Attachment Flashcards
What is attachment?
Attachment is a strong, enduring, emotional and reciprocal bond between two people. Takes a few months to develop.
According to Macoby (1980) what are the four characteristics of attachment?
- Seeking Proximity - the desire to be close to the person whom you are attached
- Separation Anxiety - the distress that results from being separated from that person
- Pleasure when Reunited - relief and observable joy when reunited with them
- General Orientation of Behaviours towards the Caregiver - the child’s awareness of where the person is and the reassurance they feel by them being close.
Who do babies have meaningful interactions with?
Babies have meaningful (intense and pleasurable) interactions with their carers and these are important for their social development, particularly caregiver-infant attachment.
What do babies have which signal that they are ready for interaction?
Babies have periodic alert phases which signal that they are ready for interaction
and their mothers respond 2/3rd of the time ( Feldman and Eidleman,2007)
What did Feldman define Interactional Synchrony?
Interactional synchrony can be defined as ‘the co- ordination of micro level behaviour’. It takes place when the infant and the mother interact in such a way that they will mirror their actions and emotions.
What are two people are said to be ‘synchronised ‘?
Two people are said to be synchronised when they carry out the same action simultaneously
What is Meltzof and Moore (1977) study?
They observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants as young as 12 - 21 day old babies. An adult displayed one of 3 facial expressions (sticking tongue out) or one of 3 distinct gestures (waving fingers) and the child’s response was filmed. An association was found between the expression/gesture and the action of the child.
What is the conclusion of Meltzof and Moore (1977) study?
Showed that babies as young as 2 weeks old displayed interactional synchrony supporting the idea that babies are alert and interact with their caregivers.
Why is Interactional Synchrony important?
It is important for the development of attachment since it provides the necessary
foundation for the mother and infant connection which can be built on in subsequent years.
Why is Interactional synchrony important: what is the method of Isabella’s study?
Isabella (1989) observed 20 mothers and infants together and assessed their degree of synchrony and the quality of mother- infant attachment.
What are the findings of Isabella’s study?
She found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother - infant attachment - emotional intensity of the relationship.
What are the results of Isabella’s study?
Interactional synchrony is important in development of attachment.
What is Reciprocity Interaction?
Reciprocity Interaction is when the infant and mother respond to each other signals and elicits a response from the other
When is Reciprocity Interaction frequently used?
It is found to be increasingly frequent from around 3 months and involves close attention to each other’s verbal signals and facial expressions.
How did Brazelton describe this interaction?
Brazelton described this interaction as a ‘dance’ - it is like a couple’s dance where each person responds to the other’s moves.
What does reciprocity imply?
This suggests that babies are active. This goes against the traditional views that
babies play a passive role in receiving care from an adult. Both mother and child can initiate interactions and seem to be taking turn in doing so.
What are strengths of research into interactional synchrony ?
However it is hard to know what is happening when observing infants. What is being observed is hand movements and changes in expression. It is difficult to say based on these observations whether the infant’s imitation of adult signals is conscious and deliberate. Since we can’t communicate with infants using
— we can’t be sure about what is taking place from their perspective. This means that we can’t be sure that certain behaviours seen in mother - infant interactions have any special meaning. Most research therefore has low internal validity.
These observations also do not tell us the purpose of synchrony and reciprocity. All the research does is simply describe the behaviours that occur at the time.
What are weaknesses of research into interactional synchrony ?
However it is hard to know what is happening when observing infants. What is being observed is hand movements and changes in expression. It is difficult to say based on these observations whether the infant’s imitation of adult signals is conscious and deliberate. Since we can’t communicate with infants using
— we can’t be sure about what is taking place from their perspective. This means that we can’t be sure that certain behaviours seen in mother - infant interactions have any special meaning. Most research therefore has low internal validity.
These observations also do not tell us the purpose of synchrony and reciprocity. All the research does is simply describe the behaviours that occur at the time.
