
Babies do not know they are being observed
Therefore they are not going to respond to demand characteristics. This means the validity will be increased
In the study . If the babies aren’t responding to demand characteristics we are getting a truer representation of behaviour.
However the mother may change their behaviour to appear better - this is called social desirable bias this may have a knock on effect to the baby .
We can video the fine details so that we can go back and keep checking - inter rater reliability
caregiver infant interactions A03-LIMITATION
Observations don’t tell us the purpose . Feldman - synchrony and reciprocity describe behaviours not purpose . We can argue this is descriptive not explanatory . For example the baby may move their hand but we cannot conclude that it relates to a response to the parent . There is research suggesting the development of mother-infant attachments helps with the stress response , empathy and language and mora development
Caregiver Infant interactions A03- LIMITATION
Observations don’t tell us the purpose .
Feldman - synchrony and reciprocity describe behaviours not purpose .
We can argue this is descriptive not explanatory .
For example the baby may move their hand but we cannot conclude that it relates to a response to the parent .
There is research suggesting the development of mother-infant attachments helps with the stress response , empathy and language and mora development
CAREGIVER INTERACTIONS - A03-LIMITATION
Research is socially sensitive - often the research relates to the mother and the qualities of the mother and infant attachment , so therefore there is a lack of synchrony and reciprocity damages attachment quality .
This will leave mothers feeling guilty , for example mothers who have to go to work .
This leads to an economic implication for example if a generation of women decided not to go to work they would not be earning money or having to pay taxes but they wouldn’t have any disposable income .
Therefore these women don’t need childcare , so these will need to close .
This leads to a wave of unemployment .
Not going back to work could induce financial pressure on the other parent .
Perhaps along as the child care is good quality this provides substitute caregivers and the circular flow will continue
What does research related to attachment suggest
The research related to stages of attachment suggests that babies develop more than one attachment and that these attachments serve different purposes
What do many theories identify
Many theories identify a sequence of qualitatively different behaviours linked to specific ages
How is linking ages to stages socially sensitive
However linking ages to the stages is socially sensitive as it has the potential consequence for others -negative implications
-this makes the parents feel guilty or worried if their child doesn’t match the stage of their age (doesn’t consider individual differences)
What are the 5 stages of attachment
Schaffer and Emmerson proposed
1) Asocial stage
2) indiscriminate attachment
3) specific attachment
4) multiple attachment
Asocial stage
Birth- two months
-Similar attachment to people and objects
- towards the end of the stage they prefer faces
Indiscriminate attachment
2-6 months
-Preference for human over non-human company
-distinguish between people
-comforted indiscriminately
-no stranger anxiety
specific attachment
7-12 months
-preference for one caregiver
-separation and stranger anxiety
-looks to a particular person for protection and security
-joy upon reunion
-comforted by PGC
Multiple attachments
-12 months+
Attachment behaviours displayed towards multiple different people (siblings , grandparents )
-secondary attachments - which typically form in the month after the primary forms
-number of secondary attachments depends on the infants social circle
Schaffer and Emmerson
-studies working class Glaswegian children and their mothers (this is not a representative sample only looking at women due to the time period)
-They looked at the age at which attachment developed , the emotional intensity and to whom they were directed
-emotional intensity is subjective and has no units of measure , doesn’t consider temperament (genetic personality) which will impact emotional intensity
Schaffer and Emmerson - AIM
To assess whether there was a pattern of attachment formation common to all infants
-if it’s common it suggests a biological element
They wanted to identify and describe the distinct stages by which attachments from
Schaffer and Emmerson - PROCEDURE
-used a longitudinal study (same participants over a long period of time e.g. 18 months),
-60 new born babies-31 male ,29 female
-mothers and babies were studied each month for the first 12 months and again at 18 months (13 observational periods per child )
-they interviewed the mothers and asked what distressed their infants - separation and stranger anxiety
-attachment was measured in 2 ways :
1)separation protest- assessed through several everyday situations e.g. being left in a room alone , left in a cot alone , left in a pram ,left outside shops in prams
2)stranger anxiety - start each observation with researcher approaching the baby
Schaffer and Emmerson - Findings
-between 25 -32 weeks-
-50% showed separation anxiety towards a specific adult (mother)
-attachments tended to be to the adult who was most sensitive and interactive with the child - quality over quantity - quickly and appropriately responding to the needs of the child
-by 40 weeks 80% of the babies had specific attachment and 30% had multiple attachment (more than 5 )
-for 39% of babies , their specific attachment was not with the person who spent the most time with them but with the one who was the most sensitive response
-33% of them were not attached as a specific attachment to the person that fed them - goes against learning theory of attachment
Schaffer and Emmerson - CONCLUSION
-there is a pattern of attachment formation that is common to infants
-Shaffer and Emmerson said that there were four distinct stages
-attachments are most easily formed with those who show sensitive responding
-multiple attachments appear to be the norm in this study - goes against Bowlby’s theory of attachment (monotropic theory)
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Traditional Role of the father
Through almost every studied culture, fathers have assumed three primary roles: the protector, the provider, and the disciplinarian.
