attachment theory Flashcards
john bowlby (1969)
Is one of the biggest, most influential names in attachment theory
Observed homeless children shortly after ww2
Found that it is very important for children to have a warm, intimate and continuing relationship with the mother (or other caregiver) is essential for healthy child development
took an evolutionary perspective, and conceptualized the ATTACHMENT BEHAVIOURAL SYSTEM
JOHN bowlby’s evolutionary perspective
Evolutionary perspective:
- Human/mammalian infants can’t survive on their own
Need to stay close to caregiver - some mechanism has to be in place
this mechanism is a control system
bowlby’s attachment behavioural system
Conceptualized attachment behavioural system as a kind of control system
“A UNIVERSAL, EVOLVED BIOBEHAVIOURAL SYSTEM”
CONTROL SYSTEM: at the most basic, control systems involve something like a thermostat for regulating temperature
Instead of temperature, the attachment behavioural system regulates SAFETY - proximity to caregivers
Kicks in when distance from caregiver reaches some sort of threshold….triggers some behaviours that restore closeness with caregiver (PROXIMITY SEEKING BEHAVIOURS)
→ Restored closeness gives feeling of close proximity, warm and nice
When a child is confronted with a THREAT, they will similarly engage in proximity seeking behaviours
WHAT MAKES AN ATTACHMENT FIGURE?👪
· The person to whom you direct your proximity seeking when in need or distress
· Acts as a safe haven, providing protection, comfort, and support
· Is a secure base for pursuing nonattachment goals in safe environment
· Experiencing/or expecting separation from attachment figure evokes strong feelings of separation distress
These are defining features of attachment relationships. We are drawn to our attachment figures not only by the rewards of their company, but by the pain of separation from them.
RESPONSE TO SEPARATION
Protest: acute distress, desperate attempts to re-establish contact (crying, clinging, calling, searching), generally rejection of contact wit others
Despair: preoccupation with caregiver still evident, depressed mood, appear hopeless and withdrawn
Detachment: develops interest in other things and people - appearing listless and apathetic if reunited with caregiver - may exhibit anger
MARY AINSWORTH…
Was a colleague of Bowlby who really made attachment theory as influential as it is today
- Focused on theory building around normative attachment processes
- Crucial psychometric and empirical contributions - really put the theory to the test
- How are children attached?
- What maternal factors predict this?
Devised a laboratory paradigm for studying attachment dynamics as described by bowlby
STRANGE SITUATION (mary ainsworth)
Devised a laboratory paradigm for studying attachment dynamics as described by bowlby
- Infants brought into unfamiliar environment - Separations and reunions with moms - Study at 1 year old Interview 20 years later about relationship
discovered 3 patterns of attachment - secure, resistant/ambivalent, and avoidant - about 51.6% of babies were secure
STRANGE SITUATION: SECURE PATTERN
· Distressed by mother’s departure
· Seeks contact w mother upon return, readily soothed a reassured by her presence
Uses mother as a secure base to explore
STRANGE SITUATION: RESISTANT/AMBIVALENT PATTERN
· Clingy
· Highly distressed by departure
· Continues to cry and exhibit distress when contact is restored
· Ambivalence towards mom
No interest in exploration, not able to use mother as a secure base
STRANGE SITUATION: AVOIDANT
· Sullen
· Indifferent
· Don’t actively involve mom
Show less distress - but still show signs of physiological distress
ANTECEDENTS OF SECURE PATTERN
→ History of positive interactions
→ Bids for proximity and reassurance and sensitively and consistently attended to (opposites of behaviourists who think that this would make clingy babies)
→ Learns that primary attachment strategy, seeking proximity to caregiver when in distress, is safe and effective
Secure base for exploring
ANTECENDENTS OF INSECURE PATTERN
→ Deficits in caregiving
→ Anxious/ambivalent caregiver is inconsistent (over intrusive, inattentive)
○ Hyperactivation of attachment system for attention
→ Avoidant caregiver is rejecting, discourages closeness
Deactivation of the attachment system
INTERNAL WORKING MODELS
…are schemas of self, attachment figure, attachment relationships
“working” - allows to simulate/predict likely outcomes of attachment behaviours, provisional and subject to updating
Include: specific autobiographical memories: generalized beliefs about oneself, attachement figures, and close relationships, procedural knowledge
This knowledge guides subsequent interactions with attachment figures as well as other people
- Gives us a sense of what to expect
However…… Means that internal working models can also bias the way we interpret information and encode it into memory
