Attachment MUT Flashcards
Define attachment
A close two-way emotional bond between two individuals in which each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security. Can be recognised by proximity, separation distress, secure-base behaviour and reunion behaviour
Define interactional synchrony
Adults and babies tend to respond in time o sustain communication, they tend to mirror what the other is doing. Example: the caregiver and infant may mirror each others facial expressions, such as both sticking out their tongues
Define reciprocity
its a two-way/mutual process where they elicit a response to the others actions to sustain communication. Involves turn taking. Example: the caregiver may smile at the infant, and in response, the infant may reach out their arms towards the caregiver.
Key study: Interactional synchrony.
- who
-Aim
-Method
-Findings
-Meltzoff and Moore
-Investigate how early infants were able to mirror adults
-6 infants, between 12-21 days old, 3 facial gestures, 1 manual gesture, videoaped responses and scored by observers who didnt know what facial gesture the infants seen
-infants this young were able to mirror all four gestures - suggests that synchronised behaviours are innate
Key study: early mother-infant reciprocity
-who
-method
-findings
-Brazleton et al
-12 mother infant pairs, seen repeatedly over first 4 moths of childs life, videotapes, 3 mins positive interaction, leave for 30 seconds, return for 3 mins whilst sometimes presenting a still, unresponsive face
- positive interactions, babies move in smooth circular patterns. No response, babies became jerky and averted their gaze, then attempting to get their mother attention, finally curled up and lay motionless
‘Describe and evaluate research into caregiver-infant interactions’ (16) essay plan
(+)Supported by research -Meltzoff and Moore (IS). Found that babies expressions and gestures were more likely to mirror those of adults, ability to interact with caregiver is innate, theory has validity
(-)Low population validity - Brazleton = 12 mother infant pairs, M&M = 6 infants, generalise, representative
(+)Reciprocity is supported by research - caregivers actions elicited response from infant, no response = …, theory has validity
(+)Well controlled procedures (WCP)- controlled observation…WCP, interactions filmed from different angles , very fine details can be recorded and analysed later, several researchers can re-watch the video clips as many times , high internal validity
What are the four stages of attachment?
1)Asocial (first few weeks): happier in human presence, particularly those who have a calming affect on them, behaviour to human and non-human objects is quite similar
2)Indiscriminate attachment (2-7 months): preference to humans over inanimate items, familiar>non-familiar, beginning of attachment formation. Will accept attention and affection from all adults equally
3)Specific attachment (from 7 months), separation & stranger anxiety occur. Will have formed a specific attachment (65% mother)
4)Multiple attachment (8-12 months) - begin to form multiple attachments other than their primary (secondary)
Key study: stages of attachment
-who
-aim
-method
-findings
-Schaffer and Emerson
-Investigate the age at which attachment forms
-60 working class families based in Glasgow, visited at home every month for the first year and again at 18months. Mothers were asked questions about their babies reactions when they were separated and if there was stranger anxiety
- by 6-8 months babies had started to show separation and anxiety from their attachment figure indicating attachment had been formed. (65%mother, 3% father, 27% joint and 5% unclassified)
-attachment more likely to be formed to those who display sensitivity and responsiveness rather than who spent the most time or fed them
Evaluation of stages of attachment
(+)supported by research - Schaffer and Emerson … strength because the babies did demonstrate the attachment behaviours associated with each stage and therefore demonstrates these claims are valid
(-)Low population validity - sample consisted only of 60 babies from working class families in Glasgow…may not be representative of middle class families, babies may have different experiences with how much time they spend with mother, farther or nursery- difficult to generalise to all babies (low external) - pattern of development in these children may be different
(+) Longitudinal research- carried out longitudinally (over 18months), same children were followed up and observed regularly (opposed to observing different children - lead to more individual differences). Strength as study doesn’t have issues with individual differences between the ppts acting as confounding variables - findings have internal validity
(-) Self-report data - data was collected from mothers reports of their infants, some mother may be less sensitive or less likely to report their infants protests. some may have given socially desirable answers - not want to disclose their child isn’t upset when they leave. conclusions drawn about the stages of attachment wouldn’t be valid.
