Attachment P1 Flashcards
attachment def
A strong, enduring, emotional and reciprocal bond between two people (especially in infant and caregiver).
= our primary attachment is usually with our primary caregiver/ attachment figure
Reciprocity def
A description of how two people interact. ‘Turn-taking’
= Caregiver-infant interaction is reciprocal in that both participants respond to each other’s signals and elicit a response from the other.
-> Babies use ‘alert phases’ in which they signal (e.g make eye contact) that they are ready for a spell of interaction.
Interactional Synchrony def
When (usually caregiver-infant) reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a coordinated, synchronized way.
(the temporal co-ordination of microlevel social behaviour)
Support for interactional synchrony
1) Meltzoff and Moore
PROCEDURE: Observed interactional synchrony in 2-4 week-old infants. An adult displayed 1 of three in facial expressions for one of three distinctive gestures. The child’s response was filmed and identified by independent observers.
FINDINGS: An association was found between the expression/ gesture of the adult and the expression/ gesture of the baby.
CONC: Therefore, supporting interactional synchrony as it suggests there is a significant association between married behaviours of babies and the caregiver.
2) Isabella et al
= Supported interactional synchrony. They observed 30 mothers and infants together assessing the degree of synchrony and quality of mother- infant attachment. They found that high levels of synchrony were found positively correlated with better quality of mother-infant attachment. These findings suggest interactional synchrony is a key, innate feature of infants. Indicating that it may be a key fundamental development to a healthy attachment.
Support for Reciprocity
THE STILL FACE EXPERIMENT
= During the procedure, both caregiver and infant interactions/conversations was suspended (‘still face’). This resulted in distress and eventually withdrawal from the infant. This shows the importance of reciprocity between caregiver and infant in order to ensure a quality attachment is developed and that the infant develops a healthy mental state.
Criticisms for the support of Interactional synchrony + reciprocity
1) Lack of consistent evidence
= Meltzoff and Moore’s research was further researched showing it difficult to replicate their findings. This challenges the reliability of interactional synchrony as a key aspect in securing the attachment.
2) Most of the research is correlational
=Reasearch mainly focuses on looking at a relationship between caregiver interactions and the quality of the attachment. However, cause and effect cannot be established as it may be the high-quality attachment leading to the high levels of interactional synchrony/ reciprocity.
attachment behaviours
-seeking proximity: a young baby may watch their caregiver carefully and cry if they move too far away. An older baby may crawl after their attachment figure.
-separation anxiety: A young infant may show distress when the caregiver leaves the room .
-joy on reunion: Welcome back their attachment figure
-stranger distress: Wariness of those not known to them.
-general orientation towards caregiver: The baby may direct their attention towards their caregiver who will reciprocate.
Silly
Salmon
Jumped
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Grandly
Schaffer + Emerson’s research to produce the stages
=Wanted to investigate the gradual development of attachments
- Studied 60 babies from Glasgow whom they visited monthly (in their own homes) for the first year, and again at 18 months.
- Used observations and interviews to conduct their research and used separation anxiety and stranger distress as their behavioural measurements.
FINDINGS:
= the stages and their first attachment figure…
65% -> mother
3% -> father
27% -> both
40% -> non-primary caregiver (e.g nanny) = NOT the person they spent the most time with but the one who responds most sensitively.
Schaffer and Emerson’s Stages of Attachment
1) Asocial Stage (0-6 weeks approx)
-Infants produce similar responses to all objects whether animate or inanimate.
-Bias towards human-like stimuli and prefer to look at faces and eyes.
2) Indiscriminate Attachments (6 weeks to 6 months approx)
= Babies become more sociable.
-They can tell apart familiar and unfamiliar people
-Prefer to be in human company.
-Allow strangers to look after them without becoming distressed as long as the stranger provides adequate care.
3) Specific Attachments (7 months onwards approx)
= This is characterised by the commencement of clear attachment behaviours being observed (inc seeking proximity. separation anxiety, joy on reunion, stranger distress and general orientation towards caregiver).
4) Multiple Attachments (10/11 months approx)
= Additional attachments formed with non-caregivers , such as siblings –Depends upon how many consistent relationships the child has.
(Some believe the strongest attachment remains with the mother, other believe all attachments are equivalent).
Evaluation of Schaffer and Emerson’s Stages of Attachment
Pros:
1) Real world application
= In day care (where babies are cared for outside of their homes by a non-family adult). In the Indiscriminate Attachment stage, day care is likely to be straightforward as babies can be comforted by any skilled adult. However. Schaffer and Emerson’s research tells us that da care may be problematic when young babies start day care as they are placed in the care of unfamiliar adults. This means that parents’ use of day care can be planned using these stages - giving it value as it can be applied to real life situations.
