Attachment Lessons 01 - 04

Question 1

What is developmental psychology?

Answer 1

A branch of psychology concerned with the progressive behavioural changes that occur in individuals across their lifespan

Question 2

What is attachment?

Answer 2

An emotional bond between two people

A two way process that endures over time

Question 3

Two types of caregiver-infant interactions

Answer 3

Reciprocity
Interactional synchrony

Question 4

Reciprocity (AKA turn-taking)

Answer 4

A two-way mutual process where each party responds to the other’s signals to sustain interaction. Behaviour of one person elicits a response from the other
Infants coordinate their actions with their caregiver’s actions (a type of conversation)
Regularity allows the caregiver to anticipate the infant’s behaviour and respond appropriately

Question 5

Interactional synchrony

Answer 5

When adults and babies respond in time to sustain communication
The caregiver‘s actions and emotions mirror the infant’s and vice versa
Meltzoff and Moore (1977) found that babies as young as 2 or 3 weeks imitated specific facial and hand gestures. An adult displayed one of three facial expressions or hand movements, and there was an association between the infant and the adult’s behaviours

Question 6

Evaluation of Caregiver and Infant Interactions

Answer 6

+ Interactional synchrony - Meltzoff and Moore (1983) found that infants as young as 3 days old were displaying this behaviour (imitation behaviours are not learned and are innate)
+ Murray and Trevarthen (1985) got mothers to interact with their babies over a video monitor. Then the babies were played a tape of their mother when she was not responding. The babies tried to attract their mother’s attention but when this failed they gave up responding. This shows that babies want their mothers to reciprocate
+ Abravanal and DeYong (1991) observed infant behaviour when interacting with a puppet that looked like a human mouth opening and closing. Infants made little response to this (they are not just imitating what they see; interactional synchrony is a specific social response)
- Babies cannot communicate - psychologists rely on their inferences - they cannot be sure what the infant is trying to communicate
- Expressions that were tested (tongue sticking out, yawning, smiling) are frequently made by infants - may not have been deliberate imitations

Question 7

Difficulties investigating caregiver-infant interactions

Answer 7

1) Babies’ attachment behaviours are stronger in lab setting than at home - studies should take place in a natural setting (e.g. the child’s home) to increase VALIDITY
2) Most studies are observational - may be bias in the observer’s interpretation of what they see (OBSERVER BIAS). Can be countered by using multiple observers (INTER-RATER RELIABILITY)
3) Practical issues - infants are often asleep or feeding. Researchers need to use fewer but shorter observation periods
4) Extra care needs to be taken in relation to ETHICS as not to affect the child or parent in any way (PROTECTION FROM HARM, CONFIDENTIALITY etc.)

Question 8

Stages of Attachment

Answer 8

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) used a longitudinal study where they followed 60 infants and their mothers for two years. They decided there were four stages in the development of attachment in infants

Question 9

4 stages of attachment

Answer 9

• Pre-attachment (0-3 months)
• Indiscriminate attachment (3-7 months)
• Discriminate attachment (7 months onwards)
• Multiple attachments (7 months onwards)

Question 10

Pre-attachment

Answer 10

0-3 months
From six weeks, infants are attracted to other humans, preferring them over objects and events (shown by smiling)

Question 11

Indiscriminate attachment

Answer 11

3-7 months
Infants begin to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar people - they smile more at people they know, but still let strangers hold them

Question 12

Discriminate attachment

Answer 12

7 months onwards
Infants develop a specific attachment to their PRIMARY ATTACHMENT FIGURE (usually the mother) and want to stay close to them. They show SEPARATION PROTEST (distress when their PAF leaves), and STRANGER ANXIETY (distress when approached by a stranger).
Schaffer and Emerson noticed that the PAF is not always the person who spends the most time with the infant. It is the quality of the relationship, not quantity, that matters most

Question 13

Multiple attachments

Answer 13

7 months onwards
Infants develop SECONDARY ATTACHMENTS - strong emotional ties with other major caregivers (fathers, grandparents) and with non-caregivers (siblings).
The fear of strangers weakens but their attachment to the PAF remains the strongest

Question 14

Evaluation of the stages of attachment

Answer 14

(-) Data collected by Schaffer and Emerson (1964) may be UNRELIABLE because it was based on mothers’ reports of their infants. Some mothers might have been less sensitive to their infant’s protests and therefore been less likely to report them.
(-) BIASED because it only included infants from a working-class population (may not GENERALISE to other social groups)
(-) BIASED because it only included infants from individualist cultures - infants from collectivist cultures may form attachments in a different way
(-) Lacks TEMPORAL VALIDITY - conducted in the 1960s, parental care has changed since then - more women go to work, more men stay at home
(-) Stage theories are INFLEXIBLE - do not take into account individual differences - some infants might form multiple attachment first, rather than single attachment