Modern role of the father
Today’s father is no longer always the traditional married breadwinner and disciplinarian in the family.
He can be single or married; externally employed or stay-at home; gay or straight; an adoptive or step-parent; and a more than capable caregiver to children facing physical or psychological challenges.
Distinctive Role for fathers-Kaul Grossman
Kluass Grossman-carried out a longitudinal study where babies attachments were studied until their teens
-The researchers looked at both parents behaviour and its relationship to the quality of their babies later attachments to other people
Kaul Grossman Findings
-Quality of a a babies attachment with mothers but not fathers was related to attachment in adolescence
-suggests - the attachment to fathers is less important to attachment to mothers
However Grossman also found the quality of the fathers play with the babies was related to the quality of adolescent attachments
-suggests - father has a different role from mothers - one that is more to
do with play and stimulation and less to do with emotional development
Attachment to the father - Shaffer and Emmerson
-available evidence suggests that fathers are much less likely to become the babies first attachment figures compared to mothers
-Shaffer and Emmerson - found that the majority of babies first became attached to their mothers at around 7 months old
-in only 3% of cases the father was the first sole object of attachment
-in 27% of cases the father was joint first object of attachment with the mother
-However it appears that fathers go on to become important attachment figures
-75% of babies studies by Shaffer and Emmerson formed an attachment with their father by the age of 18 months - this was shown by the fact the baby protested when their father walked away
What Several important factors have been identified that effect the relationship between fathers and children :
-degree of sensitivity
-type of attachment with their own parents
-marital intimacy
-supportive co-parentings
degree of sensitivity
-more secure attachments to their children are found in fathers who showed more sensitivity to children’s need
type of attachment with their own parents
single parent fathers tend to form similar attachments with their children that they had with their own parents
marital intimacy
the degree of intimacy a father has within his relationship with his partner effects the type of attachment he will have with his children
supportive co parentings
the amount of a support a father gives to his partner
In helping to care for the children affects the type of attachment he will have with her
Children
What did Lamb et al find
-found children often prefer interacting with fathers when in a positive mental state and thus seeking stimulation
(mothers are preferred when children are distressed and seeking comfort )
-This supports the idea of fathers being preferred as play mates
-He found that fathers who become main providers seem able to quickly develop more sensitivity to children’s needs
And become a safe base from which to explore , which suggests sensitive responsiveness
-it isn’t a biological ability limited to women
Interaction
how the fathers engage with the infant
accessibility
how physically and emotionally accessible he is
responsibility
-the extent to which he takes on caretaking tasks
What did Hardy et al say
-reported the fathers are less able then mothers to detect low levels or infant distress , which suggest males are less suitable as prime attachment figures
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What was early attachment often based on
Early research into attachment was often done on animals , based on the idea that humans and animals shared enough similarities to be able to draw comparisons between the two.
What was suggested about animal attachment behaviour
It was suggested that if something was seen in animal attachment behaviour then it likely was also seen in human attachment behaviour.
Why might psychologists have conducted research on animals ?
-In psychology these are studies carried out on non-human animal species rather than on humans - either for ethical or practical reasons
-Practical - because animals breed faster and researchers are more interested in seeing results across more than one generation of animal
What are the two most famous animal studies
Lorenz - geese
Harlow - Monkeys
Imprinting
Lorenz first observed the phenomenon of imprinting when he was a child and the
Neighbour gave him a newly hatched duckling that then followed him around .
Imprinting is the phenomenon - whereby birds that are mobile from birth (like geese And ducks )attach and follow the first moving object they see
What did Lorenz identify in imprinting
Lorenz identified a critical
Period In which imprinting needs to take place .
Depending on the species this can be as Brief as a few hours after hatching .