What are weaknesses of research into interactional synchrony ?
It is difficult to draw conclusions about the role of caregiver- infant interactions in the development of attachment is that there may be extraneous factors such as culture, temperament, substitute care, life events may have a long term effect on attachment and cannot be controlled.
There also may be practical issues such as need for limited observation periods because of limited waking periods.
Another limitation of the research in mother- infant interactions is that it is a sensitive issue. This is because it suggests that children may be disadvantaged by certain child- rearing practices. Example: mothers who go back to work soon after the baby is born.
Development of attachment: what is the procedure of Schaffer and Emerson (1964)?
Procedure:
Schaffer and Emerson conducted a longitudinal study on 60 Glasgow infants - 31 male and 29 female (5-23 weeks at the start of the study) from skilled working-class homes. The babies and their mothers were visited at home every month for the first year and then again at 18 months.
Separation anxiety was measured by asking the mothers questions about the kind of protest their babies showed in 7 everyday separations e.g. adult leaving the room. This was done to measure the infant’s attachment.
Stranger anxiety was assessed by the researchers through direct observations of the infants’ reaction when they approached him/her - children’s anxiety response to unfamiliar adults.
Development of attachment: what is the results of Schaffer and Emerson (1964)?
Results:
50% babies showed separation anxiety towards a particular adult between 25 and 32 weeks of age - usually the mother ( called specific attachment).
In 3% cases the father was the first sole object of attachment.
In 27% the father was the joint first object of attachment with the mother.
By the age of 40 weeks, 80% of the babies had a specific attachment and almost 30% displayed multiple attachments.
Reciprocity was found to be important in the development of attachment.
Development of attachment: what is the conclusion of Schaffer and Emerson (1964)?
Conclusions:
The results of the study indicated that attachment tended to be to the caregiver who was the most interactive and sensitive to infant signals and facial expressions (reciprocity) and this may not be who they spent the most time with. They called this ‘sensitive responsiveness. The most important fact in forming attachments is not who feeds and changes the child but who plays and communicates with him or her.
The study also shows that a significant number of infants form multiple attachments.
What are the strengths of Schaffer and Emerson’s study?
The study has good external validity because most observations were made by parents during ordinary activities at home which is the natural environment of the babies and reported to researchers. Behaviour of babies unlikely to be affected by the presence of observers, so it is likely to be natural behaviour.
Another strength of the research is that it was carried out longitudinally. This
means that the same children were followed up and observed regularly. A quicker alternative would have been to observe different children at each stage. This is called a longitudinal study. However longitudinal studies have better internal validity because they do not have the confounding variable of participant variables since the same children are being studied.
What is a weakness of Schaffer and Emerson’s study?
The sample size of 60 babies and their carers were all from the same city and the same class from the same community, 50 years ago. Child rearing practices vary from culture to culture and from one historical period to another. These results may not generalise to other social and historical contexts.
What are Schaffer’s stages of Development of Attachment?
- Asocial stage (0 - 8 weeks)
- Indiscriminate attachment (2 - 7 months)
- Specific attachment (7 - 12 months)
- Multiple attachments (by 1 year)
What is the Asocial Stage?
- behaviour between humans and non- human objects quite similar
- recognise specific faces
- happier in presence of humans than when alone
- preference for familiar individuals
- prefer faces to non- faces
- smile at anyone
What is the Indiscriminate Attachment?
- recognise and prefer familiar people
- smile more at familiar than unfamiliar faces
- preference for people rather than inanimate objects
- accept comfort from any adult
What is the Specific Attachment?
- primary attachment to one particular individual (the person who shows most sensitivity to their signals)
- show stranger anxiety
- show separation anxiety
- use familiar adults as a secure base
What is the Multiple Attachment?
- form secondary attachments with familiar adults with whom they spend time e.g. father, grandparents
What is a weakness of the asocial stage?
