Attachment

Question 1

Outline the 4 stages of attachment identified by Schaffer

Answer 1

• Asocial stage (0-6 weeks) - similar responses to objects and people but a preference for faces/eyes
• Indiscriminate attachments (6 weeks-6 months) - preference for human company, able to discriminate between different people but comforted indiscriminately
• Specific (7+ months) - Preference for one caregiver, displaying separation and stranger anxiety - baby looks to particular people for security, comfort, protection
• Multiple (10/11 months+) - Attachment behaviour displayed towards several different people eg. grandparents, sibling

Question 2

What is the difference between interactional synchrony and reciprocity?

Answer 2

• Interactional synchrony is when the baby and the caregiver do the same action in sync
• Reciprocity is when the infant and caregiver take turns at an action (they respond to each other)

Question 3

What was Schaffer and Emerson’s experimental design and what did they study?

Answer 3

• Longditudinal study using a naturalistic observation
• Studied 60 babies from Glasgow for the first 18 months of their lives, with monthly visits
• ## A self-report method was used as the caregivers were asked “who they preferred to be with”, “who they turned to for comfort” and “how they reacted when separated from their caregiver”

Question 4

What did Schaffer and Emerson conclude?

Answer 4

• By 10 months old, 80% of the babies had a specific attachment and 30% had multiple attachments
• By the multiple attachments stage 87% had formed attachments to 2 or more people
• The main attachment figure wasn’t always the main caregiver or the one they spent most time with, but rather that who displayed the most sensitive responsiveness
• The strongest attachments had caregivers with the highest sensitive responsiveness

Question 5

Schaffer and Emerson: evaluation

Answer 5

• One weakness is that the research may have been prone to observer bias, as the parents themselves carried out the observations and may have reported what they expected to see
• One strength is high ecological validity due to the naturalistic observations taking place in a natural environment
• Second weakness is social desirability bias - may have overestimated their importance in the baby’s attachment or reported results that portray their parenting in a positive light

Question 6

Study support for reciprocity and interactional synchrony

Answer 6

• Condon and Sander analysed frame-by-frame video recordings of movements made by babies when they were with their mothers, they found they timed their movements to be in time with their mother’s speech, interactional synchrony
• Isabella et. al. also used frame by frame, however they investigated the strength of the baby’s attachment to their mother by measuring the amount of stranger and separation anxiety displayed. They were studies again after a few months. He found where there was more interactional synchrony and reciprocity the attachment bonds were stronger

Question 7

Caregiver-infant interactions research: evaluation

C+S

Answer 7

• One strength is that frame-by-frame analysis in a controlled environment meant that they could review the footage multiple times with multiple researchers to increase the reliability of their findings
• A weakness of such observational studies is that researchers may not always have been objective in their observations and may have seen what they expected to see (observer bias)
• Isabella et al. found a positive correlation between IS and stronger attachments, but not a causal link. Maybe better attachments lead to more IS?

Question 8

Results of Bowlby’s 44 juvenile theives study

Answer 8

• 17 out of the 44 thieves had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers before 5 years compared to 2/44 in the control group
• Out of these 17, 15 of them were classed as affectionless psychopaths who felt no guilt/remorse

Question 9

Results of Rutter’s romanian orphanage study

Answer 9

• 165 Romanian orphans
• Significantly lower IQ, emotional and behavioural symptoms were common as well as physical issues such as being underweight
• Those adopted before 6 months had significantly better outcomes than those adopted after 6 months
• A control group of British children showed that even those adopted after 6 months had significantly better outcomes than those from the Romanian orphanages

Question 10

Lorenz

Answer 10

• Lorenz’s research suggests organisms have an innate biological propensity to form attachments to a single subject
• The goslings were either hatched with their mother or in an incubator
• Once they had hatched they proceeded to follow the first living organism they saw, in this case Lorenz
• The goslings’ increased mobility directly after birth explains their imprinting directly after birth, and why humans (born immobile) tend to form that specific attachment after 8 months

Question 11

Outline Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment

Answer 11

• Babies have evolved to form attachments and they are pre-programmed biologically into babies and caregivers
• This helps to protect them from danger and keep them alive
• Babies have social releasers such as crying, smiling, following and crawling which caregivers are programmed to respond to
• Attachments are monotropic, babies form attachments with one specific caregiver who provides emotional support
• Only formed in critical period (up to 2.5)
• Children develop an internal working model from this relationship which they use for their future attachments with other people

Question 12

Evaluate Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment

Answer 12

• Lorenz study provides support for attachments being innate (particularly imprinting being biologically innate). This also supports that attachments are formed to one specific person (monotropic) and that imprinting could only occur in a narrow time window (supporting critical period)
• Also supported by observations of the metapelets in Israel, attachments are monotropic and formed with the caregiver who provides the most comfort/emotional support rather than who supplies food (SLT)
• However this is not supported by Schaffer and Emerson who found by the multiple attachments stage 87% had attached to 2 or more people

Question 13

Bonus real world eval for Bowlby’s theory of monotropy

Answer 13

• Longer visiting hours for children in hospital
• Longer parental leave from work
• Occasionally been used to shame mothers on their return to work

Question 14

Theories about the role of the father (3)

Answer 14

1.) Dads lack sensitive responsiveness needed to be an effective parent
2.) Dads play the role of a playmate rather than carer
3.) Dads are just as caring and sensitive as mothers and can form attachments

Question 15

Bowlby’s view on the role of the father

Answer 15

• Didn’t think fathers and babies could form attachments, especially as attachment is monotropic according to bowlby

Question 16

Schaffer and Emerson view on role of the father

Answer 16

• They thought babies do form attachments with their fathers, and this is evidenced in their longditudal naturalistic observation of 60 babies in Glasgow.
• 87% of the babies had formed 2 or more attachments by the multiple attachment stage of 10/11 months

Question 17

Longditudinal study of childrens’ relationships with their parents

Answer 17

• Grossman measured the childrens’ internal working model and strength of attachment between the parent and the child, as well as the parent’s play sensitivity
• They found the child’s internal working model was only associated with the strength of their attachment with their mum, but instead the play sensitivity of their dad
• This supports the theory that the dad’s role is playmate while the mother’s role is to care

Question 18

Frame by frame video analysis observational study for role of the father

Answer 18

• Field et al.
• Measured sensitive responsiveness and the amount of time spent playing with their children
• Found dads played more with their children but mums displayed more sensitive responsiveness
• However, dads in the position of primary caregiver displayed as much sensitive responsiveness as the mothers

Question 19

Longditudinal study between 13mo and 3yrs age for role of the father

Answer 19

• Brown, 2012
• The more involved the dads were in looking after their children and the more sensitive they were at 13mo, the stronger their attachment to the children at age 3yrs

Question 20

Cultural factors influencing role of the father

Answer 20

1.) Society places strong expectations on fathers to act as the “breadwinner” rather than the “caregiver” and not display sensitive emotions
2.) Fathers until recently could get paternity leave and still get far less than mothers

Question 21

Meltzoff and Moore

Answer 21

• Aimed to investigate whether interactional synchrony is innate
• Used babies aged 6-27 days old
• Exposed to 4 stimuli - 3 facial gestures and one manual gesture (such as waving fingers)
• Independent observer reviewed twice for greater inter-observer reliability and to minimise observer bias
• Found that babies were able to respond to gestures with interactional synchrony behavious before even conscious of their own bodies