Chapter 4: Attachment Flashcards
Define Attachment
- A strong emotional bond that forms between infant and caregiver
- The development of attachment relationships in a major achievement in the infant’s early social life
Outline the Psychoanalytic Theory of Attachment
Infant become attached to their mother because they associate her with the gratification of their instinctual drive to obtain pleasure through sucking and oral stimulation
Outline the Learning Theory of Attachment
Mother becomes an attachment object because she is associated with the reduction of the baby’s primary drive of hunger
What did Harlow Research?
- Baby monkeys preferred to cling to the cloth “mother”
- Especially in moments of stress-even though it dispensed no food
- Similar findings in human research
- Thus, oral gratification and drive reduction are inadequate explanations for attachment
Operant Conditioning (learning theory)
- Attachment development based on visual, auditory, and tactile stimulation that infants receive from their caregivers
- Parents are the most reliable sources of this type of simulation
Central Point (learning theory)
- attachment is not automatic;
- It develops over time as a result of satisfying interactions with responsive adults
What are the limitation of the learning theory of attachment
- Cannot explain why children form attachments to an abusive parent
Cognitive Dev. Theory Outline
- Importance of ability to differentiate between familiar and unfamiliar other
- Importance of object permanence
- Cognitive shifts in expression of attachment
What is Bowlby’s Etiology Theory
- The most complete explanation for attachment and The one most used today
- Focused on signalling behaviours that human parents are thought to be biologically programmed to respond to:
- Crying, smiling, vocalizing, sucking, clinging responses (active role of the child)
- Make it likely that child will use the parent as a secure base
List the three important features of Bowlby’s Ethological Theory
- Emphasis on the active role played by the infant’s early social signalling system
- Stress on the development of mutual attachments of parent and child to each other
- Attachment is a relationship, not simply a behaviour of either the infant or the parent
when and what is Pre-Attachment
- develops 0-2 months
- Indiscriminate- the baby’s responses are less discriminate as directed to parents or others
List the four attachment development phases
- pre-attachment
- attachment in the making
- clear-out attachment
- goal-corrected Partnership
when and what is Attachment in the Making
- 2-7 months
- Can differentiate mother’s voice from other women
- Not yet truly attached to a caregiver
when and what is Clear-out Attachment
- 7-24 months
- Infant actively seeks contact with certain attachment figures, such as the mother
- Does not show these behaviours to just anyone
when and what is Goal-Corrected Partnership
- 24+ months
- The child becomes more aware of other people’s needs, goals, feelings and consider them in deciding their own actions
What does it mean to be Attached
- Usually, form from attachment by age 1
- Seek contact and proximity with attachment figures
- Separation distress or protest- An infant’s distress reaction to being separated from the attachment object, usually the mother
Can infants have multiple attachments?
- Mother is usually primary, but the infant is capable of forming an attachment to any familiar individual.
Multiple attachments are common. One study showed that 5% were only attached to mothers, fathers 75%
grandparents 45%, siblings 29%.
Number of attachments limited because requires frequent, close, one-to-one interaction
Explain the role of the father in attachment
- Spend four to five times more time playing with their infants than caring for them
- Engage in more physically arousing and unusual games- especially with their sons
- Fathers enrich infants’ social development by providing unique types of social experiences
- More physical play
- More playing in general
List the Ainsworth Classifications of Attachment Types
- Insecure-Avoidant (Type A)
- Secure Attachment (Type B)
- Insecure-Ambivalent (Type C)
- Insecure-Disorganized (Beyond: Type D)
Explain Secure Attachment
- Type B 65%
- Babies are able to explore novel environments,
- Minimally disturbed by brief separations from their mother, and
- Quickly comforted by her when she returns
Explain Insecure-Avoidant
- Type A 20%
- Babies seem not to be bothered by their mother’s brief absences but specifically avoid her when she returns after the first exit, sometimes becoming visibly upset – but still avoided mother after the second exit
Explain Insecure-Ambivalent
- Type C 10-15%
- Babies tend to become very upset at the departure of their mother and exhibit inconsistent behaviour on the mother’s return, sometimes seeking contact, sometimes pushing their mother away.
Explain Insecure-Disorganized
- Beyond A, B, C
- Type D
- Babies seem disorganizes and disoriented with reunited with their mother after a separation
- Babies may freeze of look dazed, or engage in a repetitive rocking
- These children seem fearful or apprehensive of attachment figures
What is the Attachment Q-set
- another strategies for assessing attachment
- Based on observation or parental assessment based on sorting 90 cards with descriptions of children’s behaviour
- Used for 1-5-year-olds
- Non-parental observations were more valid