Lecture 7: Attachment Flashcards
Attachment
A close emotional relationship between two entities, characterised by mutual affection and a desire to maintain close proximity
History of attachment theory
1950s and 60s
(what originally thought)
1950’s and 60’s
Love is not an appropriate topic for science
People are driven by hunger, thirst, elimination, pain and sex
Love is a bi-product of the primary drives (a secondary drive)
Love doesn’t matter. Implications for childcare?
John B Watson (Behaviourist) parenting guide to ‘psychological care’ (1928)
“let your behaviour always be objectively firm…never let them hug you or sit in your lap…shake hands with them in the morning .…in a weeks time…you will be utterly ashamed at the mawkish, sentimental way you have been handling [your child]”
- Love is a primary drive. And I’m going to prove it scientifically
- > John Bowlby and Harry F. Harlow disagreed and sought to prove that love/affection was a primary drive
- > love primary drive and crucially important
History of attachment theory
-scientifically studying love
How would you study love scientifically?
Hypothesis 1 = love is at least as important as other primary drives
Choice between love and other primary drive
If hypothesis correct love should be chosen as least as often as other primary drive
Hypothesis 2 = love is important
Two groups, one love, one no love, compare outcomes
If outcome of no love group bad, hypothesis correct
Ethical approval?
History of attachment theory
-Harlow (1958)
Harlow (1958) Love or hunger?
Harlow (1958) Monkeys raised with two mothers, 1 wire, 1 cloth (represent comfort)
Half monkeys fed from wire mother, half cloth mother
Which mother would the monkey’s love?
Spent more time in contact with cloth mother regardless of which mother fed them
Problem?
-narrow definition of love, comport (physical)
->Physical comfort rather than psychological comfort?
Do the monkeys seek Psychological comfort from cloth mother?
Solution?
- Experiment 1: see if monkeys seek psychological comfort not just physical
- > frightened by machine, see of go to wire or clot->ran to cloth, took comport in cloth and started threatening
-Experiment 2: Love or comfort (avoiding pain)?
Monster mothers Shaking mother Air-blast mother The buckaroo mother The (blunt tipped) spike mother
What did the infant monkey’s do?
They clung tighter to cloth mother instead of food, chose to love even though pain
Conclusion?
Love is a primary drive
History of attachment theory
- alternative approach
- solation experiments
Does love matter? (love versus no love)
Isolation experiments (love versus no love)
Absence of love: Blank staring, stereotyped behaviour (rocking, circling), self-mutilation, deficits in social behaviour (play, grooming, mating)
6 months of isolation = permanently disturbed
Rule doesn’t apply if later in development – critical period?
-critical period in development where social support? important
History of attachment theory
-Bowlby’s findings
Ethics?
Through observation of maternally deprived children in orphanages and hospitals (kep in isolation if contagious) Bowlby had reached the same conclusion as Harlow (love matters)
Bowlby’s papers were the blueprint for attachment theory
Bowlby (1958) ‘The nature of a child’s tie to its mother’.
Bowlby (1959) ‘Separation anxiety’
Bowlby (1960) ‘Grief and mourning in infancy and early childhood’
Bowlby (1969) describes attachment as a ‘lasting psychological connectedness between human beings’. True to his routes in psychoanalysis he believed that our early relationship with our mother shapes later attachments
See ‘Is attachment important?’
He agreed with Harlow that attachment is a basic drive, which aids survival and so is present in all species with vulnerable young (inspiration from Lorenz’s (1937) imprinting)
- not just humans but mammalian species with vulnerable young
- evolutionary idea
- geese imprint on whoever around during period, followed human around
Bowlby ran naturalistic version of Harlow’s isolation experiments
Observed infants reaction to separation from their mother (no love group), found four stages of ‘detachment’
Protest phase: crying, asking for return, resisting others advances
Phase of despair: apathetic and unresponsive to toys and other caregivers (mourning)
Detachment phase: renewed interest in toys and other caregivers, indifferent attitude to attachment object
If separation is extremely prolonged or other attachments unable to form….Permanent withdrawal from human relationships: uninterested in human contact
Need proof of Bowlby’s assertion that attachment applicable throughout the lifespan?