There is a problem studying the asocial stage. They describe the first few weeks as asocial but interactions do take place. It may be that babies are quite social but because they are fairly immobile due to poor coordination, it is difficult to make judgements based on observations of their behaviour and they appear to be asocial.
What are the weaknesses Schaffer’s stages?
The evidence on the timing of multiple attachments is conflicting. Even though some research states that all babies form attachments to a single main carer before they develop multiple attachments- there is conflicting research from collectivistic cultures where multiple attachments is the norm- because families work jointly in these cultures in everything.
Schaffer’s stages do not distinguish between behaviour shown towards secondary attachment figures and playmates. There is a problem in the way multiple attachments is assessed. Research assumes that because a baby gets distressed when an individual leaves the room, it means that the individual is an attachment figure. However children may be distressed when a playmate leaves the room, but they might not be attached to them.
Who did Schaffer and Emerson say the primary attachment is with?
Schaffer and Emerson showed that the primary attachment is much more likely to be made with the mother than the father.
What percentage of cases were the father the first sole object of attachment?
In only 3% cases the father was the first sole object of attachment and in 27%
cases the father was the joint first object of attachment with the mother.
What percentage of infants studied secondary attachment was formed with the father by 18 months?
In 75% of infants studied secondary attachment was formed with the father by 18 months (studied through anxiety).
What was the quality of the fathers’ play with infants related to?
The quality of the fathers’ play with infants was related to children’s attachments - this suggests that fathers have a different role in attachment - more to do with stimulation than nurturing.
What is attachment with mothers most related to?
Attachment with mothers most related to attachment in adolescence
What is Grossman’s method of his study?
He carried out a longitudinal study looking at parents’ behaviour and its relationship to the quality of children’s attachment into their teens.
What is Grossman’s results of his study?
The quality of attachment with the mother was more important in attachment type of teenagers than the quality of attachment with the father.
What is Grossman’s conclusion of his study?
Fathers may be less important in the emotional development
Can fathers be primary caregivers?
Fathers can be primary caregivers. A researcher fllmed 4 month old babies and
found that primary caregiver fathers, adopt behaviours more typical of mothers such as smiling, imitating and holding infants.
What is a weakness of the role of a father research?
Some psychologists have found that fathers behave differently to mothers and have a different role. Others have found that they can take on a maternal role. This is a limitation because it implies that researchers cannot CONTINUE
What is another weakness of the role of a father research?
Even though research evidence has found that fathers as secondary attachment figures had a distinct role in their children’s development through play and stimulation. There is contradictory evidence that children growing up in single parent or same sex parent families don’t develop differently from those in two parent families. This discredits the idea of fathers having distinct roles.
What are the factors affecting the amount of time that fathers spend interacting with children?
Amount of time that fathers spend interacting with, being accessible to, or being directly involved in the daily care of their children. This is influence by a number of factors:
Traditional gender roles - women are seen as more caring, nurturing and fathers feel like they don’t need to act like that
Economic factors - fathers may have to go to work and feel like they should act as the “breadwinner”
Social policies - maternity and paternity leave
Biological factors - female hormones such as oestrogen creates higher levels of nurturing and therefore women are predisposed to be the primary attachment figures
What are more weaknesses of the role of a father research?
These stereotypes about the father being playful, stricter may lead to unintentional observer bias. This makes the observations lack reliability/ validity.
Research into the role of the father has economic implications.
What are animal studies?
They study telationships between infant animals and their mother. Their observations inform psychologists about mother infant attachments in humans.
Who are animal studies carried out by?
They are carried out by ethologists.
What are the Advantages of Animal Studies?
Practical: animats breed faster-so the results can be seen across more than one generation.
Ethical: can put animals in situations that may be distressing such as deprivation-would be more unethical to do this to humans.
What are the Disadvantages of Animal Studies?
• Cannot extrapotate findings to attachment in human infants.
• What applies to non human species may not apply to human infants- there is a difference in the complexity and nature of the bond.
