attachment Flashcards
what is the definition of attachment?
a close two way emotional bond between two individuals in which each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security
what is reciprocity?
a description of how two people interact. Caregiver-infant interaction is reciprocal in that both caregiver and baby respond to each others signals and each elicits a response from each other
what are alert phases?
when babies signal that they are ready for a spell of interactions ( e,g by making eye contact)
what is active involvement?
traditional views of childhood have portrayed babies in a passive role, receiving care from an adult
what is interactional synchrony?
caregiver and baby reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a co ordinated way.
describe Meltzoff and Moors’s research that supports interactional synchrony
-Meltzoff and Moore completed a study into the interactional synchrony of babies as young as two weeks old.
-An adult made one of three expressions or one of three gestures.
-The child’s response was filmed and identified by independent observers.
-An association was found between the expression or gesture an adult had displayed and the actions of babies.
describe Isabella’s research that supports interactional synchrony
-Isabella observed 30 mothers and infants and assessed the degree of synchrony.
-Researchers assessed the quality of mother-infant attachment.
-High levels of synchrony were associated with better quality attachments.
features of attachment
-proximity
-separation distress
-secure base behaviour
define proximity
desire to be near
define separation distress
people show signs of anxiety when an attachment figure leaves their presence
define secure base behaviour
even when we are away from our attachment figure, we tend to make regular contact with them
evaluation 1- filmed observations (caregiver-infant interactions)
-strength
-caregiver infant interactions are usually filmed in a lab
-means other activity that might distract a baby can be controlled
-also means that observations can recorded and analysed later so its less likely for researchers to miss seeing key behaviours
-babies don’t know they are being watched so their behaviour doesn’t change
-so the dated collected in such research should have good reliability and validity
evaluation 2- difficulty observing babies (caregiver-infant interactions)
-limitation
-its hard to interpret a baby’s behaviour
-movements being observed are just small hand movements or subtle changes in expression
-it is difficult to be sure whether a baby is smiling or passing wind
-also we don’t know whether a movement is random or triggered by something the caregiver has done
- means we cannot be certain that the behaviours in caregiver infant interactions
evaluation 3- developmental importance (caregiver-infant interactions )
-limitation
-simply observing behaviour doesn’t tell us its developmental importance
-Feldman points out that ideas like synchrony simply give names to patterns of behaviour but may not be useful in understanding child development
-means that we cannot be certain from observable research alone that reciprocity and synchrony are important for a child’s development
evaluation 4- counterpoint of developmental importance (caregiver-infant interactions)
-there is evidence that early interactions are important
-Isabella found that that achievement of interactional synchrony predicted the development of a good quality attachment
-means that caregiver infant interactions may possibly be important in development
What are the Schaffer’s stages of attachment
-stage 1 : asocial stage
-stage 2: indiscriminate attachment
-stage 3: specific attachment
-stage 4: multiple attachments
what is the asocial stage
-in a baby’s first few weeks
-Infants respond to people and objects the same
-but they do show a preference of familiar faces
what is the indiscriminate stage
-from 2 to 7 month old babies
-clear preference for being with other humans rather than objects
-recognise and prefer company of familiar faces
-they do not show separation anxiety or stranger anxiety
what is the specific attachment stage
-from around 7 month old babies
-classic signs of attachment towards one particular person
-stranger anxiety and separation anxiety occurs
-the person is called a primary attachment figure
what is the multiple attachment stage
-7+ month old babies
-babies extend the specific attachment behaviour with the other people with whom they regularly spend time with
-these relationships are called secondary attachments
what was the procedure of Schaffer and Emerson’s research
-involved 60 babies- 31 boys and 29 girls
-all from Glasgow and from skilled working class families
-researcher visited mothers and babies in their own homes every month for first year and then again after 18 months
-asked mother questions about the kind of protests their babies showed in seven everyday separations to measure separation anxiety
-also measured stranger anxiety by exposing them to unfamiliar faces
what were the findings of the Schaffer’s and Emerson’s research
-Schaffer and Emerson identified four distinct stages in the development of infant attachment behaviour
evaluation 1- good external validity ( Schaffer’s stages of attachment )
-strength
-most observations were made by parents
-researchers recording the observations might have distracted the babies or made them feel more anxious
-this means that it is highly likely that the participants behaved naturally while being observed
evaluation 2- counterpoint of good external validity (Schaffer’s stages of attachment)
-there are issues with asking the mothers to be the observers.
-They were unlikely to be objective observers.
-They might have been biased in terms of what they noticed and what they reported, e.g. they might not have noticed when their baby was showing signs of anxiety or they may have misremembered it.
-This means that even if babies behaved naturally their behaviour may not have been accurately recorded.
evaluation 3- Poor evidence for the asocial stage (Schaffer’s stages of attachment)
-limitation is the validity of the measures they used to assess attachment in the asocial stage.
-Young babies have poor co-ordination and are fairly immobile. If babies less than two months old felt anxiety in everyday situations they might have displayed this in quite subtle, hard-to-observe ways.
-This made it difficult for mothers to observe and report back to researchers on signs of anxiety and attachment in this age group.
-This means that the babies may actually be quite social but, because of flawed methods, they appear to be asocial.
evaluation 4- Real-world application (Schaffer’s stages of attachment)
-strength
-has practical application in day care
-In the asocial and indiscriminate attachment stages day care is likely to be straightforward as babies can be comforted by any skilled adult.
-However, Schaffer and Emerson’s research tells us that day care, especially starting day care with an unfamiliar adult, may be problematic during the specific attachment stage.
