Attachment

• Attachment


  A two-way emotional relationship in which people depend on each other for their sense of security
• Attachment behaviours

  • Seeking proximity
  • Distress if separated
  • Pleasure when reunited
  • Secure base behaviour
• Seeking proximity


  Wanting to be near each other
• Distress if separated

  Both the infant and the caregiver feel distressed when separated
• Pleasure when reunited


  Both the infant and caregiver are joyful to be reunited with each other
• Secure base behaviour


  The infant is generally always aware of the caregiver and makes frequent contact
• Why is forming an attachment important?


  Infant's cannot talk

  • Cannot demonstrate intention
  • Non-verbal interaction is important
  • Sensitive responsiveness
• Reciprocity


  One person responds to another
• Interactional synchrony


  Mirroring of actions or emotions

  Higher synchrony = Higher quality attachment
• Caregiver-Infant Interactions AO3

  • Well controlled procedures
  • Infant's behaviour is subjective when making observations
  • Social Sensitivity
• Stages of Attachment

  1. Asocial stage
  2. Indiscriminate attachment
  3. Specific attachment
  4. Multiple attachments
• Asocial Stage

  • Birth - 2 months
  • Social and non-social stimuli = favourable reaction
  • Very few protest
• Indiscriminate attachment

  • 2 - 7 months
  • Indiscriminately enjoy human company
  • 3 months - smile at familiar faces and comforted easily by familiar caregivers
• Specific attachment

  • 7 months +
  • Protest when separated from one particular individual
  • Attempt to stay close
  • Stranger anxiety
• Multiple attachments

  • By 1 year
  • Children begin to attach to others
  • Usually by 18 months
• Glasgow Study Procedure

  • 60 Infants
  • Working class Glasgow homes
  • Infant ages range between 5 - 23 weeks
  • Studied for one year - longitudinal
  • Mother's self-reported every 4 weeks
  • Intensity of protest on a 4 point scale - likert scale
  • Who the intensity was directed at
  • Stranger anxiety - response to interviewer
• Glasgow Study Findings

  • 4 distinct stages
  • 32 weeks - 60% = specific attachment
  • 32 weeks - 57% = attachment to mother
  • 36 weeks - 73% = fear of strangers
  • Fathers were the first object of attachment for 3% of infants
• Development of Attachment

  • Small ethnocentric sample
  • Good external validity
  • Poor evidence of asocial stage
• Role of the father - Quality of play

  • Quality of father's play = attachments in adolescence
  • Research suggested an association between 'high quality' play in childhood and secure attachments in adolescence
  • Fathers can act as a primary caregiver and adopt behaviours seen in mothers
• Level of Responsiveness

  • Sensitive responsiveness
  • Important in father-infant interactions
• Role of the Father AO3

  • Economic implications
  • Social sensitivity
  • Gender bias
• Imprinting


  An innate readiness to develop a strong bond with the mother which takes place during a specific time in development, probably the first few hours after birth/hatching
• Lorenz Procedure

  • Randomly divided a large clutch of eggs into two groups
  • Half hatched with mother in natural environment
  • Half hatched with Lorenz in an incubator
• Lorenz Findings

  • Incubator group followed Lorenz
  • Control group followed mother
  • When mixed nothing changed
  • Identified a 'critical period' in which imprinting takes place
• Lorenz Long-lasting effects


  Sexual imprinting - if imprinted on a human they would often later display courtship behaviours toward humans
• Harlow Procedure

  • 16 baby monkeys
  • 2 wire metal mothers
  • Condition 1: milk dispensed by plain wire mother
  • Condition 2: milk dispensed by cloth-covered mother
• Harlow Findings

  • Baby monkeys cuddled cloth-covered mother in preference
  • Sought comfort from cloth-covered mother when frightened regardless of which dispensed milk
  • Comfort more important than food when it comes to attachment behaviour
• Harlow Long-lasting effects

  • Social effect
  • less social and more aggressive
  • Mating / Parenting effect
  • Bred less and neglected babies
• Animal studies AO3

  • Lorenz research support - Guiton
  • Confounding variables in Harlow's study
  • Social sensitivity
• Learning Theory of Attachment


  Role of learning in the acquisition and maintenance of an attachment
• Classical Conditioning


  Acquisition

  Association
• Operant Conditioning


  Maintenance

  Reinforcement
• Learning Theory of Attachment AO3


  Counter evidence from animal studies - Harlow

  Counter evidence from human studies - Glasgow

  Nurture
• Monotropic theory

  • Adaptive behaviour
  • Social releasers
  • Critical period
  • Monotropy
  • Internal Working Model
• Adaptive behaviour

  • Adaptive advantage
  • Keep safe, fed and kept warm
• Social releasers

  • 'Unlocks' innate tendency of adults to care for infants
  • Physical: baby face features and body proportions
  • Behavioural: crying, cooing
• Critical period

  • Birth - 2.5 years
  • If it doesn't occur child may be damaged for life
• Monotropy

  • One very special attachment with mother
  • Infant could bond with another ever present adult mother substitute
• Internal Working Model

  • Schema for all future relationships
• Bowlby's Theory of Attachment AO3

  • Support for social releasers
  • Support for internal working model
  • Nature - biological determinism