Attachment Studies Flashcards
Caregiver-infant interactions
Reciprocity- responding to the actions of another with a similar action, where the actions of one partner elicit a response from the other partner. The responses are not necessary similar as in interaction as synchrony. Brazelton argued that this is an important precursor to later communications.
Interactional synchrony- when 2 ppl interact they tend to mirror what the other is doing in terms of facial and body movements. This includes imitating emotions as well as behaviours. This is described as a synchrony. Meltzoff and Moore conducted the first systematic study of interactional synchrony. They found that infants as young as 2-3 weeks old imitated specific facial and hand gestures. An adult model was used who displayed 3 facial or hand gestures where the fingers moved in a sequence. A dummy was placed in the infants mouth to prevent any response. Following the display the dummy was removed and the child’s expression was filmed on video. They found an association between the child’s behaviour and the adults behaviour.
Real or pseudo imitation? Meltzoff and Moore claimed that this imitation is intentional. However Piaget believed that true imitation only developed towards the end of the 1st year and anything before this was a type of ‘response training’. However, there is evidence to support M&Ms views by Murray and Trevarthen. They had infants play with their mothers in real time and then leave and a video was played of the mother, so it was not responding to the infant. The result was acute distress, this shows hat the infant was actively eliciting a response.
The development of attachment.
Schaffer and Emerson. Glasgow study. They looked at 60 infants from mainly working class homes in Glasgow. At the start of the study the infants ranged from 5-23 weeks old, and they were studied until they were 1 year old. The mothers were visited every four weeks. At each visit the mothers reported their infants response to separation in 7 everyday situations, they also described the intensity of any protest, which was rated on a 4 point scale. Finally the mother reported who the protest was directed at.
Schaffer and Emerson used these results to develop their stages of attachment.
1) Indiscriminate attachment.
Birth- 2 months infants produce a similar response to all objects, whether animate or inanimate.
2) the beginnings of attachment
Around 4 months infants become more social. They prefer human company to inanimate objects and can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar ppl, but can be comforted by anyone and don’t have stranger anxiety.
3) discriminate attachment
7 months. Show separation anxiety, and a special joy at reunion with their primary attachment figure. Also start to display stranger anxiety. Found quality of relationship mattered more than who the infant spent the most time with when forming an attachment.
4) multiple attachments
Very soon after the main attachment has formed the infant also develops a wider circle of multiple attachments. S+E found that 6 months after forming a discriminate attachment 78% had formed multiple attachments.
Animal studies on attachment
Lorenz 1935.
Procedure- took a clutch of gosling eggs and split the, into 2 groups. One group had their natural mother while the others were placed in an incubator and the first living thing they saw was lorenz, and the soon started following him around. To this effect of imprinting he marked the 2 groups to distinguish the, and placed them together, and he found they had imprinted on him.
Findings- the goslings quickly divided themselves, one group following the mother and the other following Lorenz. Lorenz’S group showed no recognition of their mother. He noted that imprinting is limited to the critical period. If a young animal is not exposed to a moving object in this time it will not imprint, imprinting is a process similar to attachment that binds an animal to a caregiver in a special relationship. However imprinting does not occur in all animals.
Long Lasting effects- imprinting is irreversible and long lasting. Imprinting also effected later mate preferences (sexual imprinting) animals will try to mate with the same kind of object upon which they were imprinted.
Harlow (1959)
Procedure- 2 wire mothers each with a different head. One wire monkey was wrapped in soft cloth. 8 infant rhesus monkeys were split into 2 conditions, with 4 having the milk bottle on the cloth mother and 4 having the milk bottle on the wire mother. During that time the amount of time spent with the different mothers was measured and their reactions to being scared.
Findings- all 8 monkeys spent the most time with the cloth covered mother whether they had a feeding bottle or not. Those fed by the wire spent a very short time there and would return to the cloth mother. When frightened all monkeys clung to the cloth covered mother. And when playing with new objects would keep one foot on the CCmother. This suggests attachments aren’t formed with the person that feeds them but those who offer contact comfort.