-This means that parents’ use of day care can be planned using Schaffer and Emerson’s stages.
what is meant by Father in attachment
-anyone who takes on the role of the main male caregiver
-can be but not necessarily the biological father
Attachment to fathers- Schaffer and Emerson
-Fathers are much less likely to become babies’ first attachment figure
-found that the majority of babies first became attached to their mother at around 7 months.
-In 3% of cases =father was the first sole object of attachment.
-In 27% of cases =the father was the joint first object of attachment with the mother.
- 75% of the babies studied by Schaffer and Emerson formed an attachment with their father by the age of 18 months.
-This was determined by the fact that the babies protested when their father walked away - a sign of attachment.
Distinctive role for fathers- Grossmann
-Grossmann et al. carried out a longitudinal study where babies attachments were studied until they were into their teens.
-Quality of a baby’s attachment with mothers but not fathers was related to attachments in adolescence.
-This suggests that attachment to fathers is less important than attachment to mothers.
- Grossmann et al. also found that the quality of fathers’ play with babies was related to the quality of adolescent attachments.
-This suggests that fathers have a different role from mothers - one that is more to do with play and stimulation, and less to do with emotional development.
Fathers as primary attachment figures- Field
-some evidence suggests that when fathers do take on the role of primary caregiver they are able to adopt the emotional role more typically associated with
-Field filmed 4-month-old babies in face-to-face interaction with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers
-Primary caregiver fathers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding babies than the secondary caregiver
-fathers Smiling, imitating and holding babies are a part of reciprocity and interactional synchrony which are part of the process of attachment formation
-So it seems that fathers have the potential to be the more emotion-focused primary attachment figure
Evaluation 1- confusion over research questions ( the role of the father)
-limitation
-lack of clarity over the question being asked
-The question, ‘What is the role of the father?’ in the context of attachment is much more complicated than it sounds.
-Some researchers attempting to answer this question actually want to understand the role of fathers as secondary attachment figures. But others are more concerned with fathers as a primary attachment figure.
-The former have tended to see fathers, as behaving differently from mothers and having a distinct role.
-The latter have found that fathers can take on a ‘maternal role’
-this makes it difficult to offer a simple answer as to the ‘role of a father”.
Evaluation 2- conflicting evidence for fathers being a secondary attachment ( the role of the father)
-limitation
-Longitudinal studies such as that of Grossmann et al. have suggested that fathers as secondary attachment figures have an important and distinct role in their children’s development, involving play and stimulation.
-However, if fathers have a distinctive and important role we would expect that, children growing up in single-mother and lesbian-parent families would turn out in some way different from those in two-parent heterosexual families.
-studies like e.g. McCallum and Golombok consistently show that these children do not develop differently from children in two-parent heterosexual families.
-This means that the question as to whether fathers have a distinctive role remains unanswered.
Evaluation 3- counterpoint of conflicting evidence-distinct roles in heterosexual families ( the role of the father)
-These lines of research may not in fact be in conflict.
-It could be that fathers typically take on distinctive roles in two-parent heterosexual families, but that parents in single-mother and lesbian-parent families simply adapt to accommodate the role played by fathers.
-This means that the question of a distinctive role for fathers is clear after all. When present, fathers tend to adopt a distinctive role, but families can adapt to not having a father.
evaluation 4- real world application (role of the father)
-strength
-it can be used to offer advice to parents.
-Mothers may feel pressured to stay at home because of stereotypical views of mothers’ and fathers’ roles.
- Research 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 becoming primary attachment figures. Also lesbian-parent and single-mother families can be informed that not having a father around does not affect a child’s development.
-This means that parental anxiety about the role of fathers can be reduced.
what are the two animal studies of attachment
-Lorenz’z research
-Harlow’s research
Lorenz’s research (imprinting)- procedure
-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
Lorenz’s research( imprinting)- findings
-The incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere whereas 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.
-This phenomenon is called imprinting - whereby bird species that are mobile from birth (like geese and ducks) attach to and follow the first moving object they see.
-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 (or birth).
- If imprinting does not occur within that time Lorenz found that chicks did not attach themselves to a mother figure.
Lorenz’s research- sexual imprinting
- he observed that birds that imprinted on a human would often later display courtship behaviour towards humans.
- 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 peacock had undergone sexual imprinting.
evaluation 1- research support ( Lorenz’s research)
- strength
-existence of support for the concept of imprinting.
-A study by Regolin and Vallortigara supports Lorenz’s idea of imprinting.
-Chicks were exposed to simple shape combinations that moved, such as a triangle with a rectangle in front. -A range of shape combinations were then moved in front 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 development, as predicted by Lorenz.
evaluation 2- generalisability to humans ( Lorenz’s research)
- limitation
- cant generalise findings and conclusions from birds to humans.
-The mammalian attachment system is quite different and more complex than that in birds.
-For example, in mammals attachment is a two-way process, so it is not just the young who become attached to their mothers but also the mammalian mothers show an emotional attachment to their young.
-This means that it is probably not appropriate to generalise Lorenz’s ideas to humans.
Harlow’s research (importance of contact comfort )- procedure
- tested the idea that a soft object serves some of the functions of a mother
- In one experiment he reared 16 baby monkeys with two wire model mothers
- In one condition milk was dispensed by the plain-wire mother whereas in a second condition the milk was dispensed by the cloth-covered mother.
Harlow’s research (importance of contact comfort )- findings
-The baby monkeys cuddled the cloth-covered mother in preference to the plain-wire mother and sought comfort from the cloth one when frightened (e.g. by a noisy mechanical teddy bear) 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.