Attachment next steps

Question 1

Reciprocity.

Answer 1

Caregiver and infant responding to and acknowledging each other

Question 2

Alert phases?

Answer 2

Signals that indicate if the baby is ready for interaction, mothers notice them ⅔ of the time. Involves verbal signals and facial expressions.

Question 3

What did Feldman (2007) find?

Answer 3

Infants show reciprocity from as young as three months old

Question 4

What did Brazelton et al (1975) find?

Answer 4

Both mother and infant can initiate interactions, and they take turns ‘like in a dance’

Question 5

Interactional synchrony.

Answer 5

When the mother and infant interact in such a way that their actions and emotions mirror one another.

Question 6

What did Meltzoff and Moore (1977) find?

Answer 6

The beginning of interactional synchrony is at two weeks old, when a parent made a facial expression or gesture, association was found between that and the infants expression

Question 7

What did Isabella et al (1989) find?

Answer 7

They assessed degree of harmony and quality of mother-infant interaction with 30 mothers and babies, higher harmony was found with a better quality of interaction

Question 8

What was the aim of Schaffer and Emerson’s study?

Answer 8

To investigate how early attachments were formed; in particular at which age they developed

Question 9

What was the procedure of Schaffer and Emerson’s study?

Answer 9

Observation of 60 babies (31m, 29f), from Glasgow and from working-class families.
They were visited at home every month for the first year and again at 18 months.
The researcher measured separation and stranger anxiety

Question 10

What were the results of Schaffer and Emerson’s study?

Answer 10

From 4-8 months: 50% had a ‘specific attachment’: separation anxiety for a particular caregiver.
Attachment tended to be to the most interactive, sensitive caregiver, not the one they’re spending most time with.
By 40 weeks, 80% of babies had specific attachment and 30% had multiple attachments.

Question 11

Separation anxiety

Answer 11

What behaviours the babies show when separated from parents e.g. adult leaving the room

Question 12

Stranger anxiety

Answer 12

Infant’s anxiety response to unfamiliar adults

Question 13

The Asocial stage (0-2 months)

Answer 13

This stage is not ‘asocial’ as the baby is recognising and forming bonds with its carers, but the baby’s behaviour towards non-human objects and humans are quite similar.

Question 14

The Indiscriminate stage (2-7 months)

Answer 14

More observable social behaviour, prefer people (especially familiar adults) to inanimate objects
They do not usually show separation anxiety or stranger anxiety.

Question 15

The Specific attachment stage (7-10 months)

Answer 15

Start to display stranger and separation anxiety
At this point the baby is said to have formed a specific attachment - the primary attachment figure.

Question 16

The multiple attachment stage (10+ months)

Answer 16

They extend their specific attachment to multiple attachments, called secondary attachments.
29% had secondary attachments within a month of forming a primary attachment

Question 17

Factors impacting the relationship with the father

Answer 17

Degrees of sensitivity: how secure the attachment is
Type of attachment with own parents: how the father was interacting with their own parents
Marital intimacy: the relationship with the partner
Supportive co-parenting: the amount of support the father gives to his partner

Question 18

Research implying the father has a distinctive role

Answer 18

Grossman (2002): study into parents’ behaviour and in relation to quality of attachments in children’s teens
How infant attachment affects adolescent attachment is different between mother and father:
Mother: has a general impact
Father: the quality of playtime has an impact

Question 19

Research into fathers as primary carers

Answer 19

Field (1978): filmed 4 month old babies in interaction with (1) primary caregiver mothers, (2) secondary caregiver fathers and (3) primary caregiver fathers.
Primary caregiver fathers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than secondary caregiver fathers - this is important in building attachment with the infant, which shows similarities between (1) and (3)
Fathers can be the more nurturing attachment figure: the key to attachment is the level of responsiveness

Question 20

Imprinting

Answer 20

Newly-hatched goslings will form attachment to the first moving object that they see.

Question 21

What was the aim of Lorenz’s Research (1935)?

