Attachment Part 1

Question 1

attachment definition

Answer 1

• affectional tie binding individuals across space and time.

○ Our first attachment is to the person who is providing the most care to us

-Caregiver has to be present before space and time in order to develop attachment

Question 2

Harlow

Answer 2

○ Argue attachment derived from contact and comfort
○ Baby would run to the cuddly monkey
○ Contribution: the reason we have attachment is b/c of our evolutionary history

• Reproductive advantage
• We see the attachment develop behaviorally after baby begins to crawl

-The tendency to stay close and in contact with the caregiver

Question 3

Freud

Answer 3

• argue a case of classical conditioning
• Baby gets attached to mother b/c she feeds the baby which feels good

-Via the satisfaction of being fed the baby notices the mother is there always = develops an attachment to mom
Attachment derived from feeding = disprove

Question 4

Bowlby

Answer 4

○ Baby 1: not genetically inclined to be attached
○ Baby 2: genetically inclined to be attached
-Most likely to survive and reproduce
- Some will express it some will not = due to experience

○ Idea - Infant bonding moment : mothers need skin to skin contact with baby at birth
-Creates a bond, but not attachment (attachment develops with time)

Question 5

Development of attachment milestones

Answer 5

• 3 mons: smiling
• 6 to 7 mons: stranger wariness
• 12 to 13 mons: stranger anxiety

Question 6

what’s the hallmark of attachment

Answer 6

secure base

Question 7

individual differences in attachment

Answer 7

kids develop different qualities of attachment

Question 8

strange situation procedures

Answer 8

-(increasingly stressed the baby, to see the behavioral attachment system)
• Looking at the attachment system to see if it works for when is high in demand

1. Mother, infant and toys
2. Stranger enters
   ○ Some babies return to caregiver, others are less concerned
3. Mother departs
   ○ 1st stressor
4. Mother returns (stranger leaves)
5. Mother departs (now baby is all alone)
6. Stranger returns (disappointing infant?)
7. Mother returns (stranger leaves)

Each of these episodes last 3 minutes unless, during those periods when the mother (or father, or familiar caregiver) is gone the infant becomes extremely upset, in which case the episode is curtailed (sometimes radically–after 10-15 seconds).

Question 9

disorganized attachment

Answer 9

• Children who were subject to child abuse kept showing secure attachment
• No coherent Strategy: appear dazed and disoriented upon reunion
• May combine multiple components of other attachment patterns, almost as if scanning channels (of behavior) trying to find something—anything—that will facilitate connectedness to parent without incurring cost.
• Ds may show avoidance and resistance

-Ds may freeze, seeming too psychologically stress to escape or be uncertain what to do

Question 10

the heritability of attachment security

Answer 10

Several studies show that whether or not an infant is secure or insecure is NOT heritable: Rates of concordance across MZ & DZ twin pairs (who share 100% & 50% of their genes, respectively) are not different, as would be the case were security heritable (i.e., MZ>DZ). But negative emotionality is heritable! Temperament is NOT security.