2) High ecological validity
= Infants were observed in a natural environment - being their own homes- meaning that their responses to a caregiver were likely to be accurate. This means that any findings concluded by Schaffer and Emerson are likely to be valid due to high ecological validity.
Cons:
1) Biased observer
= The mothers were asked to be the ‘observers’ meaning they were unlikely to be objective as they could have been biased in terms of what they noticed and reported. For example, they might not have noticed when their baby was showing signs of distress/anxiety, or may have misremembered it. Therefore, even if observed naturally, the babies behaviours may not have been accurately recorded.
2) Poor evidence for Asocial stage
= Young babies have poor co-ordination and are fairly immobile. If babies less than 2 months do feel anxiety in everyday situations, they might have displayed this in quite subtle, hard-to-observe ways. This made it difficult for mothers to observe and report back to the researchers on signs of anxiety and attachment in this age group. Therefore, babies may actually be quite social at this age but, because of flawed methods, appear to be asocial.
Against the importance of attachment to father
1) Bowlby -> father as a supplementary> primary attachment figure
-claims a Monotropic Attachment (Infants have an innate and inborn capacity to attach primarily to a single caregiver or attachment figure) = mother
…because mothers are responsible for the development of infants’ Internal Working Model.
2) Christianson-> difference in behavioural style effects child’s perception on who to go to when experiencing mental distress
fathers : playful and encourage risk taking -> child seeks them when in a content emotional state
mothers : soothing/ caring -> child seeks them out when experiencing emotional distress
3) Hrdy -> fathers less suitable as primary attachment figures as they are less able to detect low level infant distress than mothers.
4) Golombok -> same sex families
- children who grow up in single or same-sex parent families do not develop any differently from those in two-parent heterosexual families. This suggests that the father’s role as a secondary attachment figure is not important
BatsCanHoldGuns
For the importance of attachment to father
1) Geiger -> father’s behavioural style is different but crucial
- fathers: playmates
- mothers : caregivers
BUT… fathers play is more stimulating, exciting and pleasurable than mothers.
= This suggests although the father’s role may be different, they play a crucial role in the child’s development and overall wellbeing.
2) Grossman -> children who have positive, secure attachments with their fathers aids them in the future:
- better relationships with their peers in adolescence
- display less behavioural problems
- more able to regulate their emotions.
=These findings suggest that the role of the father plays an important role in the development of later attachments and developmental outcomes
imprinting
A form of attachment where offspring follow the first large moving object they see
Lorenz : Imprinting research
Procedure:
- experimented with grey lag geese
- 2 conditions
CONDITION 1 = eggs in an incubator + Lorenz was the first moving object seen by chicks when hatched
CONDITION 2 = eggs placed with mother and allowed to hatch naturally
Findings:
- chicks in condition 1 followed Lorenz as if their mother
- condition 1 chicks displayed mating performances to Lorenz>other geese (psychologically damaged)
- chicks in condition 2 performed mating displays to other geese (psychologically healthy)
- ‘critical period’ in which ranged from 3-38hours after hatching -> after this critical period, if imprinting has not yet occurred, they never will be able to.
Evaluation of Lorenz on attachment
Pos:
1) Evidence replicating Lorenz’s concepts of innate imprinting
=Research Guiton found that chicks who were exposed to a yellow washing up glove for the first few weeks became imprinted on the glove. This supports the notion that young animals imprint during the critical period to any object they first see, even if its not moving. Thus, imprinting is an innate capacity.
2) Practical application for understanding human attachments
= The fact that imprinting only occurs within a brief, set time period influenced Bowlby’s idea of the critical period in human babies which is the specific time period within which an attachment between infants and carer must form.
Neg:
1) Issues of generalisability to humans
= Generalising animal research to humans can be considered problematic as human behaviour is governed by conscious decisions and emotions, whereas this is less relevant to animals, meaning application of animal research to humans is challenged. For example, chicks are more simplistic beings; their attachment behaviours maybe less complex than humans - therefore may be more governed by innate processes, rather than other factors such as emotional connectedness etc. Therefore, confirmation from research on humans in needed before application from animal research can occur.
2) Gution found that despite the chicks imprints on yellow gloves, they eventually learned to prepare to mate with chickens and not the yellow gloves as Lorenz would have predicted.