Ever broken up with anyone?
The history of attachment theory
- Both Harlow and Bowlby’s observations measure attachment in extreme circumstances
- How could attachment be measured (and so studied) ethically in every day life?
- Ainsworth and Bell
Mary Ainsworth (1963, 1967) observed mother-infant dyads in Uganda, noting that infants selectively followed and were comforted by their mothers i.e. used them as a ‘secure base’…………
Ainsworth & Bell (1970) ‘The Strange Situation’
->still use to this to demonstrate attachment theory
The Strange Situation, 1 to 2-year-olds (episodes 2 to 8 each last 3 minutes):
1 Experimenter introduces parent and baby to playroom and leaves
- Parent sits while baby plays
- Stranger enters, sits, tries to interact with child
- Parent leaves
- Parent returns, greets baby, and offers comfort if baby is upset. Stranger leaves
- Parent leaves room
- Stranger enters
- Parent returns, greets baby, offers comfort if necessary, and tries to interest baby in toys
Child’s response results in attachment classification.
- Key variable differentiating attachment types?
- > Reaction to reunion
Secure attachment: the child explores freely and may engage with stranger when parent is present, is upset when the parent departs but happy to see the parent return, taking comfort if upset
(60%)
Resistant attachment: the child explores little and is wary of stranger even when parent present, is very upset when parent departs but ambivalent on return, staying close but appearing angry and resisting comfort
(10%)
Avoidant attachment: the child explores freely and may or may not engage with stranger regardless of parent, shows little distress when the parent departs, and little reaction to their return
(20%)
- same reaction for leaving for secure and resistant, reunion all diff reaction
- > What about the remaining 10%
The history of attachment theory
-Main and Solomon 1990
The remaining 10%? Unclassifiable, until…
Main and Solomon (1990) a mix of insecure attachment, showing distress at loss of contact (anxiety), but fear on return (avoidance) = disorientated or disorganised attachment .
For a more detailed summary of the history of attachment theory see Bretherton (1992) Love matters as least as much as food Love can be measured scientifically ........and ethically (challenging) ->questional whether ethically sound ->main pont to upset child ->how gets by is only for short period
When does attachment develop?
-Schaffer and Emerson 1964
Schaffer & Emerson (1964) observed infants (at home) and interviewed parents monthly for first year, then again at 18 months (key behaviour/question: how does your child react to separation?)
- Asocial phase (0 to 6 weeks) infants equally amused by object and parent, no separation distress
- Phase of indiscriminate attachments (6 weeks to 6 to 7 months), infants amused by all people (less amused by objects), though biggest smiles are reserved for regular caregivers, no separation distress
- Specific attachment phase (7 to 9 months) infants protest only when separated from one particular individual (usually mother) and become wary of strangers (both stranger anxiety and separation anxiety start at around 9 months and peak at about 18 months. Evolved to keep newly locomotive baby close?)
- Multiple attachment phase (a few weeks after first attachment) infants show protests when separated from other familiar people
As measured by parental reports of proximity seeking, children are likely to have developed their first attachment by 9 months
Prior to 9 months, the quality of the relationship (as later measured by the strange situation) is developing……
How does attachment develop?
- Ainsworth et al 1978
- De Wolff and Van Ijzendoorn 1997
“the most important aspect of maternal behavior commonly associated with the security-anxiety dimension of infant attachment…emerges as sensitive responsiveness to infants signals and communications” (Ainsworth et al, 1978, p.152 – study of 26 mother-infant dyads in first year)
De Wolff & Van Ijzendoorn (1997) meta-analysis 66 studies (4176 dyads) revealed six aspects of caregiving which predicted secure attachment
- Sensitivity (responding promptly to infants signals)
- Positive attitude (expressing positive affect for the infant)
- Synchrony (structuring reciprocal interactions with infant)
- Mutuality (structuring interactions in which attention is joint)
- Support (attending closely and providing emotional support for the infants activities)
- Stimulation (frequently directing actions toward infant)
How does attachment develop?