Answer 21

Lorenz was interested in seeing who geese form their first attachment to when hatched.

Question 22

What was the procedure of Lorenz’s Research (1935)?

Answer 22

Lorenz randomly divided a clutch of goose eggs. Half of the eggs were hatched with their mother in their natural habitat and the other half of the eggs were hatched in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was Lorenz.

Question 23

What were the results of Lorenz’s Research (1935)?

Answer 23

The incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere whereas the control group hatched in the presence of their mother, followed her. When the two groups were mixed, the control group continued to follow the mother and the experimental group followed Lorenz.
Lorenz also identified a critical period, within which if imprinting does not occur they would never attach themselves to a mother figure.

Question 24

Sexual imprinting case study

Answer 24

Lorenz (1952) described a peacock that had been raised in a reptile house. The first moving thing it saw were giant tortoises. When it grew up, it would only direct courtship behaviour towards giant tortoises

Question 25

What was the aim of Harlow’s Research (1958)?

Answer 25

Harlow observed that new-born monkeys kept alone in a bare cage usually died but that they tended to survive if given something soft like a cloth to cuddle. Harlow wanted to find out the role of contact comfort

Question 26

What was the procedure of Harlow’s Research (1958)?

Answer 26

Harlow placed 16 baby monkeys with two wire model ‘mothers’:
In one condition milk was dispensed by a plain wire mother, In the other it was a cloth-covered wire mother.
He tested the idea that a soft object serves some of the functions of a mother.

Question 27

What were the results of Harlow’s Research (1958)?

Answer 27

They cuddled the soft object in preference to the wire one regardless of which dispensed milk.
‘Contact comfort’: more important than food when it comes to attachment behaviour.

Question 28

Harlow: Maternally deprived monkeys as adults

Answer 28

Harlow followed monkeys who had been deprived to see if the maternal deprivation had a permanent effect.
Severe consequences: monkeys reared with wire were most dysfunctional; but even those with a soft toy did not develop normal social skills, they were aggressive and bred less often, and harmed their children

Question 29

Harlow’s critical period

Answer 29

Harlow found that a mother figure had to be introduced within 90 days to form attachment.
After this time attachment was impossible and the damage done became irreversible.

Question 30

Classical conditioning in attachment

Answer 30

Food is an UCS and pleasure is an UCR as being fed is naturally pleasurable
The caregiver starts as a neutral stimulus, producing a neutral response (indifference)
When the same caregiver provides food the baby begins to associate them with the food
The caregiver becomes a conditioned stimulus, producing a conditioned response of pleasure
Learning theorists would argue that this is love

Question 31

Operant conditioning in attachment

Answer 31

Explains why babies cry for comfort and food
Crying leads to a caregiver response, e.g feeding the baby, if this is correct, crying is positively reinforced and the baby will cry out for the caregiver when they want food
Two way process, caregiver receives negative reinforcement, as crying stops when they feed the baby
The mutual reinforcement strengthens their attachment

Question 32

Cupboard love

Answer 32

Dollard + Miller (1950): caregiver-infant interaction is explained by behaviourism: attachment is learned
Emphasises the importance of a caregiver providing food, children learn to love whoever feeds them

Question 33

Attachment as a secondary drive

Answer 33

Learning theory draws on the concepts of drive reduction.
Hunger can be thought of as a primary drive – it’s an innate, biological motivator
Sears et al. (1957): as caregivers provide food, the primary drive of hunger is generalised to them. Attachment is a secondary drive learned by association between the caregiver and primary drive satisfaction

Question 34

Monotropy

Answer 34

Emphasis on only one particular caregiver, a primary attachment figure
Bowlby believed that the more time a baby spent with a ‘mother-figure’ (not necessarily biological) the better.

