Attachment

• Attachment is a two-way emotional bond that develops over time, usually between a parent and child (caregiver)
• Reasons for making bonds:

  • Survival (short-term)
  • Passing on genes from parent to child
  • Less loneliness
  • Social and emotional development (long-term)
• Three examples of attachment behavior:

  1. Proximity-seeking: wanting to be near the attachment figure (staying close)

  2. Separation distress: upset/distressed when the attachment figure isn't present

  3. Secure-base behavior: the sensitive response given by the caregiver to the infant's needs
• Human babies are altricial (born at a relatively early stage of development)
• We need to develop bonds and relationships with adults for them to protect and nurture us
• Some animals such as horses are precocial (born at an advanced stage of development)
• A key interaction between infant and caregivers is non-verbal communication (no talking)
• Reciprocity: Infant and caregiver respond to each other's actions
• Interactional synchronicity: Infant and caregiver mimic each other's actions at the same time or mirror each other, facial expressions simultaneously
• Brazelton (1975) described the mother and infant relationship as a "dance" linking into the idea of mimicking actions or syncing actions at similar or same times
• Meltzoff and Moore (1977) conducted a systematic study showing that infants of just 2-3 weeks old were able to imitate certain facial expressions and hand gestures
• Hard to know what's happening when observing infants
• Many studies involving observation of interactions between mothers and infants have shown the same patterns of interaction (Gratier 2003)
• Controlled observations capture fine detail
• Observations of mother-infant interactions are generally well-controlled procedures
• Both mother and infant are filmed, often from multiple angles
• This ensures that very fine details of behavior can be recorded and later analyzed
• Observations don't tell us the purpose of synchrony and reciprocity
• Feldman points out that synchrony and reciprocity simply describe behaviors that occur at the same time
• They can be reliably observed, but they don't tell us the purpose of these caregiver-infant interactions
• Further research needs to be carried out to see the link between caregiver-infant interactions and other human behaviors such as moral development or language
• This doesn't necessarily need to be because of attachment
• A problem with this explanation of caregiver-infant interactions is that it is not found in all cultures
• LeVine et al. (1994) reported that Kenyan mothers have little physical interactions or physical contact with their infants, but such infants do have a high proportion of secure attachments
• Therefore, the research may be ethnocentric and ignores how attachments may be formed within other cultures
• We shouldn't be seeing the world from your cultural view and assuming that it is a norm
• This suggests that research into caregiver-infant interactions cannot be generalized to the wider populations
• Role of the father in attachment figures
• Father is the main male caregiver (parent)
• Schaffer and Emerson (1964) carried out an investigation that showed the primary attachment is more likely with the mother than the father, fathers are secondary attachment figures
• Method:

  • Study involves 60 babies (31 male and 29 female from Glasgow)
  • The babies and mothers were visited every month
  • The mothers were asked questions to do with if the babies showed any protest towards the everyday separation (separation anxiety)
  • The babies were also assessed to see if they showed any sign of stranger anxiety (this is when babies are able to differentiate between stranger adults and adults they are already aware of and know)
• Findings:

  • Between the ages of 25 and 32 weeks, 50% of babies showed separation anxiety, generally with the mother (Mothers ➪ specific attachments)
  • Babies would form secondary attachments
• Babies form secondary attachments with their mothers after a few months
• 75% of babies' attachments with fathers were only formed after 18 months
• Babies protested when their fathers walked away, indicating attachment
• Mothers were found to be the best predictor of attachment quality
• Fathers have a different role in attachment and an important role in developing 'play behavior'
• Fathers engaged more in game play and responsiveness (smiling & imitating) during face-to-face interactions
• Fathers can take on the role of nurturing parent caregivers
• Inconsistent findings on fathers in attachment research