Attachment behaviour, parenting and social bonding

Question 1

What is the attachment the basis of?

Answer 1

Basis of understanding relationships
Clinically it can be useful in understanding parental relationships, romantic and personal relationships and psychiatric disorders (anxiety and depression)

Question 2

What does attachment form the template for?

Answer 2

Forms template of sociability - importance of learning to relate to others
Sociability:
- seeking and being especially satisfied by rewards from social interactions
- preferring to be with others
- sharing activities with others
- being responsive to and seeking responsiveness from others

Question 3

What is sociability a prerequisite to?

Answer 3

Prerequisite fro attraction and attachment to particular individuals
- in other words the attraction to people in general is a requirement for attachment for behaviour
The parental relationship is the foundation of other relationships - basis of forming relationships in the future

Question 4

Define: attachment

Answer 4

is an intense emotional relationship that is specific to 2 people that endures over time and in which prolonged separation from the partner is accompanied by stress and sorrow

Question 5

What are the different phases in the development of attachments?

Answer 5

Pre-attachment phase
Indiscriminate attachment
Discriminate attachment
Multiple attachment phase

Scaffer (1996) developed these phases based on studying infants forming attachments

Question 6

What is the pre-attachment phase?

Answer 6

lasts until 3 months of age
Preference for contact for human beings from 6 weeks manifests as nestling, gurgling and smiling
- social smile is one of the first aspects of attachment

Question 7

What is the indiscriminate phase?

Answer 7

Lasts up to 7 months
Allow strangers to look after them without noticeable distress, provided the stranger gives adequate care
Starting to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar people - smiling more often with familiar to unfamiliar people

Question 8

What is the discriminate phase?

Answer 8

develops from 7-8 months
Actively tries to stay close to certain people and becomes distressed when separated from the - separation anxiety
Requires infant to be able to discriminate between mother and others
Object constancy - infant develops an awareness that mother continues to exist even when they can’t see her

Question 9

What are some patterns of differentially directed behaviour?

Answer 9

differential vocalisation
differential stopping of crying on being held
differential crying on mother’s departure
differential smiling at visual perception of mother’s face after 13 weeks
differential visual-postural orientation
differential greeting response, smiling, vocalising, bodily excitement and lifting the arms
differential approach
differential following
differential climbing and exploring
differential burying of face, clinging, haven of safety

Question 10

What is the fear of stranger response?

Answer 10

During discriminate attachment, infant also develops fear of strangers
Displays crying and/or trying to move away
Usually triggered by stranger trying to make direct contact

Question 11

What is the multiple attachment phase?

Answer 11

9 month onwards, strong additional ties are formed and fear of strangers weakens but strongest attachment remains
- allows stronger attachment to develop with father’s and siblings

Question 12

What is the psychoanalytic theory of attachment?

Answer 12

infants become attached because of caregiver’s ability to satisfy instinctual needs

Question 13

What is the behavioural theory of attachment?

Answer 13

infants associate their caregiver with gratification and they learn to approach them to have their needs satisfied

Question 14

What is the ethological theory of attachment?

Answer 14

Lorenz demonstrated that non-human animals form strong bonds with the first moving objects they encounter - normally their mother
This is called imprinting - e.g. fixed action pattern that occurs in the presence of specifies specific releasing stimulus
It occurs only during a brief critical period (after birth otherwise it may not be established) and is irreversible such that when animals imprint on members of different species when sexually mature they show sexual preference for that species

Question 15

What was Harlow’s monkey experiment?

Answer 15

Surrogate mothers and social development
The rhesus monkey’s need for contact and comfort-formed attachments to pieces of clothes
Therefore indicating nourishment alone is not a pre-requisite to attachment

Question 16

What is Bowlby’s theory?

Answer 16

New-born infants are entirely helpless and are genetically programmed to behave towards their mothers in a way that ensures survival 
Species specific behaviours include:
- non-nutritive sucking 
- cuddling 
- smiling 
- crying

Question 17

What is the crucial time period for attachment in terms of Bowlby’s theory?

Answer 17

synchrony of action between mother and infant useless after 36 months - critical period
Infant attached to mother
Mother bonded to infant

Question 18

In terms of Bowlby’s theory what do infants display innately?

Answer 18

tendency to attach to one adult (monotropy) and this is qualitatively different from other later attachment - later on in his research he changed this slightly indicating that multiple attachments can be made but the attachment to the primary caregiver is different to other attachments

If this doesnt occur after 3 years it is unlikely to occur

Question 19

What was Ainsworth’s Ganda study?

Answer 19

28 weaned babies aged 15 weeks to 24 months were observed every 2 weeks for 2 hours at a time over 9 months

• investigated the individual differences between mother and child pairs
• particular maternal sensitivity to the baby’s signals and showed that child’s attachment significantly correlated with maternal sensitivity and amount of holding by the mother

Question 20

What is the strange situation test?

Answer 20

8 episodes with observation of the infant’s behaviour particularly of individuals variations in the infants reunion behaviours
- how babies exploration changes in strange environments, compared with familiar environments
Study the balance between how strong attachment was and the exploratory behaviour

Question 21

What were the stages of the strange situation test?

