Attachment

• Attachment

  An attachment can be defined as a close-two way emotional bond between 2 individuals, in which both individuals see the other as essential for their own emotional security.
• 3 ways to recognise an attachment

  • Proximity: People try to stay physically close to someone
  • Seperation distress: People are distressed when an attachment figure leaves them
  • Secure-base behaviour: Even when they are indpendent they will tend to make regular contact.
• Reciprocity

  Where an infant responds to actions of another person
• Interactional synchrony

  Where an infant mirrors the actions of another person
• Meltzoff and Moore (1977)

  • Observed interactional synchrony in babies.
  • When an adult displayed a facial expression or a gesture the babies response was filmed and labelled by independent observers (time sampling)
  • A babies expression was more likely to mirror those of an adults
  • It is believed that interactional synchrony is important for the development of caregiver-infant attachment
• Caregiver-infant interactions

  From a early age, babies have meaningful social interactions with there carers. It is believed that these interactions have important functions for the childs social development
• Isabella et al (1989)

  • Investigated the degree of synchrony
  • Observed 30 mothers and there babies
  • Assessed the quality of the mother-baby attachment
  • They found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-baby attachments
• Evaluation of studies into synchrony

  + Filmed observations: Care-giver infant interactions are often filmed in a lab. This means that other activity that can distract the baby is controlled. Analysed later to check no behaviour is missed.

  • Hard to interpret a babies behaviour. Young babies lack coordination so we cant tell whether a movement is random or triggered by something the caregiver has done.
  • Observing a behaviour doesnt tell us its developmental importance. Cant be certain that observational research alone that reciprocity and synchrony are important in a childs development
• Schaffer and Emerson procedure (1964)

  • Studied 60 babies from mainly working class backgrounds.
  • Studied in there own home
  • Studied them until they were 1 years old and again at 18 months.
  • They were measuring everyday separations; parent leaving the room which measures separation anxiety and the infant’s response to unfamiliar adults which measured stranger anxiety.
• Schaffer and Emerson Results

  • All 60 infants formed specific attachments by 1 year
  • All 60 infants demonstrated stranger anxiety by 1 year
  • Both specific attachments and stranger anxiety increased with age
  • Specific attachments developed at a faster rate then stranger anxiety.
  • Between 25 and 32 weeks of age about 50% of babies had shown signs of separation anxiety to a specific care giver.
  • By the age of 40 weeks 80% displayed a single attachment and 30% displayed multiple attachments.
• 4 stages of attachment

  Schaffer and Emerson concluded that there were 4 stages of attachment:

  
• Advantages of Schaffer and Emerson's research into attachment

  • Good external validity: Generalised to normal life. Babies should all typically act like that.
  • Longitudinal study: Observed over a long period of time. Enables us to see variation of results
  • Practical application: Daycare will be straightforward in the asocial and indiscriminate stages. Starting daycare in the specific attachment phase may be problematic. Use of daycare can be planned better using knowledge of different stages.
• Disadvantages of Schaffer and Emerson's research into attachment

  • Limited sample characteristics: Only done on working class mothers in Glasgow
  • Babies are so young and immobile in the asocial stage that there is not much to observe. Difficult to make judgments about behaviour.
  • Measuring multiple attachments: Just because a baby gets stressed when a individual leaves the room it doesn't necessarily mean that they are an attachment figure. They could become distressed when a play mate leaves the room
  • Studies from other cultures show that babies form multiple attachments at birth.
• Distinctive role of the father

  Grossman (2002) longitudinal study - Quality of a fathers attachment was related to the fathers play with the infant. The distinctive role of the father was more to do with play then development.

  Most children go through a stage of accepting comfort from a single caregiver who is often there mother. Fathers have a different role in children's development. His role is to play with the child.
• Fathers as primary caregivers

  Field (1978) said the key is not the gender but how responsive the parent is to the babies signals.
• Negatives of research into the role of fathers

  • Bias: Preconceptions about how fathers should behave can be created by stereotypes. This can then create observer bias were they record what they want to see rather then what they see.
  • Conflicting studies: Longitudinal studies such as grossman et al have suggested that the father has an important role in play. However children with 1 parent or gay/lesbian parents turn out the same as normal heterosexuals.
  • Difficult to offer a simple answer to the role of the father. Some researchers investigate him being the primary caregiver & other different.
• Advantage of research into role of the father

  Real world application: Can be used to offer advice to parents. Mothers may feel pressured to stay at home because of stereotypical views. Fathers may be pressured to focus on work rather then parenting. However fathers are quite capable of becoming primary caregivers. Also lesbian and single mother families can be informed that not having a father around doesn't affect a Childs development.
• Innate

  Characteristics that are due from genetic factors
• Imprinting

  An innate readiness to develop a strong bond with a mother figure. This takes place during a critical period.
• Lorenz (1952) geese study

  • Divided up a large clutch of eggs. Half hatched in normal environment with the first moving object being the mother & half in an incubator with the first moving object being Lorenz.
  • Incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere whereas control group followed mother everywhere even when mixed.
  • Lorenz identified a critical period in which imprinting takes place. Whereby bird species attach and follow to the first moving object they see. If imprinting doesn't occur during the critical period then the chicks didn't attach them selves to a mother figure.
• Sexual imprinting

  • Lorenz investigated the relationship between imprinting and adult mate preferences.
  • He observed that birds that imprint on a human would often later display courtship behavior towards humans.
  • In a case study Lorenz described a peacock that had grown up in a reptile house and the first moving object he saw were turtles. As an adult the bird would only direct courtship behavior towards turtles.
  • Lorenz concluded that the peacock had undergone sexual imprinting.
• Evaluation into Lorenz's geese study

