Attachment - How We Form Attachments

Question 1

What is attachment?

Answer 1

The formation of a strong, reciprocal emotional bond between an infant and a primary caregiver. This is where the individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security.

Question 2

How can we recognise an attachment?

Answer 2

When people display the following behaviours:

• proximity (staying physically close to the attachment figure)
• separation anxiety (being upset when an attachment figure leaves)
• safe-base behaviour (leaving the attachment figure but regularly returning to them when playing)

Question 3

Why do we form attachments?

Answer 3

Human babies are altricial, which means that they are born at a relatively early stage of development. We need to form bonds with adults who will protect and nurture them.

Question 4

What are precocial animals?

Answer 4

Animals born at advanced stages of development, e.g. foals are able to walk and run soon after birth.

Question 5

What are the short-term benefits of attachment?

Answer 5

survival

Question 6

What are the long-term benefits of attachment?

Answer 6

emotional relationships - it is believed that this first relationship acts as a template for later relationships

Question 7

What are alert phases?

Answer 7

From birth, babies and their mothers (or other carers) spend a lot of time in intense and pleasurable interaction.

Babies have periodic ‘alert phases’ and signal they are ready for interaction, which mothers respond to around two-thirds of the time (Feldman and Eidleman 2007).

Question 8

What are caregiver-infant interactions?

Answer 8

One of the key interactions between caregivers and infants is their non-verbal communication, i.e. communicating without words and sometimes without sound. Such interactions may form the basis of attachment between an infant and caregiver. It is the manner in which each responds to the other that determines the formation of attachment. So, the more sensitive each is to the others’ signals, the deeper the relationship. (caregiver sensitivity)

Question 9

What is reciprocity?

Answer 9

Research in the 1970s demonstrated that infants coordinated their actions with caregivers which can be described as like ‘non verbal conversation’.

From around three months, reciprocal interaction tends to be increasingly frequent, when each person responds to the other and elicits a response from them. It involves close attention to each other’s verbal signals and facial expressions. Babies move in rhythm when interacting with an adult, almost as if they are taking turns, as people do in a conversation.

Question 10

Does the baby take an active or passive role?

Answer 10

Traditional views of childhood have seen the baby in a passive role, receiving care from an adult. However, it seems that the baby takes an active role. Both mother and child can initiate interactions and they appear to take turns in doing so.

Question 11

What is interactional synchrony?

Answer 11

Two people are said to be ‘synchronised’ when they carry out the same action simultaneously. This is when two people interact and they tend to mirror what the other is doing in terms of their facial expressions and body movements. This includes reflecting emotions as well as behaviours.

Interactional synchrony can be defined as ‘the coordination of micro-level behaviour’ (Feldman 2007). It takes place when mother and infant interact in such a way that their actions and emotions mirror the other.

Question 12

Describe Meltzof and Moore’s (1977) research.

Answer 12

Meltzof and Moore observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants as young as two weeks old.

An adult displayed one of three facial expressions or one of three distinctive gestures and the child’s response was filmed.

An association was found between the expression or gesture the adult had displayed and the action of the child.

Question 13

What is the importance of synchrony in the development of attachment?

Answer 13

Synchrony provides the necessary foundation for the mother and infant connection which can be built upon in subsequent years.

Isabella et al. (1989) observed 30 mothers and infants together and assessed the degree of synchrony and the quality of mother-infant attachment.

The researchers found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-infant attachment (e.g. the emotional intensity of the relationship).

Question 14

What is the difference between reciprocity and interactional synchrony?

Answer 14

Reciprocity is where the mother and infant respond to each other’s signals and each elicits a response from the other.

Interactional synchrony is when the mother and infant reflect both the actions and emotions of the other AND they do this in a co-ordinated, synchronised way.

Question 15

What are the strengths of caregiver-infant interactions?

Answer 15

• A strength of the research is that it uses well-controlled procedure.
• A strength of this research is its potential value to society.

Question 16

What are the weaknesses of caregiver-infant interactions?

Answer 16

• A limitation is that it is hard to know what is happening when observing infants.
• However, observations don’t tell us the purpose of synchrony and reciprocity.
• A limitation is research into mother-infant interactions is socially sensitive.
• It is not found in all cultures (Le Vine et al reported Kenyan mothers had little physical interactions or physical contact with their infants, but such infants do have a high proportion of secure attachments. Therefore, the research may be ethnocentric and ignores how attachments may be formed within other cultures. This reduces the validity of the research as all cultures should be taken into account in order to generalise as much as possible).

Question 17

Why is the research using well-controlled procedures a strength?

Answer 17

Mother-infant interactions are usually filmed, often from multiple angles. Very fine details of behaviour can be recorded and analysed later. Also babies don’t know they are being observed, so their behaviour does not change in response to observation (generally the main problem for observation research). This is a strength of this line of research because it means the studies have good validity.

Question 18

Why is the research having potential value to society a strength?

Answer 18

The identification of interactional synchrony as an important foundation in the formation of high-quality attachments could have practical applications that benefit society. Crotwell et al. (2013) found that a 10-minute Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) improved interactional synchrony in 20 low-income mothers and their pre-school infants compared to a control.

The findings suggest that research on interactional synchrony could lead to valuable methods for improving and developing mother-infant attachments (particularly in at-risk groups).

Question 19

Why is a limitation that it is hard to know what is happening when observing infants?