If imprinting does not occur within that time Lorenz Found that chicks did not attach themselves to another figure
Outline how Lorenz studied this phenomenon.
Procedure :
As an adult Researcher Lorenz set up a classic experiment In which he
Randomly divided a large clutch of goose eggs .
Half the eggs were hatched with the
Mother goose in their natural environment .
The other half hatched in an
Incubator where the first moving object they saw was Lorenz .
Findings
-The incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere
-where as the control group hatched in the presence of their mother , followed her .
When the two groups were mixed up the control group continued to follow the mother and the experimental group followed Lorenz .
What did Lorenz later investigate
Lorenz also investigated the relationship between imprinting and adult mate preferences . He observed the birds that imprinted on a human would often later display courtship behaviour towards humans .
Lorenz case study - peacock and giant tortoise
In a case study Lorenz described a peacock that had been reared in the reptile house of a zoo , where the first moving objects the peacock saw after hatching were giant tortoises .
As an adult this bird would only direct courtship behaviour towards giant tortoises .
Lorenz concluded that this meant the bird had undergone sexual imprinting
What conclusion can be drawn as a result of Lorenz work
imprinting is a form of attachment, exhibited mainly by nidifugous birds (ones who have to leave the nest early), whereby close contact is kept with the first large moving object encountered.
What did Harlow want to assess
Harlow wanted to assess whether contact comfort or food were more important in the formation of attachments.
Harlow Procedure
-Harlow tested the idea that a soft object serves some of the functions of a mother
-one experiment - he reared 16 baby monkeys with two wire model mothers
-one condition - milk was dispensed by the plain wire mother
-second condition - milk was dispensed by a cloth - covered mother
Harlow’s findings and conclusions
The baby monkeys cuddled the cloth covered mother in preference to the plain wire mother and sought comfort from the cloth one when frightened regardless of which mother dispensed milk .
This showed that contact comfort was of more importance to the monkeys than food when it came to attachment behaviour
What were the long term effects Harlow found as a result of his study?
Harlow and colleagues also followed the monkeys who had been deprived of a real mother into adulthood to see if this early maternal deprivation had a permanent effect .
The researchers found severe consequences .
The monkeys reared with Plain-wire mothers were the most dysfunctional .
However even those reared with cloth -covered mothers did not develop normal social behaviour .
These deprived monkeys were more aggressive and less sociable than other monkeys and they bread less , often than is typical for monkeys , being unskilled at mating .
When they became mothers , some of the deprived monkeys neglected their young and others attacked their children even killing them in some cases .
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explain how the principles of classical conditioning can be applied to learning theory explanations of attachment.
Food (UCS)—– Pleasure(UCR)
Food(UCS) + mother(NS) —— pleasure(UCR)
Mother(CS)——- pleasure(CR)
Which part of operant conditioning is likely to be used in an explanation of attachment? Explain how.
Negative reinforcement is most likely to be used as an explanation of attachment
Mother - When the mother hears the baby cry she will give them food , this will stop the baby crying . The mother will then continue this behaviour to remove the negative stimulus of the baby crying
Baby - when the baby’s hungry , the baby will cry and will get fed . To remove the negative stimulus of hunger the baby will continue to cry every time its hungry
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What are Bowlby’s two theories
-maternal deprivation hypothesis
-monotropic theory
What did John Bowlby reject
Bowlby rejected learning theory as an explanation for attachment
Who was Bowlby influenced by
Bowlby was influenced by Lorenz and Harlow
-Lorenz - geese imprinting in 24 hours - suggests the drive for an attachment is innate
-so Bowlby is going to reject learning theory - rejecting the idea that food and association create the attachment
-Bowlby argued this aided survival - he’s saying infants are born with the innate drive to attach
-Harlow - contact comfort over food - this opposes learning theory
-An idea of sensitive responding
Monotropic theory
–focuses on how the child forms the attachment initially
Bowlby says baby’s form one key attachment and that this attachment is stronger and more unique than any other
-Bowlby says this is the mother
-1st attachment is more important and has long term impacts
What are the two laws within Bowlby’s monotropic theory
-law of continuity
-Law of accumulated separation
Law of continuity
the more constant and predictable of a child’s care the better the quality of attachment
- law of accumalated seperation
-the effects of every separation from the mother add up ‘ the safest dose is therefore a zero dose (every bit of separation from the mother adds up and has negative consequences )
-so he’s essentially saying for the first two years mothers can’t leave their babies
