attachment

• what is attachment?


  two way communication between infant and its caregiver

  -process of interacting builds emotional bonds and ultimately results in the infant showing distress when separated
• PCG


  primary caregiver
• types of early interaction

  reciprocity and interactional synchrony
• reciprocity


  interaction flowing both ways, taking turns to respond

  ie: PCG would wave and infant smiles back
• interactional synchrony


  when the infant mirrors the PCG at the same time

  ie: the PCG smiles, the infant smiles
• other caregiver infant interactions


  -sensitive responsiveness (adult pays careful attention to infant and responds appropriately)

  -cargiverese: adult use of baby talk

  -body contact: skin to skin for bonding

  -imitation: direct coping
• Meltzoff and Moore Procedure


  -controlled observation of infants (12-27 days old)

  -babies exposed to 4 different stimuli - 3 facial gestures, 1 manual gesture

  -babies response observed and recorded (tongue protrusions, head movements, open and closing of hand)
• AO3 interactional synchrony +


  Meltzoff and Moore
• Meltzoff and Moore Findings


  imitation is possible from an early age as an attachment strategy
• research into caregiver infant interactions


  Murray and Trevarthen (1985)

  Procedure - 2 month old infants interacted via a video monitor with mother first in real time and then with a tape where the mother is not responding to the infant.

  Findings - No response stimulated feelings of acute distress for the infant, and eventually the infant would give up and turn away. therefore, the infant is actively eliciting a response from the parent
• evaluation of research into caregiver-infant interactions


  +observations are controlled as both infant and PCG are recorded from different angles so detailed behaviour is recorded for later analysis - good validity

  
  

  -issues with intentionality - infant mouth tends to be in constant motion so are all actions deliberate

  -babies are often asleep or being fed

  
  

  - Koepke et al failed to replicate the Melzoff and Moore's findings

  *argued by M and M that it wasn't controlled

  
  

  - observations don't tell us the purpose of synchrony or reciprocity

  *evidence suggests that they are helpful in attatchment as well as empathy and language among others
• AO3 caregiver infant interactions -

  Piaget

  -suggests that true imitation of adults developed after the first year

  -anything before this is because it had learnt that it was beneficial to do this

  -infant does something the PCG smiles so infant sees it as a reward and repeats it to get same reward and so infant is not CONSCIOUSLY imitating PCG
• AO3 caregiver infant interactions -


  social sensitivity

  -mothers who decide to return to work may feel their life choices are being criticized
• Schaffer and Emerson (1964)


  Stages of attachment
• Schaffer and Emerson study


  found the stages of attachment from a longitudinal observation study (60 babies over 18 months)

  
  

  -evidence of an attachment was that the baby showed separation protest and stranger anxiety
• Separation Protest

  baby cries when PCG leaves
• Stranger Anxiety


  baby rises when stranger carries them/wary
• Schaffer and Emerson findings


  -Attachments develop in these stages:

  -Asocial

  -Indiscriminate

  -Specific

  -Multiple

  -Reciprocal relationships

  
  

  -65% Mother PCG, 30% Mother and another as PCG, 27% joint with father, 3% Father PCG

  
  

  -After the initial attachment is made, Schaffer and Emerson found that 78% of infants had made a second attachment within 6 months, some having around 5 secondary attachments
• Asocial


  0-6 weeks

  -babies respond to objects in similar way to other humans ie: smiling
• Indiscriminate


  6 weeks-7 months

  -most babies will respond equally to any human

  -discriminates between familiar and unfamiliar individuals with preference for familiar adults

  -no separation or stranger anxiety
• Specific


  7+ months - infants become attached!!

