Attachment studies Flashcards
Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment
-Aim
To assess whether there was a pattern formation that was common to all infants
Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment
-Procedure
- Longitudinal study with 60 newborn babies and their mothers from Glasgow
- Pair were studied each month for the 1st year and again at 18 months
- Naturalistic observations were used to collect the data, as well as interviews with the mothers to gain information about who the baby responded to the most etc.
- Attachment was measured in separation protest and stranger anxiety
Separation protest and Stranger anxiety
Separation protest- Seen in everyday situations when the baby was left alone
Stranger anxiety- Seen by the researcher attempting to approach the baby to see its reaction
Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment
-Findings
- Most infants showed separation protest at 6-8 months, with stranger anxiety a month later
- Stronger attachments resulted in parents who responded to the child’s needs quickly and often
- 39% of infant’s main attachments were not to the main carer
Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment
-Conclusions
Everyone goes through the same attachment process at the same time, suggesting the process is biological and not learned by the child
Ainsworth’s Strange Situation
-Aim
To assess how infants between 9 and 18 months react to different situations of mild stress including caregiver separation
Ainsworth’s Strange Situation
-Procedure
- The strange situation consisted of 8 ‘episodes’ whereby the caregiver and stranger would carry out standardized behaviours, and the infants reaction to these would be assessed and recorded
- In total, 106 infants were videotaped and assessed
- The testing environment was in a laboratory divided into 16 squares that helped to track secure base movement
- These 5 categories were recorded:
1. Proximity + contact seeking behaviour
2. Contact maintaining behaviour
3. Proximity + interaction avoiding behaviours
4. Contact + interaction-resisting behaviours
5. Search behaviours - Every 15 seconds, the category of behaviour displayed was recorded and scored on an intensity of 1 to 7 (time sampling)
Ainsworth’s Strange Situation
-Findings
- Type A = 15% of infants were classed as insecure-avoidant
- Type B = 70% were regarded as secure in their attachments
- Type C = 15% of the infants were fussy and irritable, even with their mother there
Ainsworth’s Strange Situations
-Findings of attachments (Avoidant)
P-Infant is indifferent towards caregiver and play isn’t affected by presence or absence
R-Infant is unresponsive when caregiver returns
E-Infant freely explores
S-Infant is unconcerned by mother’s absence and avoidant of both caregiver and stranger equally
S-Infant avoids stranger
Ainsworth’s Strange Situations
-Findings of attachments (secure)
P-Infant will show toys to caregiver and play with them
R-Infant quickly calms down when caregiver returns
E-Infant plays happily when caregiver is present
S-Infant distressed when caregiver leaves
S-Infant is avoidant of stranger, but friendly when caregiver is present
Ainsworth’s Strange Situations
-Findings of attachments (resistant)
P-Infant is upset, tearful and unwilling to explore, even when caregiver is present
R-On caregivers return, the infant shows a mixed reaction of clinginess and resistance to caregiver
E-Limited exploration with caregiver and stranger
S-Infant is very distressed when caregiver leaves
S-Infant actively resists stranger’s attempts to comfort them
Cultural variations in attachments
- > Including Van Ljzendoom
- Aim
To investigate the proportion of different attachment types in different countries
Cultural variations in attachments
- > Including Van Ljzendoom
- Procedure
- A meta-analysis of 32 studies from more than 8 countries were taken and analysed
- All of these studies used the standardised ‘strange situation’ procedure
- All studies compared at least 35 mother-infant pairs so these were relatively large samples (infants were below the age of 2)
Cultural variations in attachments
- > Including Van Ljzendoom
- Findings
- Overall attachment types were:
- > Type A (avoidant) = 21%
- > Type B (securely attached) = 67%
- > Type C (resistant) = 12%
- In all countries, type B was the most common types, suggesting that secure attachments are the norm
- Intra-cultural differences were often greater than inter-cultural differences
Cultural variations in attachments
- > Including Van Ljzendoom
- Conclusions
Data suggests differences between cultures in attachment styles
Cultural variations in attachments
- > Including Van Ljzendoom
- Findings (quantitative)
W.Germany- secure-57%, avoidant-35%, resistant-8%
Japan- secure-68%, avoidant-5%, resistant-27%
Great Britain- secure-75%, avoidant-22%, resistant-3%
Lorenz imprinting study (1935)
-Aim
To investigate the processes animals undertake when they hatch, and how they follow the first large moving object they see
Lorenz imprinting study (1935)
-Procedure
- Lorenz split a clutch of greylag geese eggs into half, and volunteered himself to be the caregiver for half
- He put the eggs into an incubator and made sure he was the first object they saw
- The mother looked after the other half
- Lorenz marked the goslings, put them all into an unturned box and observed whether they went straight to their biological mother or their human one
Lorenz imprinting study (1935)
-Findings
- Immediately after hatching, the goslings started following their respective mothers
- Lorenz noticed how imprinting would only occur within a set time period of between 4 and 25 hours after hatching
Lorenz imprinting study (1935)
-Conclusions
-Although humans do not imprint onto the first moving image in their vision, it does outline how animals are able to build attachments much quicker
Harlow maternal deprivation study (1958)
-Aim
To test the learning theory of attachment and determine if comfort or food was the most important attachment factor
Harlow maternal deprivation study (1958)
-Procedure
- Two types of surrogate mothers were used-> a ‘wire’ monkey and a ‘soft’ monkey
- 16 Rhesus monkeys were used->4 in each of the conditions below:
1. A cage containing wire monkeys producing milk + cloth monkey producing no milk
2. A cage containing a wire monkey producing no milk + cloth monkey producing milk
3. A cage containing wire monkey producing milk
4. A cage containing cloth monkey producing milk - The monkeys were frightened by a loud sound to test for mother preference during stress + a larger case was used to determine how much exploring they would do
Harlow maternal deprivation study (1958)
-Findings
- Monkeys preferred contact with the cloth monkey regardless of whether she produced milk. They spent the vast majority of time seeking comfort, not food
- Monkeys with cloth monkey were likely to explore further afield
Harlow maternal deprivation study (1958)
-Conclusions
The comforted monkeys were less stressed and more likely to explore and were healthier than the food monkeys