• Ethical- If we extrapolate findings from animals attachment to humans then should we also not assume that they would be affected by the distressing situations in the same way as human infants would be.
What is the method of Lorenz (1935) Imprinting study?
Lorenz randomly divided a clutch of 12 goose eggs in two halves:
one half was left to hatch with the mother goose (the control group) the other half were hatched in an incubator, the first moving thing they saw was Lorenz.
Lorenz mixed all the goslings together ( had marked them to indicate which group of egges they had hatched from to see who they would follow. He also observed the birds and their later courtship behaviour.
What is the results of Lorenz (1935) Imprinting study?
The control group followed their natural mother everywhere whereas the second group followed Lorenz.
What is the conclusion of Lorenz (1935) Imprinting study?
This phenomenon is called imprinting in which species that are mobile from birth attach to and follow the 1st moving object they see.
What was Lorenz’s initial period?
Lorenz identified an initial period in which imprinting had to take place. If imprinting does not take place within that time, chicks did not attach themselves to the mother figure. Sexual imprinting also occurs whereby birds acquire a template of desirable characteristics in a mate.
What is a weakness of Lorenz’s study?
One weakness of Lorenz’s study is that it’s difficult to generalise findings to humans. Mammalian attachment is different to birds as we show more emotional attachment and may be able to form multiple attachments. Also gooslings are mobile as soon as they hatch but humans babies are not.
What is a strength of Lorenz’s study?
Lorenz concluded that imprinting had a permanent effect on mating behaviour. Guiton found that chicks imprinted on yellow washing up gloves would try and mate with them as adults. This is a strength because it provides evidence for imprinting by suggesting that young animals are born with an innate mechanism to imprint on a moving object in the critical periods.
However Guiton (1966) found that though this was the case with chickens imprinted on yellow washing up gloves they eventually learnt to mate with their own species. This suggests that animals are born with an inmate mechanism to imprint in the critical period.
What is the aim of Harlow’s effects of privation study (1958)?
to test the idea that a soft object serves some of the functions of a mother
What is the method of Harlow’s effects of privation study (1958)?
16 rhesus monkeys were separated from their mothers immediately after birth and placed in cages with access to two surrogate mothers, one made of wire and one covered in soft terry towelling cloth.
1. In one condition - Eight of the monkeys could get milk from the wire mother
2. In the second condition Eight monkeys could get milk from the cloth mother
The animals were studied for various length of time.
The reactions of the monkeys to more frightening situations - e.g a noise making teddy bear were observed.
What is the results of Harlow’s effects of privation study (1958)?
It was found that baby monkeys spent more time with the cloth mother in preference to the wire one and sought comfort from the cloth one when frightened regardless of which dispensed milk.
The infant would explore more when the cloth mother was present.
Harlow also followed the monkeys adulthood to see if maternal deprivation had a permanent effect
and found severe consequences: more aggressive, less sociable, less skilled in mating than other monkeys bred less often, neglected and sometimes maltreated their babies.
What is the conclusion of Harlow’s effects of privation study (1958)?
- Shows that contact comfort was more important to the monkeys than food when it came to attachment behaviour.
- There is a critical period for normal development. The mother figure had to be introduced within
90 days for an attachment to be formed- after which attachment was impossible and the damage done by early deprivation is irreversible.
What is a weakness of Harlow’s study?
Although monkeys are more similar to humans than geese, they still aren’t humans. Human babies develop speech like communication and this may influence development of attachment so findings may not generalise to explain human attachment.
What is a strength of Harlow’s study?
The strength of Harlow’s research is that it has practical applications. it has helped social workers understand risk factors in child abuse and intervene to prevent it. It has also helped understand the importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos and breeding programs in the wild.
What is an another weakness of Harlow’s study?
if we can generalise from rhesus monkeys to humans because they are similar to use then we should assume that their suffering was human like as well. Harlow was aware of the suffering he caused - he called the monkeys ‘wire monkeys’ Iron Maidens named after a medieval torturing device.