“tolerably accurate reflections of what actually happened”
- Why early childhood experiences are thought to be so important for attachment styles
models of self and models of other
Models of other: can others be relied on
Models of self: am I loveable
ATTACHMENT BEYOND CHILDHOOD - similarities
PROXIMITY SEEKING: airport separation, diary studies
SEPARATION DISTRESS: bereavement is hard, intense anger and anxiety in response to threats
SAFE HAVEN: still benefit from a base of support
SECURE BASE: have a greater sense of self efficacy and a higher chance of pursuing and achieving goals
ATTACHMENT BEYOND CHILDHOOD - differences
· Close others are individuals other than parents
· Psychological proximity (can get support just by bringing them to mind)
· Threshold for attachment system activation is higher
· Become more capable of self soothing (internalized positive self representations)
· Mutuality (care seeking and caregiving)
Sexuality
adult attachment patterns
SECURE
→ Easy to be emotionally close
→ Not worried about acceptance or loneliness
→ Comfortable depending on people
PREOCCUPIED (AMBIVALENT)
→ Others reluctant to be as close as you want
→ Uncomfortable without close relationships
→ Worry others don’t value you as much as you value them
FEARFUL
→ Uncomfortable with closeness
→ Want relationships but hard to trust
→ Worry about being hurt
DISMISSING
→ Comfortable without close relationships
→ Independent and self sufficient
Prefer not to depend on others or have them depend on you
BEHAVIOURAL ASSESSMENT
George kaplan and main, 1996
- Discuss relationship with parents, choose adjectives that describe them, justify choice, speculate about parents’ behaviour
Not just content of answers, but how they are discussed
- (In)coherent
- (in)consistent
Emotional disorganization
ADULT ATTACHMENT INTERVIEW: secure
- Balanced, realistic
- Attachment experiences as valuable and influential
Open, direct, and cooperative
- Attachment experiences as valuable and influential
ADULT ATTACHMENT INTERVIEW: dismissing
- Discomfort discussing childhood
- Unsubstantiated attempts to idealize or put positive spin on negative experiences
Deny influence of early attachment relationships
- Unsubstantiated attempts to idealize or put positive spin on negative experiences
ADULT ATTACHMENT INTERVIEW: preoccupied
- Anxious
- Angry
- Enmeshed with early relationship experiences
- Long winded answer
Signs of confusion and inconsistency
DIMENSIONS NOT TYPES
- Typological measures cannot account for variation among people within a category but variation is important
Later measures like experiences in close relationships scales measure attachment on two continuous dimensions
- Anxiety: fears of rejection, abandonment, exaggerated desire for closeness
Avoidance: discomfort with closeness, emotional suppression
control system model of attachment
what we do when we perceive a threat
- can be internal or external
-physical or psychological
- attachment related or unrelated
different attachment styles will have different control systems
Anxious attachment:
- Hyperactivating strategies
- Heightened vigilance
- Exaggerated appraisals - catastrophizing
- Rumination - difficulty disengaging from emotional hurt and negativity
High accessibility of negative emotional memories
COLLINS ET AL, 2006
Ps presented with vignettes depicting potentially negative partner behaviour
- Ps higher in attachment anxiety more likely to make relationship threatening attributions
○ Ex. “my partner is losing interest in me”
Means that they also report experiencing greater distress
SIMPSON, RHOLES, AND PHILLIPS, 1996
Conflict discussions in lab
Anxiously attached individuals reported more stress and anxiety, saw their partners and the relationships less positively after the interaction
- Not accounted for by observers’ ratings of the interaction
Anxiously attached individuals just interpreted more negatively
SADIKAJ ET AL, 2011
Affective reactions to perceptions of partner’s behaviour in everyday life
Individuals high in attachment anxiety had stronger negative affective reactions when they perceived the partner behaving less warmly than usual
AVOIDANT ATTACHMENT
- Goal is to keep attachment system deactivated
Attempt to minimize experiences that might lead to attachment system
avoidant attachment postemptive and preemptive strategies
Postemptive strategies:
- Avoid retrieving, dwelling on, or elaborating on extant memories, insecurities, fears, etc
Preemptive strategies:
- Deflect attention away from distress provoking material, fail to encode in memory
- Tuning out
FRALEY AND BRUMBAUGH, 2007
Ps listented to an interview touching on attachment themes and completed memory test
Avoidantly attached individuals: worse performance on both types of test - even when monetary award for accurate recall offered
