Chapter 3: Attachment

Question 1

Define attachment.

Answer 1

A close two-way emotional bond between two individuals in which each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security.

Question 2

How can attachment be recognised?

Answer 2

With 3 behaviours; proximity, separation distress and secure-base behaviour.

Question 3

Explain proximity as a behaviour of attachment.

Answer 3

People may try to stay physically close to their attachment figure.

Question 4

Explain separation distress as a behaviour of attachment.

Answer 4

People show signs of anxiety an attachment figure leaves their presence.

Question 5

Explain secure-base behaviour as a behaviour of attachment.

Answer 5

Babies display secure-base behaviour when they regularly return to their attachment figure while playing.

Question 6

Define reciprocity.

Answer 6

A description of how two people interact. Caregiver-infant interaction is reciprocal in that both caregiver and baby respond to each other’s signals and elicits a response from the other.

Question 7

Define interactional synchrony.

Answer 7

Where the caregiver and baby reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a coordinated (synchronised) way.

Question 8

Explain the two aspects of reciprocity.

Answer 8

Alert phrases- babies have periodic ‘alert phrases’ in which they signal that they are ready for a spell of interaction.
From around 3 months, this interaction tends to become increasingly frequent and involves both mother and baby paying close attention to each other’s verbal signals and facial expressions.

Active involvement- both caregiver and baby can initiate interactions and they appear to take turns in doing so. They both take on an active role.

Question 9

Explain the two aspects of interactional synchrony.

Answer 9

Synchrony begins- Meltzoff and Moore (1977) observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in babies as young as two weeks. An adult displayed one of 3 facial expressions to babies. The baby’s response was filmed and it showed that baby’s gestures and expressions were more likely to mirror those of the adults.

Importance for attachment- Isabella et al (1989) observed 30 mothers and babies together and assessed the degree of synchrony. They also assessed the quality of mother-baby attachment, where they found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-baby attachment; the emotional intensity of their relationship.

Question 10

What key study was used to determine each stage of attachment?

Answer 10

Schaffer and Emerson’s Stages of Attachment

Question 11

What was the AMRC of Schaffer and Emerson’s Stages of Attachment?

Answer 11

Aim: to investigate how early attachments were formed in particular at which age they developed, their emotional intensity and to whom they were directed to.
Method: the study involved 60 babies (31 male and 29 female) from Glasgow with the majority being from skilled working class families.
The babies and their mothers were visited at home every month for the first year and again at 18 months.
The researchers asked the mothers questions about the kind of protest the babies showed in 7 everyday separations, e.g the adult leaving the room. This was designed to measure the infants attachment.
The researchers also assessed stranger anxiety, the infants anxiety response to unfamiliar adults.
Results: between 25-32 weeks of age, about 50% of babies showed signs of separation anxiety towards a particular adult, usually the mother.
Attachment tended to be the caregiver who was most interactive and sensitive to infant signals and facial expressions; this was not necessarily the person who spent the most time with the infant.
Conclusion: this led to the development of 4 stages of attachment.

Question 12

What are the 4 stages of attachment?

Answer 12

Stage 1: asocial attachment.
Stage 2: indiscriminate attachment.
Stage 3: specific attachment.
Stage 4: multiple attachments.

Question 13

what is the asocial stage of attachment?

Answer 13

the first few weeks.
this is where the baby recognises and forms bonds with carers.
the baby’s behaviour towards non-human objects and humans are quite similar.
babies show some preference for familiar adults in that those individuals find it easier to calm them.
babies are happier when in the presence of other humans by the end of this stage.

Question 14

what is the indiscriminate attachment stage?

Answer 14

2-7 months.
this is where babies display more observable social behaviour.
they have a preference for people rather than inanimate objects.
they recognise and prefer familiar adults.
they usually accept cuddles and comfort from any adults.
they don’t show separation anxiety or stranger anxiety.

Question 15

what is the specific attachment stage?

Answer 15

7-12 months.
where babies experience anxiety towards strangers.
they experience separation anxiety when separated from specific attachment.
their specific attachment is their primary attachment figure; this is the person who often has the most interaction and responds to the signals the most.

Question 16

what is the multiple attachment stage?

Answer 16

around 10 months.
this is where babies soon start to show attachment to more than one adult. this can be adults who they regularly spend time with. they are known as secondary attachments.
These form quite quickly after specific attachment.

Question 17

why is the topic of role of the father often neglected in attachment studies?

Answer 17

this is because mothers seem to be the primary care-givers of a baby.
mothers have the characteristics of nurturing and showing more emotional connection towards a babe than fathers. and so researchers often focus on mother-baby interactions rather than father-baby.

Question 18

what research is used to show lack of babies attachment to fathers?

Answer 18

research by schaffer and emerson found that the majority of babies first become attached to their mother at around 7 months. in only 3% of cases is where the father was the sole object of attachment.
this shows that fathers are much less likely to become their babies’ first attachment figure compared to mothers.

Question 19

what research is used to show babies showing primary attachment to their fathers?

Answer 19

research from schaffer and emerson where 75% of the babies in the study formed an attachment with their father at the age of 15 months. this was evident where babies protested when their father walked away - a sign of attachment.

Question 20

what is seen as a distinctive role for fathers in their child’s early development?

Answer 20

a father still has a impact on the play and stimulation of their child.
they are more playful, physically active and generally better at providing challenging situations for their children.

