Attachment Flashcards
what is an attachment?
a strong , long lasting and close emotional bond to a particular individual
what are social releasers?
behaviours or characteristics that trigger a caregiving response
what is reciprocity?
the actions of one person eg mother eliciting a reaction from another eg the child
What was Brazleton 1975’s research into reciprocity?
find study
describes reciprocity as a dance, each partner responds to the others moves
example of reciprocity
what is negative reciprocity?
caregiver reacts and responds to signals given out by baby, providing comfort warmth and empathy. smiling back at baby, picking them up when they cry
negative reciprocal processes contribute to attachments but not one
that will be advantageous to childs development
what is interactional synchrony?
a theory of social communication where behaviours of one or more individuals becomes synchronised
starts from the initial consolidation of biological rhythms during pregnancy to the emergence of symbolic and rhythmic exchanges between parent and child
Meltzoff and moores 1977 research into interactional synchrony
find study
say interactional synchrony begins as early as 2 weeks
what is a dyad?
2 units or individuals regarded as a pair eg a mother-child dyad
What was Belsky and Russell’s 1998 research with dyads?
observed interactions of dyads (using book as interactive measure) who were developing secure attachments at 3 and 9 months. observed interactions were well timed, reciprocal and mutually rewarding. dyads developing insecure attachments were characterized by interactions where mother was minimally involved, unresponsive or intrusive
interactions of avoidant dyads were intrusive and over stimulating
in resistant dyads, there were poorly coordinated actions and mothers were uninvolved or inconsistent
findings showed evidence concerning association between interactional histories and attachment quality
what are the 4 characteristics of attachment?
they are selective
they involve proximity seeking
they provide comfort and security
they lead to separation/ distress
what are schaffer and emmersons suggested 4 main stages of attachment?
1) birth- 6w, asocial/ preattachment, baby dosnt recgnis people and treats them same as objects. not everyone agrees eg Cernich and Porter 1977 show babies have preference for mothers breast milk
2) 6w- 7m, indiscriminate attachment, show clear preference and smile but comforted by everyone (bowlby disagrees and says theres a preference for primary caregiver)
3) 7m- specific attachment, separation and stranger anxiety,
4) 1y- multiple attachments
what was schaffer and emmersons 1964 (temporal validity but is reliable so can repeat) study?
60 babies (cant consent) at monthly intervals for thee first 18 months of life in glasgow (ethnocentric)- longitudinal (time, cost, drop out but see effects over time)
children studied in their own home and regular pattern was identified in development of attachment. interactions observed and caregivers interviewed. evidence for development of an attachment was separation anxiety when caregiver left
results showed attachments most likely to form with those responding accurately to signals not who they spent most time with/ who fed them (sensitive responsiveness)
by 10 months, most had many attachments but mother or father main for half each
what does bowlby say the role of the father is?
support mother financially so she could devote herself to child care
emotional support through love and companionship to create right atmosphere for baby to thrive
but he was a product of his time (1950s) where gender roles were very stereotypical
what do schaffer and emmerson say the role of the father is? what is it like in modern society?
highlight that fathers have an important role too
modern society- more hands on, paternity leave, encouraged to attend medical appointments etc
3 pieces of research into the role of the father
Christensson 1996- fathers more consistently involved in play than caretaking. play more likely to be rough and tumble and mothers played more gentle and soothing activities
Paquette 2004- fathers engage in riskier physical activities than mothers. conversations with father were about active play and with mothers were more emotional dialogue
Verissimo 2011- correlation between quality of relationship between children and father and number of friends in preschool. rough and tumble play better equips children for making friends. correlation not causation
what are precocial animals?
what are altricial animals?
animals born late in development and can move around shortly after birth and can feed themselves eg geese and horses
animals who continue to develop after birth eg primates and humans
Konrad Lorenz 1935 study of geese
studied imprinting in geese and discovered goslings imprint on the first thing they see after birth and follow it around as a survival mechanism. lorenz had 6 eggs with him in an incubator and 6 left with their mother- his imprinted on him and followed him everywhere even when the 2 groups were mixed. varied time between hatch and see him to test critical period length. further experiments on this but not by lorenz- diff patterned wellies etc
Does imprinting occur in humans?
what is kangaroo care?
no. babies born helpless with no motor skills to move by themselves so cant follow like geese
kangaroo care is skin to skin contact encouraged for premature babies straight after birth. evidence doesnt show that babies in incubator have any attachment problems. attachment is a two way process so early skin to skin contact is important for parental attachment to child as well as other way
what is cupboard love theory?
baby attaches to whoever feeds it
Freud said food is the primary driver for attachment (occurs in oral stage)
key researchers- dollard and miller
Harry Harlow’s 1958 study of Rhesus monkeys
separated monkeys from mothers soon after birth and reared them in a cage with 2 surrogate monkey mother models
one made of wire with frightening head and a feeding bottle, one covered in soft terry toweling with a more monkey-like face
wind up toy put in cage to scare monkey and it ran to soft monkey for comfort, clung to this one most of the time and only went to wire one for food, returning immediately
unethical- monkeys grew up to be very disturbed and showed signs of what would be depression in humans
strengths and weaknesses of animal studies
+
more ethical than human research
shows importance of imprinting- implications- Kangaroo care
evidence against cupboard love theory
-
anthropomorphism- human babies arent like geese- no evidence they imprint so cant generalise
ethics
methods of each study and their evaluations
classical conditioning as an explanation of attachment
food (ucs) = satisfaction (ucr)
parent (cs) + food (ucs) = satisfaction (ucr)
parent (cs) = satisfaction (cr)
evaluation of classical conditioning as an explanation of attachment
food isnt necessarily the primary motivation for attachment as comfort and security are just as important- reductionist
operant conditioning as an explanation of attachment
parents are negatively and positively reinforced although children are too
parents negatively reinforced when they attend to childs needs causing the to stop crying
parents positively reinforced by baby smiling and interacting with them
evaluation of operant conditioning as an explanation of attachment
behaviorist theories ignore the role nature
based on animal studies so are reductionist- human behaviour is more complex than stimulus/ response models
cognitive theory as an explanation for attachment
schaffer suggests infants usually form attachments once they can reliably distinguish one caregiver from another
usually the caregiver that interacts with them the most that they form the strongest attachment to
suggests quality of care impacts on attachment so not necessarily the person who performs all the caretaking activities but whoever interacts most positively with them
