attachment

• attachment is a strong reciprocal emotional bond between an infant and a primary care giver
• reciprocal is both ways and contributes to the relationship and generates a response. teaches the child to communicate.
• interactional synchrony is when the infant and caregiver are in synchrony with each other
• Condon (1974) showed infants can copy the displayed distinctive facial expression or gesture. interact through rhythm, pitch and volume
• stages of attachment were proposed by Schaffter and Emerson (1964)
• aim of the Schaffer and Emerson study- is to see the pattern of behaviour between infant and parent and to identify the stages
• participants in Schaffer and Emerson- 60 babies from Glasgow, same area
• procedure of Schaffer and Emerson- analysed interactions between infants and carers, they interviewed the carers, the mother had to keep a diary to track infants behaviour
• separation anxiety- signs of distress when the carer leaves, how much comforting they need when the carer leaves
• stranger anxiety- signs of distress as a response to a stranger arriving
• social referencing- how often the infant looks after their carer to check how they should be responding to a new thing.
• findings of Schaffer and Emerson study:

  -babies with sensitive responsiveness were more likely

  -infants form attachment more when less time spent but were more sensitive to their needs.

  -infants who had parents that responded to their needs quickly and spent more time interacting had intense attachments
• 4 stages of attachment- asocial stage, indiscriminate attachment, specific and multiple stage
• asocial stage- 0-6weeks, when the infant responds to object and people similarity but responses to faces and eyes
• indiscriminate attachment- 6weeks-6months, infant develops more response to human company. although they can tell the difference between different people, they can be comforted by anyone
• specific stage- 7months +, infant prefers one caregiver, seeks security and comfort in particular people. starts showing stronger separation anxiety.
• multiple - 10/11months, infant forms multiple attachments and seeks security, comfort and protection in multiple people. they many also show some separation anxiety for multiple people.
• role of the father was found by Schaffer and Emerson
• statistics for role of the father:

  -75% of the infants in the study formed a secondary attachment to their fathers by 18 months.
• fathers role:

  -father is unlikely to be the first person to which the infants develop an attachment to.

  -tiffant field- showed how fathers could be the primary attachment if they spend more time holding and smiling at them
• animal studies of attachment is Lorenz and Harlow
• harlow- monkeys were raised in isolation from humans but had access to two surrogate mothers made out of wire mesh and cloth. the monkey preferred the cloth mother as it provided warmth and comfort.
• lorenz- imprinting theory (birds) - birds are born with innate ability to form strong bonds with other animals or objects that they see within hours of birth. this bond will last throughout life.
• explanations of attachment is learning and Bowlbys mono tropic theory
• learning theory of attachment- views children's as being born with as blank slate. Everything we know is learned through our experiences, we learn attachments through classical and operant conditioning.
• classical conditioning in attachment

  -baby forms an association between mother (NS) and the feeling of pleasure that comes with being fed (UCR)

  -Baby feels comforted by food

  -each time its fed, the mother is also present, quickly associating the mother with the pleasure of being fed becoming a conditioned stimulus
• operant conditioning in attachment- the chid carries our an action, the more this happens the more the action is reinforced as the child associates the mother with a reward.

  food is primary reinforcer, mother is secondary reinforcer
• bowlbys mono tropic theory states that attachment are innate (born with)
• acronym for bowlbys mono tropic theory- ASCMI
• A= adaptive, attachments are benifical to survive - keep child safe and warm e.t.c
• S= social releases, the tendency for adults to care for a child because they activate the mammalian attachment system.
• C= critical period, time in which an attachment can form- ups to 3yrs. Bowlbys says its not formed by then, then it never will
• M= monotropy- means 'one carer' bowlby suggested you can only form one main attachment
• I= internal working model, area of the brain, a mental schema for relationships where information that allows you to know how to behave around people is stored
• Ainsworth created a study called the strange situation
• Ainsworths procedure was to assess how attached the child was to their primary caregiver
• Ainsworths study was a structured observation in a lab setting
• stages of Ainsworths situation:

  • Stage 1 – Mother and child enter the playroom
  • Stage 2 – The child is encouraged to explore
  • Stage 3 – Stranger enters and attempts to interact
  • Stage 4 – Mothers leaves while the stranger is present
  • Stage 5 – Mother enters and the stranger leaves
  • Stage 6 – Mothers leaves
  • Stage 7 – Stranger returns
  • Stage 8 – Mother returns and interacts with child
• secure attachment- infant shows separation anxiety when parent leaves, but returns quickly (65%)
• insecure resistant- infant distressed and tries to follow caregiver when they leave, but when they retune infants switches from seeking and rejecting social interactions (3%)