Answer 21

Preliminary episode
- mother accompanied by observer carries child into room, observer leaves

Episode 2
- mother puts infant down between 2 chairs and takes her own seat

Episode 3
- stranger enters: 1 minute sits quietly, next minute talks to mother and 3rd minute plays with child = familiar environment

Episode 4
- mother leaves unobtrusively = first episode of separation

Episode 5
- mother returns waits at door to see infants response and stranger departs = reunion

Episode 6
- mother leaves again

Episode 7
- stranger returns

Episode 8
- mother returns = final reunion

Variation in reunion behaviours but not so much variation in attachment and exploratory behaviours

Question 22

What are the 3 types of attachment?

Answer 22

Type A= anxious avoidant - 15%
Type B = securely attached - 70% - balance between attachment with mother, exploratory behaviour and reunion behaviour
Type c = anxious-resistant - 15%

Question 23

What does it mean by anxious avoidant?

Answer 23

• infant indifferent to mother
• Play is little affected by whether the mother is present or absent
• Actively ignores or avoids mother on her return
• Distress is caused by being alone - not by mother leaving
• As easily comforted by mother as by stranger - both adults treated in a similar way

Therefore attachment is not very strong

Question 24

What does it mean by secure attachment?

Answer 24

• infant plays happily when mother is there, whether stranger is there or not
• mother is largely ignored because she can be trusted
• clearly distressed when mother leaves and play is reduced
• seeks immediate contact when mother returns and is quickly calmed
• distress is caused by mother’s absence
• mother treated differently from stranger
  Discriminate phase of attachment is strongly established

Question 25

What does it mean by anxious resistant?

Answer 25

• infant is fussy and wary when mother is present
• cries a lot and has difficulty using mother as secure base
• very distressed when mother leaves and seeks contact on return but shows anger and also resists contact - ambivalence = infant unsure in their own mind
• actively resists stranger’s efforts to make contact - fear of strangers

Attachment here is not very strong as even if the mother is present the infant is distressed

Question 26

What are the factors contributing to variation in patter?

Answer 26

Bias of baby and influence on mother

Bias of mother and influence on baby

Question 27

What does it mean by bias of baby and influence on mother?

Answer 27

Hypo-kinetic baby who responds weakly and cries little

Excitable baby who is not over-reactive but also cries readily and has unpredictable shifts in the levels of arousal

Question 28

What does it mean by bias of mother and influence on baby?

Answer 28

Amount of physical contact a mother gave her child
Extent to which a mother’s way of holding her baby was adapted to his characteristics and rhythm
Extent to which soothing techniques were effective
Extent to which she stimulated and encouraged infant
Extent to which experiences given an infant suited his individual capacities
Frequency and intensity of expression of positive feelings towards infant

Question 29

What is Type D attachment?

Answer 29

disorganised attachment

• similar to type C
• behaviour is very disjointed
• behaviour of infant becomes still - hostile caregivers, maternal care giving separation/avoided

Question 30

How has Japanese culture impacted the types of attachment?

Answer 30

Absence of Type A but higher proportion of Type C

Thought to be due to fact that mothers constantly held their infant in contact with them - constant contact

Question 31

How has Western culture impacted the types of attachment?

Answer 31

Type A is relatively more common than in other countries

Thought to be due to their individualist cultures - families tend to be nuclear not extended

Question 32

What are some other issues with the patterns of attachment types?

Answer 32

• Attachment patterns not necessarily inflexible and can depend upon family circumstances - focussed on security but not on other keys factors such as responsiveness of mother, or cultural influences
• patterns of attachment may depend on qualities of distinct relationships and patterns of attachment to mothers and fathers may be distinct and independent
• insecure/disorganised type of attachment combines fear of attachment figure with increasing attachment behaviour

Question 33

What are the key aspects of attachment behaviour in adults?

Answer 33

• based on the responsiveness of early caregivers
• developed internal working model or cognitive emotional representation of the self and significant others: person understands what his needs our, hot they are going to be met, understands weakness and strengths and understands his impulses and understands whether he is deserving or undeserving of attachment based on caregiver
• Appraisal of others as more or less able to meet attachment needs: what attracts me to others and what attracts others to me - attachment is able to establish a template for this

Question 34

How does depression influence attachment?

Answer 34

Internal cognitive representation of the self as unlovable and of attachment figures as unloving/untrustworthy
- sense of self that is not worthy of love and untrustworthy

Question 35

How do people with personality disorder feel?

Answer 35

No strong sense of self
Their attachment figures are seen as evil or cruel or seen as very trustworthy
Sense of others can oscillate

Question 36

Why is the adult attachment interview scale helpful?

Answer 36

it is helpful in understanding how people interact with others

Question 37

What are the types in the adult attachment interview scale?

Answer 37

Reflected on memories of childhood
Established 4 types of pattern
1) Secure type
2) Dismissing type - corresponds to anxious avoidant
3) Pre-occupied and tangled type - corresponds to anxious resistant
4) Unresolved and disorganised type - Type D

Question 38

What are the effects of maternal deprivation?

Answer 38

Acute phase - acute distress, reversible as soon as mother returns - short term stress and anxiety

Privation - prolonged absence/completely absent mother
- affectionless psychopathy= person has no emotions or guilt, doesn’t stick to rules - struggles to form stable relationships

Question 39

Is maternal deprivation reversible?

Answer 39

After many years of rehabilitation, nurturing and caring of the child (holocaust children), the children were able to acquire skills to become completely normal
But they were pre-disposed to developing a number of psychiatric conditions