Types of Attachment

• Secure attachment: Securely attached individuals are comfortable with intimacy and can balance dependence and independence in relationships.
• preoccupied attachment (Anxious in Children): Individuals with this attachment style crave intimacy and can be overly dependent and demanding in relationships.
• Fearful Attachment (Disorganized in Children): Individuals with a fearful attachment style desire close relationships and fear vulnerability. They may behave unpredictably in relationships due to their internal conflict between a desire for intimacy and fear of it.
• How many babies were studied by Schaffer and Emerson?

  60 babies
• What measures were recorded in Schaffer and Emerson's study?

  • Stranger Anxiety
  • Separation Anxiety
  • Social Referencing
• What is Stranger Anxiety?

  Fear of unfamiliar people
• What is Separation Anxiety?

  Distress when separated from caregivers
• Stages in attachment Schaffer & Emerson

  • Schaffer and Emerson studied 60 babies at monthly intervals for the first 18 months of life (this is known as a longitudinal study).
  • The children were all studied in their own homes, and a regular pattern was identified in the development of attachment. The babies were visited monthly for approximately one year, their interactions with their carers were observed, and carers were interviewed.
• Stages in attachment Schaffer & Emerson

  They discovered that baby's attachments develop in the following sequence:

  1. Pre-Attachment
  2. "Attachment in Making"
  3. "Clear Cut" Attachment
  4. Reciprocal Relationships
• Pre-attachment

  • approximately birth to 6 weeks
  • Infants attract caregivers with eye contact and signals like grasping, crying, smiling, and gazing.
  • positive responses from the infant keep the caregiver close. This closeness comforts the infant.
  • Infants recognize the caregiver's scent, voice, and face.
  • Infants are not yet attached to the caregiver, don't mind being alone with unfamiliar adults, and don't fear strangers.
• "Attachment in Making"

  • approximately 6 weeks to 8 months
  • Infants babble and smile more and claim more quickly when picked up with familiar caregivers than with strangers.
  • Infants learn their actions affect the behaviour or those around them.
  • Infants begin to develop a sense of trust- expecting a predictable response from the caregiver.
  • Infants still do not mind being separated from their caregiver.
• "Clear Cut" Attachment

  • approximately 8 months for 18 months
  • Attachment is evident. Babies become upset and experience separation anxiety when separated from a relied upon caregiver.
  • The occurrence of separation anxiety depends on the infant's temperament, adult behaviour, and the specific situation.
  • The baby may show distress when the primary caregiver leaves, but the anxiety can be short lived if the replacement caregiver is empathetic and supportive.
• Reciprocal Relationships

  • Approximately 18 months and on
  • Separation anxiety decreases as language and cognitive skills grow.
  • Toddlers can understand some of the circumstances influencing the caregiver's comings and goings and can predict their return.
  • As they get older, toddlers grow less dependent on caregivers and more confident that they will be accessible and responsive in times of need.
• Bowlby (1988)

  • Suggests that fathers can fill a role closely resembling that filled by a mother but points out that in most cultures this is uncommon. Bowlby argues that in most families with young children, the father's role tends to be different. According to Bowlby, a father is more likely to engage in physically active and novel play than the mother and tends to become his child's preferred play companion.
• fathers role in attachment

  Schaffer & Emerson

  • Found that additional attachments developed in the proceedings months following the 4th observing 31% of infants displaying 5 or more attachments by 18 months.
• Grossman's (2002)

  • Conducted a longitudinal study of 44 families comparing the roles of fathers' & mothers' contribution to their children's attachment experiences at 6,10 and 16 years. Fathers' play style was closely linked to the fathers' own internal working model of attachment. Play sensitivity was a better predictor of the child's long-term attachment representation than the early measures of the attachment type that the infant had with their father.
• Field (1978)

  • Conducted research which compared the behaviours of primary caretaker mothers with primary and secondary caretaker fathers. Face-to-Face interactions were analysed from video footage with infants at 4 months of age. Overall, it was observed that fathers engaged more in game playing and held their infants less.
• Brown et al. (2012)

  • Investigated father involvement, paternal sensitivity, and father-child attachment security at 13 months and 3 years of age. Results demonstrated that involvement and sensitivity influenced father-child attachment security at age 3. Involvement was a greater predictor of secure attachment when fathers were rated as less sensitive.
• Factors influencing secure and insecure attachment

  • Maternal Sensitivity (Ainsworth 1977)
  • Emotional availability (Birringen 2005)
  • Temperament (Thomas and Chess 1977)
  • Metal-analytic Vaughn and Bost (1999)
• Maternal Sensitivity(Ainsworth 1977)- Sensitive' mothers are responsive to the child's needs and respond to their moods and feelings correctly. Sensitive mothers are more likely to have securely attached children.