Question 35

Continuity

Answer 35

Constant and predictable child care leads to better attachment quality

Question 36

Accumulated separation

Answer 36

Separation will be added up, the more separation the poorer the attachment

Question 37

Bowlby link to evolution

Answer 37

Attachment is an innate, evolutionary drive, to help infants survive

Question 38

Social releasers

Answer 38

Babies are born with a set of innate ‘cute’ behaviours, smiling, giggling, reaching out, proximity seeking, etc
These are social releasers: activating the adult attachment system, making adults feel love towards the baby.

Question 39

Bowlby’s critical period

Answer 39

Bowlby said that the critical period for human infants is around two years
More of a sensitive than critical period: if an attachment is not formed, it will be much harder to form one later.

Question 40

Internal working model

Answer 40

A child forms a mental representation of their relationship with their primary caregiver.
This can affect how they perceive and form later relationships, including friendships, romantic relationships, and their own parenting

Question 41

What was the Aim of Ainsworth’s strange situation?

Answer 41

To observe key attachment behaviours as means of assessing the quality of attachment to a caregiver

Question 42

What was the procedure of Ainsworth’s strange situation?

Answer 42

Observation: 100 middle-class Americans + infants, controlled, covert, structured, non-participant

Question 43

What were the seven procedural stages of Ainsworth’s strange situation?

Answer 43

Infant encouraged to explore (testing secure base)
Stranger enters, tries to interact with infant (testing stranger anxiety)
Caregiver leaves the infant and stranger together (testing separation and stranger anxiety)
Caregiver returns and the stranger leaves (testing reunion behaviour)
Caregiver leaves the room (testing separation anxiety)
Stranger returns (testing stranger anxiety)
Caregiver returns to the room (testing reunion behaviour)

Question 44

What were the five observed behaviours in Ainsworth’s strange situation?

Answer 44

Proximity seeking: staying close to the caregiver.
Exploration and secure-base behaviours: confidence to explore, using their caregiver as a secure base
Stranger anxiety: signs of anxiety when a stranger approaches.
Separation anxiety: signs of protests when separated from the caregiver.
Responses to reunion: reactions when caregiver returns

Question 45

Ainsworth findings: Secure attachment

Answer 45

Type B: 60-75% of toddlers
Frequent proximity seeking and secure base behaviour.
Moderate separation distress and stranger anxiety.
Require and accept comfort when reunited.

Question 46

Ainsworth findings: Insecure avoidant attachment

Answer 46

Type A: 20-25% of toddlers
Explore freely and do not seek proximity or show secure base behaviour.
Little or no separation distress and stranger anxiety.
Do not require comfort when united.

Question 47

Ainsworth findings: Insecure resistant attachment

Answer 47

Type C: 3% of toddlers
Seek greater proximity than others so explore less.
High stranger and separation distress.
Resist comfort when reunited

Question 48

What was the aim of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study?

Answer 48

To find out proportions of the three attachment types across a range of countries using meta analysis. To compare areas within the same countries to investigate variations within a culture.

Question 49

What was the procedure of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study?

Answer 49

A meta-analysis of 32 studies in 8 different countries that replicated Ainsworth’s to investigate the proportions of different attachment types.

Question 50

What were the results of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study?

Answer 50

Between countries:
Secure attachment: most common overall, differences between countries (75% in Britain, 50% in China)
Insecure-avoidant: most common in Germany, least common in Japan.
Insecure-resistant: least common overall, differences between countries. (3% in Britain vs. 30% in Israel)

Within countries:
Variation within the same country could be greater than between countries.
In the USA: one study found only 46% securely attached while another one recorded 90%
Conclusions: Secure attachment is the norm in many cultures, supporting the idea that attachment is innate and universal. However, the research clearly shows that cultures have an influence on attachment type.

Question 51

Italian study: Simonella et al

Answer 51

76 12-month olds were assessed, 50% were secure and 36% were insecure-avoidant.
This is a lower rate of secure attachment than has been found in many studies
It’s much more recent: more mothers at work and use of professional child care

Question 52

Korean study: Jin et al

Answer 52

Assessed 87 children.
Most of the insecurely attached were resistant and only one child was avoidant.
The distribution is similar to the distribution of attachment types found in Japan. Both are collectivistic

Question 53

What causes maternal deprivation?