Long Lasting effects- the monkeys were socially abnormal,they froze or fled when approached by other monkeys. They also were sexually abnormal, did not cradle own babies or show normal mating behaviour. Harlow also found a critical period of around 3 months.
Explanations of attachment: Learning theory.
Learning theory is the name given to a group of explanations (classical and operant conditioning), which explain behaviour in terms of learning rather than any inborn tendencies.- all ‘blank slates’
Classical conditioning
Investigated by Pavlov. In the case of attachment be innate stimulus is food which produces the unlearnt response of pleasure. Food is an unconditioned stimulus and pleasure is an unconditioned response. The mother is a neutral stimulus. As she is always present with the food, she becomes a conditioned stimulus. Just seeing this person now causes the infant to receive a felling of pleasure (conditioned response).
Operant conditioning.
First investigated by Skinner.
Dollard and Miller offer an explanation of attachment based on operant conditioning and drive reduction theory. A hungry infant feels discomfort so there is a drive to reduce this. When the infant is fed The drive is reduced and this produces a feeling of pleasure. This is positive reinforcement. This behaviour leads to being repeated as it supplies the reward. The mother feeding becomes a secondary reinforcer and is treated as a reward herself.
Social learning theory.
Further development of learning theory by Bandura.
Believe that children observe their parent’s affectionate behaviour and imitate that. Parents would also deliberately instruct their children about how to behave in relationships and reward appropriate behaviour.
Explanations of attachment: Bowlby’s theory.
Bowlby’s monotropic theory (1969)
Why attachment forms
Lorenz’s research on imprinting led Bowlby to believe a similar process was operating in humans. Attachment behaviour evolved because it serves an important survival function. It is important that attachments are formed in 2 directions- parents must also be attached to their infants in order to ensure they are cared for and they survive.
How attachment forms
Babies have an innate drive to become attached. Innate behaviours have a critical period in which they must form. This is around 3-6 months. Bowlby proposed attachment was determined by sensitivity.
Social releases are important during this time to ensure that attachments develop from parent to infant. Bowlby believed one important mechanism in this process are social releasers, such as having big eyes and smiling, which elicit caregiving. These are innate mechanisms.
Bowlby proposed that infants have one special emotional bond, monotropy, which is the primary attachment relationship. This is often the biological mother, but not always.
Consequences of attachment.
The importance of monotropy is that an infant has one special relationship and forms a mental representation of this relationship called an internal working model. This acts as a template for all future relationships as it generates expectations about what an intimate, loving relationship is like.
Ainsworth’s strange situation: types of attachment
Procedure:
Consists of eight episodes, each designed to highlight certain behaviours. Each episode was three minutes long. 1-parent and infant play. 2-parent sits while infant plays (secure base). 3- stranger enters. 4-parent leaves. 5- parent returns, stranger leaves. 6- parent leaves. 7- stranger enters. 8- parent returns.
Findings:
Ainsworth et al. found 3 main patterns of behaviour in the infants observed. They came up with three different attachment types. Secure attachment, insecure avoidant, and insecure resistant.
Secure attachment
High willingness to explore. Moderate stranger anxiety. Moderate separation anxiety. Enthusiastic behaviour at reunion. 66%
Insecure avoidant
High willingness to explore. Low stranger anxiety. Low separation anxiety. Avoids contact at reunion. 22%
Insecure resistant.
Low willingness to explore. High stranger anxiety. Distressed at separation. Seeks and rejects at reunion with caregiver. 12%
Cultural variations.
Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988).
Procedure.
Meta-analysis of 32 studies. Altogether the studies examined over 2000 strange situation classifications in eight different countries. They were looking at inter-cultural differences and intra-cultural differences.
Findings.
They found that inter-cultural variation was very small. Secure attachment was the most common classification in every country. With reference to variation within cultures they found that this was 1.5 times greater than the variation between cultures.
Cultural similarities.
Tronick et al. African tribe living in extended family groups. Infants breastfed by different women, but slept with mother. Despite child rearing differences they still formed one primary attachment.
Cultural differences.
Grossmann and grossmann found that German infants tend to be classified as insecure rather than securely attached. This may be due to different child rearing practices.