  • Cant generalise to humans: Hard to understand mammal attachment systems by analysing birds. Mammal attachment system is different and more complicated.
  • Gution et al: Impact of sexual imprinting is not permanent. Chickens who imprinted on rubber gloves eventually wore off and mated with other chickens.
  • Research support: Regolin and vallortigara (1991): Chicks were exposed to shape combinations that moves. They followed the original shapes closely. Supports the view that young animals are born with an innate mechanism to imprint during critical period.
• Harlows monkeys (1958)

  • Reared 16 baby monkeys. 2 wire model monkeys. In one condition milk was dispensed from a plain wire mother whereas in the other condition milk was dispensed from a cloth covered mother.
  • He found that the babies cuddled the cloth covered mother even if the plain wire mother was dispensing the milk. They sought comfort from the cloth mother when frightened. This shows that contact comfort was of more importance then food.
  • He concluded there was a critical period of attachment. A young monkey had about 90 days to attach to a mother. After this attachment is impossible.

  
• Critical period for monkeys

  • Monkeys had about 90 days to attach to a mother after birth or attachment was impossible and the damage was irreversible.
  • Harlow followed the monkeys from his study into adulthood. he found that they were the most dysfunctional monkeys. They were more aggressive and less sociable. When they became parents they often neglected there children and other monkeys attacked there babies often killing them.
• Evaluation of Harlows monkeys

  • Real world application: Helped social workers understand risk factors in child neglect and abuse. Understand the importance of attachment figures in zoos and in the wild
  • Ethical issues: Monkeys are similar to humans so they can experience similar levels of distress. They were exposed to psychological and physical harm. There were also severe effects in there adulthood.
• Cupboard love theory

  Dollard and miller emphaised the importance of the caregiver as the provider of food. Children learn to love whoever feeds them
• Learning theory

  All behaviour is learned. Behaviour is not innate and does not depend on genetic factors. Learning is a result of conditioning.
• Classical conditioning

  Learning a behaviour through stimulus, response and association.
• Operant conditioning

  Learning a behaviour through rewards reinforcements and punishments
• Conditioned and unconditioned

  Conditioned - Means something that has been learnt

  Unconditioned - Means something that is naturally occurring
• Link classical conditioning to attachment

  • Milk provided by the mother is an unconditioned stimulus which provides an unconditioned response in the baby of relief from hunger.
  • This response is automatic and does not need to be learnt. The neutral stimulus is the feeder, and through repetition of feeding the feeder becomes the conditioned stimulus.
  • Therefore whenever the baby is hungry at just the sight of the feeder it will link the CS and the UCR together and become relieved.
• Pavlov's dogs

  Pavlov showed that the dogs could be conditioned to associate a neutral stimulus (such as a bell) with a reflexive response (salivation) by repeatedly pairing the two stimuli together.

  
• Link operant conditioning to attachment

  • When the baby feels uncomfortable because it is hungry they experience a drive state. This drive state motivates the baby to find a way to lessen the discomfort.
  • In the early years the baby can do nothing but cry and being fed leads to drive reduction as the child is satisfied.
  • The food is the primary reinforcer and the child learns that the food is a reward. The person that feeds the baby becomes the secondary reinforcer and the infant thus seeks to be near to this feeder as they are the source of reward and the attachment is formed.
• Skinners rats

  Skinner placed hungry rats in "skinner boxes" to explore there surroundings. When the rat accidently pressed the leaver that supplied a pellet of food, the rat quickly learned to repeat this behaviour to gain the food reward. He said that all behaviour is learnt from the consequences of a particular behaviour which will either decrease of increase that behaviour

  
  

  He also tested negative reinforcment. When the rat was given an electric shock through the floor the rat pressed the lever to switch it off.

  
• Positive reinforcement

  Anything that has the effect of increasing the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated by using pleasant consequences when it happens.

  E.g Child gets a new phone for getting a A* in his exam.
• Negative reinforcement

  Anything that has the effect of increasing the behaviour by using consequences that are pleasant when they stop.

  E.g Loud buzzer stops when you buckle your seat-belt or mother feeds baby after he stops crying
• Punishment

  Anything that decreases a behaviour being repeated by using negative consequences when it occurs

  E.g Remove tv privileges for hitting brother.
• Drive reduction

  The drive is hunger. Hunger is an innate, biological motivator (motivated to eat to reduce hunger drive). Sears et al (1957) suggested that as careigvers provide food, the primary drive of hunger becomes generalised to them. Attachment is therefore a secondary drive learned by an association between caregiver and the satisfaction of a primary drive.
• Evaluation of the learning theory

  • Counter evidence from animal research: Lorenz's geese imprinted before they were fed. Harlow's monkeys attached to the cloth covered monkey despite which one dispensed food.
  • Counter evidence from human research: Schaffer and Emerson stages of attachment compared how attached babies were with carers. Babies formed attachments to there primary caregivers despite being feeders or not.
  • Learning theory ignores other factors that lead to attachments such as interactional synchrony and reciprocity.
• Ainsworth strange situations (1970)

  Infants aged between one year and 18 months were observed through cameras in a lab. There were a set of stages all with standardised situations:

  1. Baby encourage to explore (Exploration and secure base)
  2. Stranger comes in and talks to caregiver (Stranger anxiety)
  3. Caregiver leaves and stranger plays with baby (Separation and stranger anxiety)
  4. Caregiver returns and stranger leaves (Reunion behaviour and secure base)
  5. Caregiver leaves baby alone (Separation anxiety)
  6. Stranger returns (Stranger anxiety)
  7. Caregiver returns (Reunion behaviour)