What are social releasers
-set of innate cute behaviours e.g. laughing and smiling -reciprocal process , leads to building the bond
-These behaviours attract attention and then activate the adults attachment system
What is the critical period
-The timeframe in which the attachment must form
-he believes that the attachment behaviours between and infant and carer must occur within a certain time period if the children are to form attachments
-According to Bowlby If a child has not developed an attachment by 2 and a half years old it will not happen
What did Bowlby later revise the critical period to be
-sensitive period
Internal working model
-1st attachment is the strongest - first attachment forms the internal working model
-this model is a template of your first attachment that you then use going forwards with your own children
-a good 1st attachment =good future relationships
-seen in Harlow - The monkeys
who formed poor attachment soften went to kill their own babies
-internal working model effects child’s later ability to be a parent themselves
What did Shaffer and Emmerson propose in relation to multiple attachments - How does this support of oppose Bowlby
Shaffer and Emmerson are saying the multiple attachments is the norm and most children by 18 months have multiple attachments
-massively opposing Bowlby
Supporting research - Bailey et al 2007 - 99 mothers
-Bailey offers support for Bowlby
-supports the internal working model
-bailey looked at 99 mothers and the attachment with their mothers and the attachment the mother has with their babies
-grandma , mother , baby
-They found mothers with poor attachments to their mothers showed poor attachment with their babies
-This suggests the internal working models framework is used
-This can support parents better - hopefully improving attachment outcomes
What does recent research suggest
-Recent research -suggests genetic component drives differently in anxiety and sociability
-this anxiety and sociability can impact the baby/caregiver relationship
-can impact quality of attachment and internal working model
What is a study which opposes Bowlbys hypothesis about the critical period
TWIN STUDIES
- Children adopted at age 3 or 4 can still form good quality attachments
- Suggest this period is sensitive but not critical
-example - Chezq twins - Kulchova twins
-these were twin boys who were locked away by their stepmother
-they were kept in a cellar and mistreated
-they were discovered at age 7
Bowlby says they won’t form other attachments and won’t form good attachments
-But they both got married and had children and have great jobs - suggest sensitive not critical period
-by the age of 14 - they caught up to the peers
-adopted by two sisters - who gave them sensitive responding
How does Brazelton et al provide support for social releasers
-if primary attachment figures ignore the babies signals the babies become initially distressed then they give up and lie there motionless
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Who developed the strange situation
Mary Ainsworth
Aim of the strange situation
The aim was to be able to observe key attachment behaviours as a means of assessing the quality of a babies attachment to a caregiver .
Strange situation -Procedure
The strange situation is a controlled observation procedure and it takes place in a room with moderately controlled conditions (e.g in a lab with a two way mirror and cameras through which psychologists can observe the babies behaviour)
What were the behaviours used to judge attachment
The behaviours used to judge attachment included :
proximity seeking
exploration and secure base behaviour
stranger anxiety
separation anxiety
response to reunion .
How does the procedure begin
The procedure has seven episodes each which last for about three minutes .
The procedure begins with the care giver and baby entering an unfamiliar playroom.
What are the 7 3 minute episodes
the baby is first encouraged to explore (which tests exploration and secure base ).
Secondly a stranger comes in , talks to the caregiver and approaches the baby (which tests stranger anxiety)
then the caregiver leaves the bay and Stanger together (which tests separation and Stanger anxiety ).
Fourthly the caregiver returns and the stranger leaves (which tests reunion behaviour and secure base)
then the caregiver leaves the baby alone ( which test separation anxiety ).
After that the stranger returns (which tests stranger anxiety ) .
Finally the caregiver returns and is reunited with the baby (which tests reunion behaviour).
What did Ainsworth conclude
She concluded their were three attachment styles
-type A-insecure avoidant
-Type B -secure
-Type C -insecure resistant
Type A
-20-25% of infants
Separation- unphased by separation , no crying or distress, they will keep playing
Stranger - the infant is unphased
Reunion behaviour - Unphased , no reaction
Type B
70-75% of infants - mode (most common)
Separation-Moderate distress and will likely try to follow the mother
Stranger - moderate distress , not comforted and will avoid them
Reunion behaviour - They will be quick to settle , pleased to see her , often in less than a minute they will return to play
Type C
less than 3% of infants
Separation - extreme distress
Stranger - extreme distress , won’t accept comport
Reunion behaviour - will seek comfort but also rejects the comfort
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