Answer 19

Many studies into mother-infant interactions have shown the same patterns of behaviour (Gratier 2003). However, what is being observed is merely hand movements or changes in expression. It is difficult to be sure, based on these observations, what is taking place from the infant’s perspective. For example, is the infant’s imitation of adult signals conscious and deliberate? This means we cannot be certain that behaviours seen in mother-infant interactions have a special meaning.

Question 20

Why is the observations not telling us the purpose of synchrony and reciprocity a weakness?

Answer 20

Feldman (2012) points out that synchrony (and by implication reciprocity) simply describe behaviours that occur at the same time. These are robust phenomena in the sense that they can be reliably observed, but this may not be particularly useful as it does not tell us their purpose. However, there is some evidence that reciprocity and synchrony are helpful in the development of mother-infant attachment, stress responses, empathy, language and moral development.

Question 21

Why is research into mother-infant interactions being socially sensitive a weakness?

Answer 21

This is because it suggests that children may be disadvantaged by particular child-rearing practices. Specifically, mothers who return to work shortly after a child is born restrict the opportunities for achieving interactional synchrony. This suggests that mothers should not return to work so soon - this has obvious socially sensitive implications.

Question 22

What are the stages of attachment?

Answer 22

• asocial stage (first few weeks)
• indiscriminate attachment (2-7 months)
• specific attachment (from around 7 months)
• multiple attachments (by one year)

Question 23

What is the asocial stage?

Answer 23

• Baby’s behaviour towards inanimate objects and humans is quite similar.
• Some preference for familiar adults (more easily calmed by them).
• Babies are also happier in the presence of other humans.

Question 24

What is the indiscriminate attachment stage?

Answer 24

• Babies now display more observable social behaviour, with a preference for people rather than inanimate objects.
• They recognise and prefer familiar adults.
• Babies do not show stranger or separation anxiety.
• Attachment is indiscriminate because it’s the same towards all.

Question 25

What is the specific attachment stage?

Answer 25

• Stranger anxiety and separation anxiety when separated from one particular adult. Baby is said to have formed a specific attachment with the primary attachment figure.
• This is in most cases the person who offers the most interaction and responds to the baby’s ‘signals’ with the most skill (the biological mother in 65% of cases).

Question 26

What is the multiple attachments stage?

Answer 26

• Secondary attachments with other adults form shortly after.
• In Schaffer and Emerson’s study, 29% of babies had secondary (multiple) attachments within a month of forming a primary (specific) attachment. By the age of one year, the majority of infants had multiple secondary attachments.

Question 27

Procedure

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) Stages of Attachment

Answer 27

60 babies from Glasgow, most from working-class families. Babies and their mothers were visited at home every month for a year and at 18 months.

Separation anxiety measured by asking mothers about their children’s behaviour during everyday separations (e.g. adult leaving the room).
Stranger anxiety was measured by asking mothers questions about their children’s anxiety response to unfamiliar adults.

Question 28

Findings and Conclusions

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) Stages of Attachment

Answer 28

50% of babies showed separation anxiety towards a particular adult between 25 and 32 weeks of age. This specific (primary) attachment was usually with the mother.

Attachment tended to be to the caregiver who was most interactive and sensitive to infant signals and facial expressions (i.e. reciprocity). This was not necessarily the person the infant spent most time with.

Question 29

What are the strengths of Schaffer’s stages of attachment?

Answer 29

• A strength of Schaffer and Emerson’ study is that it has external validity.
• Another strength of the study is that it was carried out longitudinally.

Question 30

What are the weaknesses of Schaffer’s stages of attachment?

Answer 30

• There may also be a problem with how multiple attachment is assessed.
• A broader limitation is that there is a problem in studying the asocial year.
• Evidence on the timing of multiple attachments is conflicting.

Question 31

How is the study having external validity a strength?

Answer 31

Most of the observations (not stranger anxiety) were made by parents during ordinary activities and reported to researchers. So the behaviour of the babies was unlikely to be affected by the presence of observers. It is highly likely that the participants behaved naturally while being observed.

Question 32

How is the study being carried out longitudinally a strength?

Answer 32

This means that the same children were followed-up and observed regularly. The quicker alternative would have been to observe different children at each age. This is called cross-sectional design. But longitudinally designs have better internal validity because they do not have the confounding variable of individual differences between participants (participant variables).

Question 33

Why is there being problems with how multiple attachment is assessed a weakness?

Answer 33

Just because a baby gets distressed when an individual leaves the room does not necessarily mean that the individual is a ‘true’ attachment figure. Bowlby (1969) pointed out that children may be distressed when a playmate leaves the room, but this does not signify attachment to them. So Schaffer and Emerson’s view of stages does not distinguish between behaviour shown towards secondary attachment figures and towards playmates.

Question 34

Why is there being a problem in studying the asocial year a weakness?

Answer 34

Schaffer and Emerson describe the first few weeks as the ‘asocial’ stage, although important interactions take place. But young babies have poor coordination and are fairly immobile, making it difficult to make judgements based on observations of their behaviour. It may be the babies are actually quite social but, because of flawed methods they appear to be asocial.

Question 35

Why is evidence on the timing of multiple attachments being conflicting a weakness?

Answer 35

Bowlby (1969) argues that most (or all) babies form attachments to a single main carer before they are able to develop multiple attachments. But multiple attachments appear from the outset in cultures where multiple attachments are the norm (based on research by van ljzendoorn 1993). Such cultures are called collectivist because families work together jointly in everything (e.g. producing food and raising children).