Answer 53

Separation from caregiver and failure to substitute, leading to extended separation within the critical period

Question 54

Research into the effect of Maternal deprivation on development

Answer 54

Poor Intellectual Development:
Goldfarb (1947) found lower IQ in institutionalised children v.s. fostered children (received greater care)
Poor Emotional development:
Affectionless psychopathy: inability to experience strong emotion for others; prevents normal relationships
Affectionless psychopathy is associated with criminality.

Question 55

Procedure of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study

Answer 55

The sample consisted of 44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing.
All ‘thieves’ were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy characterised by lack of affection, lack of guilt about their actions and lack of empathy for their victims.
Their families were interviewed to establish whether they had prolonged early separation from their mothers.
A control group of non-criminal but emotionally disturbed young people was set up to see how often maternal separation/deprivation occurred in the children who were not thieves.

Question 56

Findings of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study

Answer 56

Bowlby (1944) found that 14 of 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths.
Of these 14, 12 had experienced prolonged separation from their caregivers in the first two years of their lives.
Of the control group, only 2 of the 44 had experienced long separations.
It was concluded that prolonged separation/deprivation causes affectionless psychopathy

Question 57

What was the aim of Rutter’s English and Romanian Adoptee (ERA) Study?

Answer 57

Comparing the difference between British and Romanian adoptees’ later development

Question 58

What was the procedure of Rutter’s English and Romanian Adoptee (ERA) Study?

Answer 58

169 Romanian orphans later adopted in Britain
Their physical, cognitive and emotional development was assessed at ages 4, 6, 11 and 15 years.
A group of 52 British children adopted around the same time were also assessed as the control group.

Question 59

What were the findings of Rutter’s English and Romanian Adoptee (ERA) Study?

Answer 59

When arriving in the UK: 50% showed signs of delayed intellectual development, majority were in very poor health condition
At age 11: different rates of recovery, depending on age of adoption.
These differences were still present when tested again at later ages (Beckett et al. 2010)
Adopted before the age of 6 months: rarely displayed disinhibited attachment.
Adopted after the age of 6 months: showed disinhibited attachment:

Question 60

Disinhibited attachment

Answer 60

Characteristics include attention seeking, clinginess, social behaviours to both strangers and non-strangers.

Question 61

What was the aim of the Bucharest early intervention project?

Answer 61

To compare children who had/had not been raised in institutions

Question 62

What was the procedure of the Bucharest early intervention project?

Answer 62

Assessed attachment in 95 children aged 21-31 months who had spent most of their lives in institutional care
Compared to a control group of 50 children who had never lived in an institution.
Their attachment types were measured using the Strange Situation.

Question 63

What were the findings of the Bucharest early intervention project?

Answer 63

The control group had a majority of secure attachment, and very few showed disinhibited attachment. The institutionalised group had only 19% secure attachment and 44% of them showed disinhibited attachment

Question 64

Research into the impact of early attachment on later childhood

Answer 64

Mullis et al. (1999): in late childhood attachments to peers reflect those made to parents in infancy
Myron-Wilson and Smith (1998): assessed attachment type and bullying involvement using questionnaires in 196 children from London. Secure children were far less likely to be involved in bullying.

Question 65

Research into the impact of early attachment on romantic relationships

Answer 65

Kirkpatrick and Davis (1994) also studied 300 dating couples for three years and found that the securely attached amongst them also had the most satisfying and long-lasting relationships.
IWM Suggests that a lack of affection as an infant leads to a struggle to show affection in relationships
Suggests we use our parent’s relationships as a model
Avoidant = less intimate, distant
Resistant = clingy, distrustful, controlling
Secure = healthy relationship

Question 66

Research into the impact of early attachment on parenting

Answer 66

Insecure attachment leads to separation anxiety and clinginess with own children
Hazan and Shaver - Parents are able to have a healthy relationship with their children
IWM argues that we are likely to emulate the parenting style used by our parents