-Isabella and Belsky 1991
Isabella & Belsky (1991) scored mother-infant interactions for synchrony between 3 and 9 months. Found significant difference in synchrony levels between attachment groups (classified in strange situation at 12 months)
- Secure group characterised by synchronous exchanges (social interactions usually positive)
- Resistant group characterised by asynchronous exchanges, where mothers were inconsistent (social interactions sometimes positive, sometimes negative)
- Avoidant group characterised by asynchronous exchanges, where mothers were ALWAYS intrusive and over-stimulating or ALWAYS uninvolved (social interactions usually negative)
These studies make use of variations in normal population. Another approach to see if communication matters?
How does attachment develop?
-Teti et al. 1995
Teti et al (1995) make use of a naturally occurring group where communication is compromised (depressed mothers)
Clinical disturbances in communication associated with clinical disturbances in attachment (more disorganised, avoidant and resistant attachment types)
These studies suggest that positive responses contingent on the infant’s behaviour in the first year = secure attachment
In other words, treating the infant as though intentionally communicative, allowing the infant to feel the power of their own agency (see session on communication) = secure attachment
What happens if there is no communication? Can we test this ethically?
Naturally occurring group where communication is practically absent (e.g. Romanian orphanage)
How does attachment develop?
-no communication
No communication?
- From 3 to 6 months of age development appears fairly normal (crying, babbling, allowing themselves to be picked up).
- From 6 months onwards the children stop crying, babbling, and allowing themselves to be picked up, stereotyped behaviours start
Can they recover? Just like Harlow’s monkeys, if the children are adopted by sensitive and responsive parent(s) before 6 months of age, partial or full recovery is possible (Clarke & Clarke, 2000)
-as long as get rescued in critical period
Over 60% of Romanian orphans in Zeanah et al (2005) showed disorientated/disorganised attachment to ‘favourite’ caregiver at 12 months
-children resilient so will attach to someone but disorientated attachment
Clinical disorder associated with these conditions = reactive attachment disorder. This is characterised by indiscriminate stranger anxiety or no stranger anxiety, leading to an inability to form lasting relationships (as predicted by Bowlby)
-clinical consequences of lack of interaction early in life
These observational and quasi-experimental approaches indicate that maternal communication style is the key factor in the quality of attachment formed
However, what is wrong with observational and quasi-experimental approaches?
Claim for causality is weaker than experimental studies, and the direction of causality is uncertain
Must rule out alternative explanations
For example, perhaps infant temperament has a role in determining quality of attachment…..
How does attachment develop?
-Thomas and Chess 1977
Thomas & Chess (1977) parental reports of infants in USA
-Easy temperament: typically in positive mood, adapts easily to novelty
(40%)
-Difficult temperament: active, irritable, responds negatively to novelty
(10%)
-Slow to warm up temperament: inactive, responds to novelty mildly
(15%)
(35% mixture)
Predictions for strange situation?
- response to novelty can be transferred to strange situation
- can’t be matched (percents to attachment styles, so not measuring temperance
- > but child could be influencing the relationship? Attachment style can’t simply be reduced to temperament (the classifications don’t map to each other for individual children)
But temperament does play a role….
relationship?
How does attachment develop?
-Kochanska 1998
Attachment style can’t simply be reduced to temperament (the classifications don’t map to each other for individual children)
But temperament does play a role….
Kochanska (1998) measured maternal responsiveness, synchrony of positive emotions and infant fearfulness (an aspect of temperament) at 13 to 15 months
- Maternal responsiveness and synchrony of positive emotions (quality of caregiving) predicted whether attachment was secure or insecure
- Infant fearfulness predicted the type of insecure attachment, resistant (high fearfulness) or avoidant (low fearfulness)
- Suggests that temperament may contribute to how children react to sensitive/unresponsive caregiving, but positive parenting should produce a secure child regardless