Question 15

The role of the father

Answer 15

Some research says fathers provide play and stimulation to complement the role of the mother (providing emotional support) and that both are crucial to a child’s wellbeing.
Other research shows no distinction (growing up in a single female, or same-sex parent family has no effect on development - the role of the father is not important)
Schaffer and Emerson found that fathers were less likely to be PAFs (spend less time with infant). Men might not be psychologically equipped to form an intense attachment because they lack emotional sensitivity
Biologically, the female hormone OXYTOCIN underlies caring behaviour - women are more orientated to interpersonal goals than men.
Might be due to societal norms - sensitivity to the needs of others is a feminine quality
However, men do form attachments with infants. 75% of infants had an attachment with their father at 18 months. In a single-parent family, the father adopts the maternal role, is the PAF and is a nurturing attachment figure

Question 16

The Strange Situation

Answer 16

Methodology used by Ainsworth et al. (1970) to investigate differences in attachment. It was a CONTROLLED OBSERVATION which took place in a room furnished with toys
It was a series of three-minute episodes:
- Mother and baby
- Stranger enters
- Mother leaves
- Mother returns etc.
They recorded an infant’s:
- Proximity seeking
- Stranger anxiety
- Separation protest
- Reunion joy

Question 17

Type A - Insecure-Avoidant

Answer 17

20% of babies
Largely ignore their caregiver, play independently, explore the room.
There is no distress when caregiver leaves (low levels of SEPARATION PROTEST), and the infant ignores the caregiver’s return (low levels of REUNION JOY). The baby is distressed when left alone, but is comforted by the stranger (low levels of STRANGER ANXIETY)
Caregiver and stranger treated the same way

Question 18

Type B- Secure Attachment

Answer 18

70% of babies
Play happily when the caregiver is present (caregiver is a safe base), explores the room, plays with toys.
Distress shown when caregiver leaves (high levels of SEPARATION PROTEST) and seek immediate contact when they return (high levels of REUNION JOY). Wary of strangers (high levels of STRANGER ANXIETY) but accepts some comfort from them when the caregiver is absent

Question 19

Type C - Insecure-Resistant

Answer 19

10% of babies
Fussy and cry more than other babies. Do not explore, do not play with toys, are very clingy.
Distressed when the caregiver leaves (extremely high levels of SEPARATION PROTEST), but they resist comfort when they return (low levels of REUNION JOY). They resist the stranger’s attempts to make contact (extremely high levels of STRANGER ANXIETY).

Question 20

Evaluation of the Strange Situation

Answer 20

(+) Has been REPLICATED many times (easy to replicate as it has a high level of control and standardised procedures). Successfully done in many different cultures
(-) Methodology developed in the US (may be CULTURALLY BIASED) - healthy attachment in the US might not be the same in other cultures. In Germany, children are encouraged to be independent (crying is seen as being spoilt) - these children show less separation anxiety and are classed as avoidant
(-) VALIDITY is questionable - proximity seeking could be insecure rather than secure
(-) GENDER BIASED - only ever carried out with mothers. Children might have different attachment styles to different parents. The Strange Situation measures a child’s attachment to an individual, rather than overall. Main and Weston (1981) found that children behave differently depending on which parent they are with.
(-) Lacks ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY - an artificial study that does not reflect the infant’s real life behaviour - attachment behaviours are stronger in lab settings than home environments

Question 21

Cross Cultural Variations in Attachment

Answer 21

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988)
Conducted a meta-analysis of 32 studies into attachment. All studies used the Strange Situation. All babies were under 24 months.
The studies were conducted in 8 countries: some individualistic cultures (USA, UK, Germany), and some collectivist cultures (Japan, China, Israel)

Question 22

Findings of the meta-analysis about Cross Cultural Variations in Attachment

Answer 22

• Secure Attachment was the most common attachment style in all of the countries
• The second most comment was insecure-avoidant, except in Israel and Japan, where avoidant was rare, but resistant was common
• The lowest % of secure attachments was in China
• The highest % of secure attachments was in UK
• The highest % of insecure-avoidant attachments was in West Germany
• Variations within cultures were 1.5x greater than variation between cultures.

Similarities between cultures show that caregiver and infant interactions have universal characteristics (partly instinctive).
Differences between cultures show that cultural differences play an important role in attachment styles.
Differences within cultures show that sub-cultural differences (social class etc.) play an important role too

Question 23

Evaluation of Cultural Variation in Attachment

Answer 23

(+) A meta-analysis = large sample = high VALIDITY
(-) The Strange Situation was developed in the US, so may not be valid in other cultures (CULTURALLY BIASED)
(-) Infants from Israel lived on a Kibbutz (closed community) and did not come into contact with strangers (explains why STRANGER ANXIETY was so high and why they were classed as resistant)
(-) Does not compare cultures, but countries. The sub-cultures in countries have different child-rearing practices. Tokyo = similar attachment styles to USA, more rural areas of Japan = many more insecure-resistant infants
(-) All the studies look at attachments with mothers - infants might have different attachment styles with each parent. The Strange Situation measures a child’s attachment to an individual, not overall. Main and Weston (1981) found that children behave differently depending on which parent they are with