Attachment

• Attachment

  • A strong emotional connection formed between two individuals.
• Psychosocial Development

  • When children form relationships and learn to understand and manage their feelings.
• Developmental Psychology Interest

  • They are interested in how infants reach the milestone of attachment.
• Caregiver-Infant Interaction in Humans

  • Displayed by an infants desire to seek proximity to a particular individual and to display distress when separated.
  • The attachment bond is a response between the child and caregiver.
• Interactional Synchrony

  • The infant moves their bodies in time with the rhythm of the carer‘s spoken language, creating a form of turn-taking.
• Reciprocity

  • Interactions lead to mutual behaviour between carer and infant, with both being able to produce responses from each other.
• Mimicking

  • Infants imitate the facial expressions of the caregiver, suggesting an innate biological drive to form an attachment.
• Bodily Contact

  • Physical interactions help to form the attachment bond in the very early period, such as after birth.
• Caregiverese

  • A form of modified vocal language. ‘Baby talk’
• Research into the Impact of Physical Contact

  • Klaus and Kennel (1976).
  • Compared mothers who displayed extended physical contact with their babies and those who only did for feeding. The cuddled babies displayed more eye contact.
• Meltzoff and Moore (1977).

  • Infants aged two to three weeks displayed the tendency to mimic adults’ facial expressions and hand movements, indicating that mimicry is an innate ability that helps in the formation of attachment.
• Schaffer and Emerson (1964).

  • To find the age at which attachments start and how intense these were.
• Schaffer and Emerson (1964)Method

  • Studied 60 babies from a working class area of Glasgow, observing them every four weeks for the r and then again at 18 months.
  • As well as observations, interviews were conducted with the mothers, including questions about whom the infants smiled at, responded to and who caused them distress.
• Schaffer and Emerson (1964) Variables

  • Strength of attachment was measured by: Seperation Anxiety and Stranger Anxiety.
• Schaffer and Emerson (1964) Findings

  • The first specific attachment was formed by 50% of infants between 25 and 32 weeks. Intensity peaked in the first month following the onset of the first attachment.
  • By 18 months, 31% had 5+ attachments.
• Schaffer and Emerson (1964) Conclusions

  Human Attachments develop in four stages: Asocial, Indiscriminate Attachment, Specific Attachment, Multiple Attachments.
• Schaffer and Emerson (1964) Evaluation.

  • Babies were observed in their own homes as a natural environment, therefore we have high ecological validity.
  • Data was collected by the mother, therefore there may be bias and inaccuracy.
• Asocial Stage

  • 0 to 6 weeks.
  • Short lived.
  • Attention seeking behaviour, such as crying and smiling, is not directed at anyone particular. Suggesting attachments could be made with anyone.
• Indiscriminate Attachment

  • 6 Weeks to 7 Months.
  • The child seeks attention from anyone and is happy to receive attention from anyone.
  • Preferences are shown to familiar faces that elicit a greater response from the infant.
• Specific Attachment

  • 7 to 11 Months.
  • Child is primarily attached to the main caregiver.
  • Separation Anxiety & Stranger Anxiety is present.
• Multiple Attachments

  • 11+ Months.
  • Attachments can vary in strength and tend to be other family members.
  • There is no limit to the amount of attachments that can be made.
• Ross et al (1975)

  • To investigate the impact of carrying out caretaking duties on parental attachment.
• Ross et al (1975) Method

  • A correlational study, measuring number of nappies changed and strength of attachment.
• Ross et al (1975) Results & Conclusion

  • A positive correlation was found between the number of nappies changed and the strength of the father child attachment.
  • The more times a father spends engaged in caregiver activities, the stronger the attachment will be.
• Ross et al (1975) Evaluation

  • Easy to replicate.
  • Lacks temporal validity as more fathers change nappies than they did in 1975.
• Harlows Animal Studies

  • Monkeys were presented with surrogate mothers, one was made of wire mesh and could dispense milk and the other was made from cloth but did not dispense milk.
  • Harlow concluded that there was more to the mother—child bond than ‘cupboard love’.