Attachment

• Attachment- infants and caregivers develop deep and lasting emotional bonds. Both members of this emotional relationship seek closeness and feel more secure when close to their attachment figure.
• Reciprocity- mutual turn- taking form of interaction. Both caregiver and infant contribute to the interaction by responding to the others signals and cues.
• Interactional synchrony- interaction between the infant and caregiver who appear to be acting rhythmically, with matching, coordinated behaviour and matching emotional states.
• Imitation- the infant directly copies the caregiver's expression.
• Sensitive responsiveness- the adult caregiver correctly interprets the meaning of the infant's communication and is motivated to respond appropriately.
• Caregiver- infant interactions:

  Meltzoff and Moore (1977)- an experimenter displayed facial gestures such as sticking a tongue out and opening their mouth in shock to 12-21 day old infants. Finding infants had the ability to observe and reciprocate through imitation.
• Caregiver- infant interactions:

  Condon and Sander (1974)- videotaped interactions between adults and neonates, focusing on the movements of the neonates in response to adult speech. Finding evidence of interactional synchrony/ coordination.
• Caregiver- infant interactions:

  Many studies use multiple observers, blind to the true aims of the experiment, to provide inter- rater reliability. The use of complex camera systems to document and slow down micro sequences provides high internal validity.
• Caregiver- infant interactions:

  Infants cannot directly communicate their thoughts or emotions. Therefore, findings in caregiver- infant interaction research depend on inferences which are considered unscientific.
• Caregiver- infant interactions:

  Social sensitivity is a concern when investigating childrearing techniques, including norms around caregiver- infant interactions, as some women may find their life choices criticised.
• Stages of attachment- Schaffer:

  1. Asocial
  2. Indiscriminate attachment
  3. Specific attachment
  4. Multiple attachment
• Asocial attachment (0-6 weeks)- babies display innate behaviours that ensure proximity to any potential caregiver. Anyone can comfort them, as they do not prefer any individual caregiver.
• Indiscriminate attachment (6 weeks- 7 months)- infants develop the ability to tell the difference between familiar and unfamiliar individuals, smiling more at the people they see frequently.
• Specific attachment (7-9 months)- babies form a strong attachment to a primary caregiver, most often their mother. It is in this stage that separation anxiety and stranger anxiety develop.
• Multiple attachment (9+ months)- the infant starts to form attachments with other regular caregivers and stranger anxiety starts to decrease.
• Stages by Schaffer:

  Schaffer and Emerson (1964) conducted a longitudinal observation of 60 working class babies from Glasgow. It was found that separation anxiety occurred in most babies by 25-32 weeks, with stranger anxiety starting one month later. Strongest attachment to mothers, and the quality of caregiver- infant interaction influences the strength of attachment between infants and their mothers.
• Stages by Schaffer:

  As infants and their families were observed in their own homes, the study had a high level of mundane realism, the experience of strangers visiting the family home or mothers leaving the room was normal for the infants.
• Stages by Schaffer:

  The sample in Shaffer's study may not be generalizable or have temporal validity as it only included a group of working class mothers in 1960s Glasgow.
• Role of the father:

  Schaffer found at 18 months, 75% of infants had formed an attachment with their father, showing separation anxiety, suggesting fathers play an important role in their infants lives.
• Role of the father:

  Active play- fathers are seen to engage babies in active play activities more consistently than mothers. This stimulation is thought to encourage risk- taking behaviours.
• Role of the father:

  Primary caregiver- if men take on the role of primary caregiver, their interactional style changes to be more like mothers, increasing their capacity for sensitive responsiveness.
• Role of the father:

  Field (1978) found fathers focused more on game playing and less on holding. Primary caregiver fathers showed more sensitively responsive behaviour, similar to mothers.
• Role of the father:

  Verissimo (2011) found a strong attachment to the father was the best predictor of the ability to make friends in school, suggesting an important role for fathers in socialisation.
• Role of the father:

  Social sensitivity- theories argue the role of the mother cannot be replaced by the father and may lead to father led single families and families with two fathers feeling they cannot fully provide for the needs of infants.
• Role of the father:

  Economic implications- research could lead to legislation that ensures equal paternity and maternity leave. This may reduce the number of males in the workforce, reduce economic activity and also help to address the gender pay gap.
• Lorenz (1935)-

  • Testing imprinting birds forming a strong bond with and following their mother shortly after hatching.
• Lorenz-

  Procedure= goose eggs were randomly divided, half were taken to be hatched by Lorenz, and the other half were hatched by the biological mother.
• Lorenz-

  Found= the goslings he hatched imprinted on him. Lorenz placed all of the goslings in a box. When the goslings were released from the box, the goslings who had imprinted on Lorenz found him and continued to follow him. Lorenz found the goslings had a critical period of 32 hours.
• Lorenz's research suggests imprinting is a strong evolutionary/ biological feature of attachment in certain birds.
• Harlow- tested the cupboard love theory that babies love mothers because they feed them.
• Harlow (1958)-

  Procedure= infant rhesus monkeys were placed in cages with two surrogate mothers, one that provided milk but no comfort (wire) and one that provided comfort but no food (cloth). Time spent with each mother was recorded, as well as which surrogate the infant ran to when frightened.
• Harlow-

  Findings= found that the infant monkeys spent most of their time with the comfort mother, only visiting the wire mother when they needed to eat. They returned to the cloth mother when frightened. Harlow found the maternal deprivation his studies had caused resulted in permenant social disorders.
• Harlow's research suggests that monkeys have a biological need for physical contact.
• The generalisation of animal behaviour to human psychology is problematic. Humans and animals have very different biology, and humans have various social and cultural experiences that inform their behaviour.
• Harlow's findings on contact comfort have been highly influential. Bowlby argued similar to monkeys, infants crave comfort from their mothers, attempting to form a monotonic relationship.
• Lorenz's findings on the critical period in geese have been highly influential. Bowlby argued that there is a similar critical period for humans, 6-30 months.
• There are practical applications of Harlow and Lorenz's work. Knowledge initially gained from these studies and later developed by Bowlby has been applied to early childcare.
• Harlow is criticised on ethical grounds for the harm caused to many intentionally orphaned primate infants and for causing high stress levels, and public knowledge of these studies has harmed psychology's reputation.
• Dolland and Miller (1950) theory of cupboard love is based on the principles of learning theory. It argues infants become attached to their caregiver because they learn that their caregiver provides food.
• Classical conditioning- food is the unconditioned stimulus, producing pleasure, an unconditioned response. As the mother is present every time the baby is fed, the mother becomes associated with the pleasure of being fed and she changes from being a neutral stimulus to a conditioned stimulus.