Another study looking at Japanese infants showed high rates of insecure resistant attachment. The Japanese infants were particularly distressed with being left alone, that in 90% of the studies they had to be stopped because of extreme reactions. This may again be accounted for in terms of child rearing practices. In Japan infants rarely experience separation from their mother which would explain why they were more distressed.
Conclusion.
Despite cultural variations the strongest attachments are formed with the infants mother. Differences can also be related to differences in attitudes and practices in cultures.
Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation.
Bowlby proposed that prolonged emotional deprivation would have long-term consequences in terms of emotional development.
The value of maternal care.
44 juvenile thieves study. Some of the thieves were affectionless psychopaths as diagnosed by Bowlby. Individuals diagnosed as this had experienced frequent early separations from their mothers. Furthermore almost none of the control ppts experienced early separations whereas 39% of all the thieves had.
This study showed the importance of early relationships and the effects of separation. Bowlby believed that infants and children needed a warm intimate and continuous relationship with the mother or permanent mother substitute to ensure continuing normal mental health.
Critical period.
2 and a half years. Damage of separation occurs if during the critical period.
Long term consequences.
Emotional maladjustment or even mental health problems such as depression.
Romanian orphan studies: effects of institutionalisation.
Key study: Rutter (2010).
Procedure: 165 Romanian children he spent the early lives in Romania institutions and thus suffered the effects of institutionalisation. 111 were adopted before the age of two. The adoptees have been tested at regular intervals to assess their physical, cognitive and social development. Information was also gathered in interviews with parents and teachers. Their progress has been compared to a control group of 52 British children adopted in the UK before the age of six months.
Findings.
At the time of adoption the Romanian orphans were behind their British counterparts on all measures of physical, cognitive and social development. They were smaller, weighed less and were classified as mentally retarded. By the age of four some had caught up with their British counterparts, this was true for almost all that were adopted before the age of 6 months.
Subsequent follow-ups have confirmed that significant deficits remain in a substantial minority for those who experienced institutional care to beyond the age of six months. This suggests that long-term consequences are less severe if the children have the opportunity to form attachments. However when they do not form attachments the consequences are severe.
Other studies
Zeaneh et al. Compared 136 Romanian children who had spent on average 90% of their lives in an institution to a control group of Romanian children who had never been in an institution. The children were 12-31 months and were assessed in the strange situation. The institutionalised children showed signs of disinhibited attachment.
Other research has shown it is possible to recover from physical effects from institutionalisation.
Effects on institutionalisation.
1) Physical under development. Usually physically small and may have deprivation dwarfism from a lack of emotional care.
2) intellectual underfunctioning.
3) disinhibited attachment. The form of insecure attachment where children do not discriminate between people they use as attachment figures. Such children will treat near-strangers with inappropriate familiarity and may be attention seeking.
4) Poor parenting. Quinton et al compared a group of 50 women who had been reared in institutions with a control group of 50 women. When the women were in their 20s it was found those from institutions found it extremely difficult to act as a parent. Also shown in Harlow’s monkey study.
The influence of early attachment.
Internal working model.
A mental model of the world which enables individuals to predict and control their environment. It acts as a template for all future relationships.
Key study: Hazan and Shaver (1987)
Procedure.
Placed a love quiz in the Rocky Mountain news. The quiz asked questions about about current attachment experiences and about attachment history. It also asked questions about attitudes to love, to assess the internal working model. They had 620 responses, 205 men and 415 women.
Findings.
They found a prevalence of attachment styles similar to those found in infancy. They also found a positive correlation between attachment type and love experiences. Finally, they found a relationship between the conception of love (IWM) and attachment type. (Secure tended to have positive IWM).
Behaviours influences by the internal working model.
Childhood friendships. The Minnesota child-parent study found continuity between early attachment and later emotional/social behaviour.
Poor parenting. Quinton et al found similar results to Harlow’s research with monkeys. A lack of an internal working model means the individuals lack a reference point to subsequently form relationships with their own children.
Romantic relationships. Hazan and Shaver showed a link.
Mental health. The lack of an attachment during the critical period would result in a lack of an internal working model. Attachment disorder has been classed as a distinct psychiatric condition.