  -separation and stranger anxiety is shown and preference to primary care give ie: mum
• Multiple


  9+ months

  -attachments with number of people has been made to those they see regularly ie: other parent, siblings, grandparents, close family friends

  -displays separation protest when separated from these people but FEAR of strangers decrease
• Reciprocal Relationships


  9 months

  -infant begins to understand relationships and tries to control them displaying certain behaviours ie : crying to get what they want from a caregiver
• Stages of Attachment AO3 +


  + guidelines - allows parents to have some idea of what their child should be doing at what age and behaviors they should be showing (separation anxiety and stranger anxiety)

  
  

  +multiple attachments - the stages recognise that children develop more than one attachment, other psychologists argue that 2nd attachments are not important

  
  

  -Bowlby: suggests that we have one key attachment and others don't matter

  
  

  +Rutter: agree multiple attachments have a role to play suggesting mum is for care, dad is for play/challenge and siblings are for social development
• Stages of Attachment AO3 -


  - population and cultural validity- study that forms basis of the stages is on infants from Glasgow and only 60 used but other cultures raise infants differently cannot be generalised

  
  

  -too prescribed- does not allow for individual differences to children may develop at different rates

  
  

  -self-report technique- research is based on mother's account of their own children so social desirability works here
• multiple attachments AO1

  -Schaffer and Emerson: stages - multiple att - second atts are made to siblings, extended family, grandparents

  -Bowlby: monotropic theory - one key att and the other att are not important
• multiple attachments AO3


  + 78% of all infants in S+E study made multiple att by the time first att had been made/8 months so it must be important

  
  

  +/-discussion into multiple att - Curtis (see in role of the father)

  -supports multiple att

  -critisies Bowlby

  
  

  +Father is there for challenge and cognitive development
• the role of the father summary


  Dads are important 'play' figures and behind the scenes role but do not do as much as mothers do
• Research suggests that

  -Dads are usually the secondary attachment figure

  -He is vital for play and challenge

  -He plays a key role backstage in finances and supporting mum physically and psychologically
• 1. Dads are usually the secondary attachment figure


  Evidence: Schuaffer and Emerson: 3% had fathers as primary att, 27% had father as joint 1st att.

  
  

  Why?

  -possibly not psychologically equipped - may lack emotional sensitivity that women have to offer

  -biological, social and time factors
• Biological factors


  -estrogen underlies caring behvs

  -mum feeds infant
• Social factors


  -stereotype behvs promote women to be more sensitive than men

  -society expects the mother to stay at home and for the father to go out and work
• Evidence for the biological and social factors


  -Heerman (1974) found that fathers are less sensitive to infant cues compared to mothers

  -Lucassen found that fathers who show sensitivity to needs of the infant develop more secure attachments
• Time factors


  -in general fathers spend less time with the infant than mothers, so there is less interaction between them

  -less contact = weaker attachment

  -mother spends more time because she feeds the infant
• 2. He is vital for play and challenge


  -fathers provide more challenging and stimulating play and the impact of this only becomes visible later in child development

  -have high expectations for children and their future attainment

  
  

  -children who grow up without fathers/father figures have been suggested to demonstrate less assertive behvs that their peers who had fathers => possible impact of no father figure
• Evidence for play and challenge

  Grossman

  -compared the mother and father contribution to the child at experiences 6, 10, 16 year old

  -quality of mother att . affected adolescent att so the father is less important

  -however the quality of the father play affected the adolescent att = father has more of a playful than nurturing role
• 3. Father's 'backstage' role


  fathers' contribution to the child is 'backstage' so is hard to assess directly

  -Financial and bread-winning

  -Practical and Psychological support
• Financial and Bread-winning


  he has financial responsibility to the household to ensure the child is well provided for
• Practical and Psychological support


  ensuring that the mother is well supported in turn means that the quality of care she gives the infant is high

  -physically keeping her and keeping her mental health
• Evidence for father involvment

  Lamb (1981)

  -meta-analysis into father involvement and found 3 types of involvement

  -engagement: when the father directly interacts with the child

  -accessibility:being available but not directly interacting with the child

  -responsibility: managing child care arrangements, knowing the child's whereabouts