Question 21

what changes occur in fathers when they take on the role as the primary care-giver and why?

Answer 21

they spend more time smiling, imitating and holding babies than secondary caregiver fathers.
this is because a study showed that smiling, imitating and holding babies are all part of reciprocity and interactional synchrony, which are key parts of attachment formation.
a father doing these actions shows that they are able to provide the responsiveness required for a close emotional attachment when given the role of a primary care-giver.

Question 22

what are the 2 animal studies used to explain attachment?

Answer 22

lorenz’s geese study.
harlow’s monkeys study.

Question 23

explain lorenz’s animal study. use AMDSP. (aim, method, design, sample and procedure).

Answer 23

Aim: to investigate imprinting in Greylag geese.
Method: field experiment.
Design: independent groups.
Sample: a clutch of Greylag goose eggs.
Procedure: lorenz placed half of the eggs under a goose mother and the other half in an incubator.
he ensured that he was the first moving object the newly hatched goslings in the incubator saw.
to test whether the goslings had imprinted on lorenz, he placed the incubator goslings and the mother goose goslings in a box together.

Question 24

what were the variables in lorenz’s animal study?

Answer 24

independent variable- whether they were hatched by their mother or in an incubator.
dependent variable- who they imprinted on.

Question 25

what were the findings of lorenz’s animal study?

Answer 25

when lorenz took the goslings from the box, half of them went to their goose mother and the other half went to lorenz, practically ignoring their biological mother. the goslings with lorenz had imprinted on him.
lorenz believed that once a gosling had imprinted on something, then it couldn’t be reversed.
imprinting, however, only occurred between 4-32 hours after the goslings hatched.

Question 26

what were the conclusions of lorenz’s animal study?

Answer 26

imprinting is a form of attachment which has a survival advantage e.g if a predator approaches a goslings and its mother, the mother will protect it, leaving the gosling to have a higher survival chance.
It is also said that imprinting takes place within a critical period; this is the window in which an infant can form a bond.

Question 27

define imprinting.

Answer 27

where a young animal forms a bond soon after birth with (usually) its mother, as she is the first moving object that it sees.
imprinting means that the infant animal will follow whatever it has imprinted on.

Question 28

explain harlow’s animal study. use AMDS.

Answer 28

Aim: to investigate whether the development of affection or love in infant monkeys is more strongly related to feeding or comfort.
Method: laboratory experiement.
Design: independent groups.
Sample: 8 macaque monkeys that were separated from their mothers 6-12 hours after birth.

Question 29

explain experiment one of harlows’s animal study. (P&F)

Answer 29

procedure: four of the infant monkey’s were fed from the wire monkey while the other four were fed by the clothed monkey.
individually, the monkeys were placed in cages which contained two cubicles, one with the cloth monkey and one with the wire monkey. they were all fed entirely by the monkey that they had been assigned to.
the monkeys were free at all times to be either on the floor (heated for the first 14 days) or with the cloth or wire monkey.
the time that the infants spent with each mother-substitute was automatically recorded.
findings: the infant monkeys spent significantly more time with the cloth monkey than the wire monkey regardless if it were the wire monkey providing food.
as the monkeys were fed by the wire monkey got older, they responded increasingly more to the cloth monkey.

Question 30

explain experiment two of harlow’s animal study. (P&F)

Answer 30

procedure: the infant monkeys were presented with various fear-inducing stimuli, like a moving toy bear.
findings: the infant monkeys constantly sought out the cloth mother for support and comfort, regardless of the food condition.

Question 31

what conclusions were made from harlow’s animal study?

Answer 31

infant monkeys favour the comfort of the cloth monkey over the wire monkey, regardless of which fed them. this idea that a monkey would rather bond to a mother who feeds them is incorrect but rather a mother who is seen as comfort is what forms the bond/connection.
comfort is important for an infant monkey’s development.

Question 32

explain learning theory.

Answer 32

learning theory is a set of theories from behaviourists approach to psychology.
explanations for learning of behaviour include classical and operant conditioning.
learning theory is sometimes called ‘cupboard love’ in the topic of attachment. it emphasises the importance of the caregiver as a provider of food; the child only loves their caregiver because they provide the food.

Question 33

explain classical conditioning.

Answer 33

this is learning to associate two stimuli together so that we begin to respond to one in the same way as we already respond to the other.
a caregiver starts as a neutral stimulus. this is because they emit a neutral response from the baby.
the food starts as an unconditioned stimulus which leads the baby to have an unconditioned response; they see the food and they’re happy.
once the caregiver and food are seen at the same time it produces an unconditioned response from the baby and allows the baby to associate food to the caregiver.
so now when the baby sees their caregiver, the caregiver is now the conditioned stimulus and the baby produces a conditioned response.

Question 34

explain operant conditioning, in regards to attachment.

Answer 34

this is learning to repeat behaviour, or not, depending on its consequences. if a behaviour produces a pleasant consequence, that behaviour is likely to be repeated again. the behaviour has been reinforced. if a behaviour produces an unpleasant consequence, it is less likely to be repeated.
this is used in attachment as if a baby cries it receives comfort. when a baby wishes for comfort, it will now cry as it will illicit a response from the caregiver.
as long as the caregiver provides the correct response, crying is reinforced.
this reinforcement is a 2-way process; where as the baby is reinforced for crying, the caregiver receives negative reinforcement because the crying stops.
escaping something unpleasant is reinforcing.
mutual reinforcement strengthens an attachment.