Harlow’s monkeys
Aim: to demonstrate that ‘contact comfort’ was more important than food
Procedure:
- two wire monkeys with different heads (one covered in cloth)
- over 165 days, 8 rhesus monkeys studied
- split in half, 4 monkeys had milk on the cloth mother/other 4 had milk on the wired mother
- measured infant’s response to being frightened by a mechanical teddy bear + in a playroom with new objects
Findings: (3)
- spent most of their time with cloth monkey, regardless of milk or not
- monkeys would return to cloth mother shortly after receiving milk from wired mother
- all monkeys would cling to cloth mother when frightened and for reassurance during play with new objects
Conc:
- Attachment develops with the person that provides contact comfort, not the person who feeds them.
- Supports ‘critical period’ as the mother had to be introduced to infant monkey within 90 days for an attachment to form.
- Effects of early attachment are long lasting, motherless monkeys developed abnormally and froze/ fled when approached by other monkeys, and were unable to care for their offspring.
Evaluation of Harlow’s experiment
PROS:
1) Long-lasting effects
= Research highlighted the consequences of early attachment experiences, for example motherless monkeys developed abnormally and froze/ fled when approached by other monkeys, and were unable to care for their offspring. Therefore, clearly highlights the importance of sensitive interaction in early life and that it has a long term impact on the ability to form relationships in later life.
2) Practical application
= Argued that although it was an unethical study it can be justified. Harlow’s research clarified our understanding of attachment and led to the assurance of better care for human infants. For example, social workers are able to better understand risk factors in child abuse/ neglect and thus are able to intervene to stop long term issues. Therefore, could argue that the benefits to society outweigh the costs to monkeys involved.
CONS:
1) Ethical issues
= Monkeys experienced long lasting emotional harm as they had difficulty forming peer relations and relationships with offspring, as they had experienced child abuse/ neglect in early life. Therefore, although this study cannot be carried out on humans, due to protection of participants, it is questionable whether it should have been carried out or monkeys.
2) Confounding variables
= The fake mothers varied a lot, not just in having been covered with cloth or bare wire, as they had different heads. It is possible that the reason the infant monkeys preferred one mother was because the cloth monkey had a more attractive head, which closely resembled a monkey. This means the study was lacking internal validity due to this confounding variable- it is hard to draw conclusions that contact comfort was the key aspect that led to the attachment formation.
The Learning Theory (an explanation for attachment )
= Dollard and Miller (their approach is sometimes called ‘cupboard love’ as it emphasizes the importance of the attachment figure as a provider of food) -> aka child learns to love whoever feeds them
1) Classical Conditioning: learning via associations
b4c:
UCS (food) —-> UCR (pleasure)
NS (caregiver) —-> no response
C:
UCS + NS —-> UCR (pleasure)
AC:
CS (caregiver) —-> CR (pleasure)
= Therefore, to a learning theorist this ‘pleasure’ is love (ie an attachment is formed and the caregiver becomes an attachment figure).
2) Operant Conditioning: learning via consequences
= explains why babies cry for comfort
- Crying leads to response from a caregiver (ie feeding).
- As long as the caregiver provides the correct response, the babies crying will be reinforced.
- The baby directs crying for comfort towards the caregiver who responds with the comforting ‘social suppression’ behaviour.
- At the same time the baby is pos reinforced for crying, the caregiver receives negative reinforcement as the crying stops - avoiding this negative consequence.
Therefore, this interplay of mutual reinforcement strengthens an attachment.
Evaluation of the Learning Theory (as an explanation for attachment)
PRO:
1) Conditioning could be involved in some aspects of attachment
= It seems unlikely that the association with food plays a central role in attachment, but conditioning may still play a role. For example, a baby may associate feeling warm and comfortable with the presence of a particular adult, which may influence the baby’s choice of their main attachment figure. Therefore the theory may still be useful in understanding the development of attachments.
CONS:
1) Lack of support from studies on human babies
= Schaffer and Emerson found that babies tended to form their main attachment to their mother regardless of whether she was the one who fed them.
=Isabella et al found that high levels of interactional synchrony predicted the quality of attachment. These factors are not related to food. Therefore, suggesting that food is not the main factor in the formation of human attachments.
2) Lack of support from animal studies
= Lorenz’ geese imprinted on the first moving object they saw regardless of whether the object was associated with food.
=Harlow’s monkeys displayed attachment behaviour towards a soft surrogate mother in preference of the wire one which provided milk. Therefore other factors, other than association with food, are more important in the formation of attachments.
