ATTATCHMENT

• Attachment is a strong reciprocal emotional bond between an infant and a primary caregiver
• Reciprocity in attachment involves both the child and the caregiver bonding with each other
• Reciprocity is important in teaching the child to communicate and allows the parent to better care for the child by responding to their needs effectively
• Interactional synchrony occurs when the infant and primary caregiver become synchronized in their interactions
• Children can synchronize their movements with the sound of an adult's voice and copy displayed facial expressions or gestures
• The way infants and caregivers interact changes according to the rhythm, pitch, volume, etc., of the adult's speech
• Controlled observations were used in many studies on attachment, ensuring a high level of detail and accuracy
• Bremner highlighted the distinction between behavioral response and understanding in young children
• Schaffer and Emerson's study aimed to identify stages of attachment and patterns in infant-parent relationships
• Sensitive responsiveness from parents was found to be more important for forming attachments than the amount of time spent with the baby
• Schaffer's stages of attachment include asocial stage, indiscriminate attachments, specific attachments, and multiple attachments
• 31% of infants in the study had 5 or more attachments at the end of the study
• Schaffer and Emerson found that infants formed secondary attachments to their fathers by 18 months, with 29% doing so within a month of forming a primary attachment
• Research on the role of the father as a primary attachment figure shows varying perspectives and societal influences
• Animal studies by Lorenz demonstrated imprinting, where animals attach to the first moving object they see after birth
• Imprinting must occur within the critical period of attachment development, usually the first 30 months of life
• Issues with generalizing findings from Lorenz's studies include differences in attachment systems between mammals and birds
• Sexual imprinting is not as permanent as initially theorized, as shown by studies on chickens
• Harlow's research with rhesus monkeys demonstrated the importance of contact comfort over food in the development of attachments
• Monkeys sought comfort from a cloth-bound mother even when scared, showing the significance of contact comfort
• Monkeys raised with a cloth-bound mother had developmental issues, such as being less skilled at mating and being socially reclusive
• Harlow's research has practical implications for zoos and animal care, emphasizing the importance of attachment figures and intellectual stimulation for healthy development
• Learning Theory of Attachment:

  • Views children as blank slates who learn to form attachments through experiences
  • Attachment formation is explained through classical and operant conditioning
  • Classical conditioning involves associating the mother with pleasure from being fed
  • Operant conditioning reinforces actions like crying with rewards from the caregiver
• Classical conditioning:

  • Baby associates mother with pleasure of being fed
  • Mother becomes a conditioned stimulus causing pleasure
  • Baby feels happier when mother is near, forming attachment
• Operant conditioning:

  • Child's actions like crying trigger caregiver's response
  • Actions are reinforced by rewards like attention and food
  • Food is the primary reinforcer, mother is the secondary reinforcer
• Bowlby's Monotropic Theory of Attachment:

  • Attachments are innate and advantageous for survival
  • Social releasers activate the mammalian attachment system
  • Critical period for attachment formation is up to 2.5 to 3 years old
  • Monotropy suggests forming one intense attachment, typically with the mother
  • Internal working model stores information for relationships and influences future attachments
• Mary Ainsworth's 'Strange Situation' study assessed child-caregiver attachment through controlled observations with seven stages
• Ainsworth identified 3 types of attachments:

  • Secure attachment: infant shows separation anxiety but can be soothed upon return of caregiver, uses caregiver as a safe base
  • Insecure resistant attachment: infant becomes very distressed when separated from caregiver
  • Insecure avoidant attachment: infant shows little distress upon separation and avoids caregiver upon return
• Attachment types in children:

  • Secure attachment: children use the parent as a safe base to explore a new environment, accounting for 65% of children
  • Insecure resistant attachment: infants become distressed when the parent leaves, repeatedly switch between seeking and rejecting social interaction, and are less inclined to explore new environments (3% of children)
  • Insecure avoidant attachment: infants show no separation anxiety, no stranger anxiety, may show anger towards the caregiver, avoid social interaction, and can explore and play independently easily (20% of children)
• Evaluation of attachment study:

  • Ethical issues involved, with 20% of children crying desperately at one point
  • Lack of population validity due to primarily Western culture-based studies
  • Lack of ecological validity as studies were conducted in a lab setting, affecting generalizability
• Cultural Variations in Attachment:

  • Van Izjendoorn and Kronenberg conducted a meta-analysis of attachment patterns across 8 countries
  • Studies show variations in attachment patterns across cultures, influenced by changing cultural and social expectations
• Bowlby's Theory of Maternal Deprivation:

  • Attachment is essential for healthy psychological and emotional development
  • Effects of maternal deprivation include an inability to form attachments in the future, affectionless psychopathy, delinquency, and cognitive problems
• Effects of Institutionalisation:

  • Children in institutional care likely experience privation
  • Hodges and Tizard study observed effects of institutionalisation on attachment formation and quality in children
• Children who experienced early privation had difficulties forming relationships, even with good subsequent emotional care
• Early privation negatively affected the ability to form relationships, supporting Bowlby's view on attachment
• Children who experienced early privation were less likely to have a special friend, more quarrelsome, more likely to be bullies, and sought more attention from adults
• Rutter et al studied the effects of institutionalization on 165 Romanian orphans, comparing them to a control group of 50 children adopted in Britain
• Rutter et al found that orphans adopted before 6 months had higher IQs compared to those adopted after 2 years, and those adopted after 6 months displayed signs of disinhibited attachment
• Rutter et al demonstrated that recovery rates for orphans were directly related to the age at which they were adopted
• Children with attachment disorder may have no preferred attachment figure, an inability to interact with others, and may have experienced severe neglect or frequent changes in caregivers