Attachment and Social Relationships (Ch 14) Flashcards
Attachment theory was formulated by …
British psychiatrist John Bowlby
- elaborated by American developmental psychologist Mary Ainsworth
Bowlby defined attachment:
as a strong affectional tie that binds a person to an intimate companion
How is attachment a behavioral system?
humans regulate their emotional distress when under threat and achieve security by seeking proximity to another person
ethological concept of imprinting
- incorporated into attachment theory
- An innate form of learning in which the young will follow and become attached to a moving object (usually the mother) during a critical period early in life
Imprinting according to recent research
- The “critical” period is more like a “sensitive” period
- Imprinting can be reversed
- Imprinting does not happen without the right interplay of biological and environmental factors
What hormone promotes attachment?
oxytocin
Attachment is a product of…
nature and nurture interacting over time
Bonding
a more biologically-based process in which parent and infant form a connection in the first hours after birth when a mother is likely to be exhilarated and her newborn highly alert
Bowlby proposed that through their interactions with caregivers, infants construct expectations about relationships in the form of …
internal working models
internal working models
Cognitive representations of themselves and other people that guide the processing of social information and behavior in relationships
Securely attached infants who have received responsive care will form internal working models suggesting that they are …
are lovable and that other people can be trusted to care for them
Insecurely attached infants subjected to insensitive, neglectful, or abusive care may conclude that they are…
difficult to love, that other people are unreliable, or both
social referencing
- approximately 1year
- monitor their companions’ emotional reactions in ambiguous situations
- and use this information to decide how they should feel and behave
emotional regulation
The processes involved in initiating, maintaining, and altering emotional responses
- capacity develops over time
Very young infants are able to reduce their negative arousal by …
turning from unpleasant stimuli or by sucking vigorously on a pacifier
end of the first year, infants can also regulate their emotions by …
rocking themselves, moving away from upsetting events, or actively seeking attachment figures who will calm them
as children gain the capacity for symbolic thought and language…
they become able to regulate their distress symbolically (for example, by repeating “Mommy coming soon”)
By 18 to 24 months, toddlers cope by…
- trying to control the actions of people and objects (for example, by pushing the offending person or object away)
- playing with toys and otherwise distracting themselves
- They have been observed knitting their brows or compressing their lips in an attempt to suppress their anger or sadness
synchronized routines
- Caregivers and infants develop synchronized routines in which they take turns responding to each other
Parent-infant synchrony contributes to a …
secure attachment relationship and to later self-regulation and empathy
The infant forms an attachment to the caregiver in the following phases:
- Undiscriminating social responsiveness (birth to 2 or 3 months)
- Discriminating social responsiveness (2 or 3 months to 6 or 7 months)
- Active proximity seeking or true attachment (6 or 7 months to about 3 years
- Goal-corrected partnership (3 years and older)
Undiscriminating social responsiveness (birth to 2 or 3 months)
Infants respond to voices, faces, and other stimuli, especially humans
They do not yet show a clear preference for any one person
Discriminating social responsiveness (2 or 3 months to 6 or 7 months)
Infants begin to express preferences for familiar companions, but they are still friendly toward strangers
Active proximity seeking or true attachment (6 or 7 months to about 3 years)
Infants form their first clear attachments, most often to their mothers
Goal-corrected partnership (3 years and older)
Children adjust their behavior in order to maintain proximity to the attachment figure
Separation anxiety
Once attached to a parent -
- Baby becomes fretful or wary when parent leaves
- Peaks b/w 14-18 mos
- Gradually becomes less frequent/intense
Stranger anxiety
Once attached to a parent - Baby becomes fretful and way when approached by a stranger - Common b/w 8-10 mos - Cont thru first year - Declines in intensity over 2nd year
Quality of attachment - 4 types
- Secure
- Resistant
- Avoidant
- Disorganized-disoriented
Secure attachment
Securely attached infants have parents who are sensitive and responsive to their needs and emotional signals
- 60-65% of babies
- actively explores the room when alone with his mother because she serves as a secure base
- upset by separation but greets his mother warmly and is comforted by her presence when she returns
- When his mother is present, the securely attached child is outgoing with a stranger
Resistant attachment (also called anxious/ambivalent attachment)
Often have parents who are inconsistent in caregiving
- may react enthusiastically or indifferently and are frequently unresponsive
- mothers who are depressed
- 10 percent
- does not venture off to play even when his mother is present, probably because she is not a secure base for exploration
- becomes distressed when his mother departs - perhaps because he is uncertain whether she will return
- When his mother returns - infant = ambivalent
- wary of strangers, even when their mothers are present
