Attachment Flashcards
(Caregiver-infant interactions)
Studied interactions
- Babies have ‘alert phases’ in which they signal that they are ready for interaction
- Mothers respond to these two-thirds of the time
- Interaction increases from around 3 months of age, involving verbal signals and facial expressions
Feldman
(Caregiver-infant interactions)
Interactional synchrony
- Observed 30 mothers and infants
- Observed interaction and assessed quality of attachment
- High levels of interaction and synchrony were associated with better quality attachments
Isabella
(Caregiver-infant interactions)
Fathers and play
- Longitudinal study of babies into their teens
- Quality on infant level of attachment had no effect on attachment in adolescence
- Attachment to the father is linked to quality of play time in later life rather than comfort and interactions
Grossman
(Caregiver-infant interactions)
Attachment formed with the most nurturing parent
- Filmed 4 month old babies in face-to-face interactions with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers
- Fathers took on the ‘role’ on the mothers, spent more time smiling at and imitating babies
- Attachment type may be to most nurturing parent, rather than the mother
Field
(Stages of attachment)
- Method
- 60 babies
31 male, 29 female
Glasgow, working class families
- Visited at home every month for first year, and at 18 months
- Interviewed mothers about attachment behaviours - Findings
- 25-30 - 50% of babies show signs of separation anxiety towards one parent (specific attachment)
- This was with the most interactive parents
- 40 weeks - 80% had specific attachments, 30% had multiple attachments
Schaffer and Emerson
Stage 1: Asocial stage
(first few weeks)
- Similar behaviour towards humans and objects
- Show some preference for familiar adults when being comforted
Stage 2: Indiscriminate stage (2-7 months) - Prefer people to objects - Recognise and prefer familiar adults - Usually accept comfort for any adults - no separation or stranger anxiety
Stage 3: Specific attachment
(around 7 months)
- Start to display separation and stranger anxiety
(mother in 65% of cases)
Stage 4: Multiple attachment
(shortly after specific attachment is formed)
- Extend attachment behaviour to other caregivers
(most have multiple attachments by 1)
(Stages of attachment A03)
Separation anxiety
Babies have playmates and may show distress when they leave the room, but this may not necessarily signify attachment
Bowlby
(Animal studies)
Geese - imprinting
- Randomly divided eggs; half hatched with mother, half half hatched in an incubator and the first thing they saw the Lorenz
- The second group followed Lorenz around, whilst the control followed the mother, even when mixed together
Critical period - there is a critical period iin which imprinting must take place
Sexual imprinting - geese also directed courtship behaviour towards him
Lorenz
(Animal studies)
Monkeys - contact comfort
- Reared 16 baby monkeys with 2 wire mothers, with one covered in cloth)
- Monkeys cuddled the cloth-covered monkey regardless of which dispensed milk
Maternal deprivation - as adults the monkeys were dysfunctional; they were aggressive, unsociable and bad at mating
They neglected and even killed babies
Critical period - around 90 days
Contact comfort more important than food
Harlow
(Animal studies A03)
Rubber glove - reversible
- Chickens imprinted on a yellow rubber glove and tried to mate with it
- However, with experience they naturally learned to prefer mating with other chickens
Guiton
(Explanations of attachment: Learning theory)
Classical conditioning
- Unconditioned stimulus: food
- Neutral stimulus: mother
- Unconditioned response: pleasure
Operant
- Positive reinforcement - ‘social suppressors’
Crying leads to reinforcement of behaviour (food, comfort)
- Negative reinforcement - parent stops the crying
Dollard and Miller
(Explanations of attachment: Learning theory)
Attachment is a secondary drive
Primary drive - food (innate, biological)
Secondary drive - attachment
Happens because the baby associates food with the attachment
Sears
(Learning theory A03)
Alternative explanation - SLT
- Parents teach children to love them by modelling attachment behaviour (hugging them or other family members)
- They are rewarded with approval
E.g. “that’s a nice hug”
Hay and Vespo
(Explanations of attachment: Monotropic theory)
Evolutionary explanation
- Attachment/ imprinting has survival advantage, even in a modern society (e.g. traffic)
Monotropy
- Placed great emphasis on a child’s attachment to the primary caregiver; it is the most important
- The more time spent with the ‘mother’ the better
~ Law of continuity - care should be constant and predictable
~ Law of accumulated separation - the effects of every separation add up
Social releasers
- Innate ‘cute’ behaviours
- Encourage the attention of caregiver and make them feel love towards the baby
- Both mother and baby have an innate predisposition to become attached
Critical period
- Around 2 years of age
- More of a senstive period - it is harder to form attachments after this age
Internal working model
- We form a mental representation (schema) of relationships based on relationship with primary caregiver
- Effects relationships in later life
Those who had poor relationship with caregiver may assume all relationships and negative and form poor relationships with their own children
Bowlby
(Monotropic theory A03)
Blank face experiment - social releasers
- Instructed parents to ignore babies’ social releasers
- Babies initially showed signs of distress
- Eventually some curled up and lay motionless
Supports importance of social releasers in forming attachments
Brazleton
(Monotropic theory A03/ later life: adulthood)
99 mothers - internal working model
- Assessed 99 mothers with 1 year old babies
- Interviews with mother about attachment to own mother, observation of mother and baby attachment
- Mothers who reported poor attachments in childhood were more likely to have attachment with own baby assessed as poor
Bailey
