Attachment

• Effects of interactional synchrony


  • Lead to better communication between the parent and child when the child is older
• Importance of reciprocity

  • Teaching the child to communicate
  • Allowing the parent to better care for the child by responding to their needs sooner and more effectively
• Stages of Attachment identified by Schaffer

  1. Asocial stage (0-6 weeks)

  2. Indiscriminate attachments (6 weeks – 6 months)

  3. Specific (7 months +)
• Attachment


  A strong reciprocal emotional bond between an infant and a primary caregiver
• Reciprocal


  Two/both ways; the child and the mother both have to bond for an attachment to form successfully
• Many studies on attachment used controlled observations, ensuring a high level of detail and accuracy
• Interactional synchrony


  When the infant and primary caregiver become synchronized in their interactions
• Sensitive responsiveness was found to be more important than the amount of time spent with the baby in forming attachments
• Observations of young children may not indicate meaningful actions due to lack of motor coordination
• Infants with parents who showed 'sensitive responsiveness' were more likely to form attachments
• Infants with parents who responded quickly to their needs and interacted more had more intense attachments
• Attachments form when the carer communicates and plays with the child rather than just feeding or cleaning
• Stages of attachment

  • Indiscriminate attachments (6 weeks – 6 months)
  • Specific (7 months +)
  • Multiple (10/11 months +)
• Indiscriminate attachments (6 weeks – 6 months)


  1. The infant develops more responses to human company

  2. They can tell the difference between different people but can be comforted by anyone
• Specific (7 months +)

  1. Infants prefer one particular carer and seek security, comfort, and protection in particular people

  2. They show stranger anxiety and separation anxiety
• Multiple (10/11 months +)


  1. Infants form multiple attachments and seek security, comfort, and protection in multiple people

  2. They may show separation anxiety for multiple people
• Attachments vary greatly in strength and value/importance to the child
• Many infants reached the multiple attachment stage by 10 months
• Attachments infants form

  • Mothers
  • Fathers
  • Siblings
  • Extended family members
  • Family friends
• Study evaluation: Schaffer’s stages of attachment lack population and temporal validity
• Study evaluation: self-report method used, accuracy of data collection may be compromised
• Asocial stage cannot be studied objectively
• Children as young as 6 weeks lack basic motor co-ordination skills
• It is important not to draw causal conclusions from children's responses
• Role of the Father: 75% of infants formed a secondary attachment to their father by 18 months
• Role of the Father: 29% formed a secondary attachment within a month of forming a primary attachment
• Role of the Father: primary caregivers, regardless of gender, are more attentive towards infants
• Role of the Father: fathers are important but unlikely to be the first attachment figure
• Role of the Father: mothers are often expected to be primary attachment figures, but this is not always the case
• Role of the Father: the exact role of the father in attachment development is disputed
• Role of the Father: the gender of the primary caregiver may be influenced by societal expectations and biology
• Role of the Father: children in different family structures show no significant differences in attachment
• A single father or mother may be pressured to return to work to increase the likelihood of their child forming a secure attachment
• Sexual imprinting is not as permanent as Lorenz theorised (Guiton)
• Imprinting


  Animals attach to the first moving object or person they see directly after birth
• Later abnormalities in development are often blamed on the parent(s)
• Research into the importance of primary attachment figures

  Is socially sensitive
• Sexual imprinting


  Animals attach to and display sexual behaviors towards the first moving object or animal they see directly after birth
• The gender of the primary caregiver


  Is largely dictated by society and biology
• Imprinting must occur within the critical period of attachment development, usually the first 30 months of life