Attachment - psychology

• Schaffers Stages of attachment

  Asocial stage

  indiscriminate stage

  specific

  multiple
• Describe asocial stage- 1 stage

  1. Recognise + start to form bonds with its carers
  2. behaviours towards non human and humans are similar
  3. show some preference for familiar adults
• Describe indiscriminate stage-2 stage

  1. display observable social behaviour
  2. Preference for people
  3. accept comfort from any adult
  4. don’t usually show separation anxiety
• Specific attachment- 3 stage

  1. Start to display anxiety towards strangers
  2. become anxious from separation
  3. express joy at reunion
  4. formed specific attachment
• Multiple attachments- 4 stage

  1. Extend attachment to adults who they regularly spend time with
  2. these are called secondary attachments
• what weakness does the stages of attachment have on the development?

  It is inflexible
• why is it bad that the stages of attachment become standard?

  1. families are judged
  2. doesn't look at cultural differences
• when was Harlows study on monkeys conducted?


  1959
• how long did Harlow study his monkeys for?

  165 days
• what did Harlow find regarding the monkeys


  the infant monkeys cuddled the cloth covered monkey instead of the wired monkey even though it had the bottle. All the monkeys wanted comfort from the cloth 'mother' when frightened even though they didnt have the food. the infant monkey, when playing would keep close to the cloth monkey for reassurance
• what do the findings of Harlow suggest about attachment behaviour?


  infants do not develop an attachment to the person who feeds them, but the person that offers contact comfort
• weakness of harlows study

  extrapolation
• classical conditioning - who was it proposed by?


  proposed by Ivan Pavlov
• how is classical conditioning learned through

  association
• what are the two ways of learning


  classical conditioning and operant conditioning
• operant conditioning - who was it proposed by?

  B.F skinner (rats)
• how is operant conditioning learnt 


  through positive and negative reinforcement
• what does bowlbys monotropic theory of attachment suggest 


  attachment is important for child's survival. attachment behaviours in babies and caregivers have evolved through natural selection. infants are innately programmed to form an attachment which takes place during the critical period of around 2 years.
• describe social releases 


  babies are born with a set of innate features and behaviours that encourage attention from adults
• examples of social releasers - bowlby

  • big eyes
  • small chin
  • cooing
  • crying
• whos theory suggests attachment is an innate drive

  Bowlby
• what kind of observation was Ainsworths strange situation

  lab based observation of 100 US babies. In a room with controlled conditions
• Ainsworth found that there were three distinct patterns in how babies behaved. What are the 3 types?

  • Type A insecure - avoidant attachment
  • Type B secure attachment
  • Type c insecure resistant attachment
• describe Ainsworths type A attachment type ( insecure avoidant )

  • avoid social interaction
  • explore freely
  • dont seek proximity
  • little/no reaction when caregiver leaves
  • little stranger anxiety
  • dont require comfort
• describe Ainsworth type B attachment type (secure )

  • cooperative interactions with caregiver
  • explore happily - regularly go back
  • moderate separation distress
  • require + accept comfort
• describe Ainsworth type C attachment type ( insecure resistant )

  • seek + resist intimacy + social interaction
  • seek proximity so explore less
  • huge separation anxiety but resist comfort
• what is interactional synchrony 


  caregiver and infant reflect the actions and emotions of the other in a synchronised way, they mirror each other in terms of face and body movements.
• who studied interactional synchrony

  Meltzoff&Moore 1977
• Meltzoff & Moores interactional synchrony study


  and adult displays one of three facial expressions or one of the gestures. infants response was filmed and identified by observers. the observer did no know what what the infant had seen. An association was found between what he adult was doing and the infants response. believed that interactional synchrony is important in the development of mother- infant attachments
• problems with drawing conclusions about interactional synchrony

  • cant show cause/effect ethically impossible to manipulate the amount of interaction
  • extraneous factors eg. culture, home environment
  • mostly observational - could be bias
• solutions to study interactional synchrony

  • research can take place in natural setting - increase validity
  • use more than one observer so bias is less likely
  • take extra care in relation to ethics so doesnt affect child/parent in any way
• why mother and father roles might differ- Schaffer and Emerson

  most men arent psychologically equipped to form intense attachment - lack emotional sensitivity. could be due to biological or social factors. women are expected to be more caring and nurturing.

  could be female hormones = oestrogen create higher levels of nurturing - women are biologically predisposed to be the primary attachment figure