The role of the father
-Shaffer & Emerson
-Play
- 3% Schaffer and Emerson 75% by 18 months
- Grossman, longitudinal study on the quality of children’s reactions into their teens, looked at both parents. quality of attachment is less important with the father with the attachment type of teenagers. Quality of fathers play was related to attachment - suggests different roles, more stimulation than nurturing
-Geiger, father=rough play - more exciting but mother = nurturing and affectionate . Both have an important role to play in the development of the child.
Role of the father
-Level of responsiveness
1)Field - When fathers are the primary caregiver (PC) they spend more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than secondary caregiver (SC) fathers. Key to attachment in level of sensitive responsiveness and not the gender
2) Lamb -children prefer interacting with fathers when they are in a positive emotional state but with mothers when they are distressed and need comfort. found, When father become PC he quickly becomes more sensitive to the needs and emotional state of their children
3) Brown et al - investigated father involvement, paternal sensitivity and father-child attachment security at 23 moths and 3 years of age. Involvement and sensitivity influenced father-child attachment security at age 3 - gender is not crucial in predicting the quality of attachment. Rather its the extent of the caregiver involvement.
Evaluation of the role of the father
(+)Practical application, such as male partner involvement in antenatal classes, and the birthing process. valuing fathers more ->be sensitive to their children’s needs ->better social and emotional development. Improves quality of life which reduces problems in later life which reduces costs in legal and health systems.
(-)Not objective social bias may prevent objective. Stereotypes may cause unintentional observer bias when they ‘see’ what they expect rather than reality. Conclusions may lack internal validity and not demonstrate a valid representation of the role of the father.
(+)Longitudinal research- Grossman. The same families were followed up at three time points over a ten-year period. Study will not be affected by confounding variables such as individual differences - high internal.
(-)Low population validity - Schaffer and Emerson. 60 working class families in glasgow. Weak evidence to support the claim that the role of the mother and father is different.
Key study: Animal imprinting Lorenz
-aim
-method
-findings
-Investigate if a certain attachment behaviour is innate/biologically programmed
- large clutch of goose divided randomly: c1(hatched with mother, natural environment) C2(hatch in an incubator with Lorenz present), Lorenz imitated the mothers quacking. To ensure imprintig had occurred he put all the goslings together under an upturned box and allowed them to mix.
- when box was removed the two groups separated to their respective ‘mother’. The followed the first moving thing they saw in the 12-17 hour critical period after hatching.
Key study: Contact comfort Harlow
-aim
-method
-findings
-Investigate the importance of contact comfort in understanding attachment behaviours
-16 rhesus baby monkeys were removed from their real mother very soon after birth. 4 conditions (all in cages): 1-wire milk and cloth, 2-wire and cloth milk, 3-wire milk, 4-cloth milk. Studied for 165 days, all behaviour was recorded including time spent with each mother. There was also fear conditions, where they were presented with scary mechanical animals to observe whether they would use their respective mothers as their safe base.
- All monkeys spent more time with the cloth mother even if she had no milk. They would go to the wire when Hungry, then once fed return to cloth mother for the rest of the day. They used the cloth mother as the ‘safe base’ , it would explore more when the cloth mother was present.
- suggests attachment is not formed with the person that feeds them, but the person offering them contact comfort.
Evaluation of animal studies of attachment
(+) High control - Lorenz, could establish cause and effect. Very high control over extraneous variables, he can be confident that the imprinting on Lorenz or its actual mother is what caused the geese to separate when released from the box. Results unlikely to be effected by confounding variables, can be confident the findings that imprinting occurs shortly after birth is valid
(-) Contradicted by the learning theory - (both studies) claims both findings, claiming instead that attachment is formed through classical and operant conditioning.
(+) Practical applications - strength of Harlow’s research is findings have helped social workers better understand the importance of early attachment to later development. Awareness of the possible long-term effects resulting from infant neglect. Strength as its benefitted human infants
(-)Difficulty of extrapolating generalising to humans - used animals. Lorenz investigated geese and Harlow investigated rhesus monkeys. Due to the differences in the complexity and intelligence and communication in humans. cant help to understand if humans need contact comfort the same way as monkeys or if imprinting is instinctive in humans.
