psychology attachment

• reciprocity 


  two way interaction between caregiver and infant where during the behaviour produced is a response to the other persons behaviour - so the infant and care giver are both active contributors in the interaction
• interactional synchrony 


  relates to timing and pattern of the interaction. it is also reciprocal but is also rhythmic, has a mutual focus and can include mirroring behaviour and emotions. behaviour is synchronised because they are moving in the same pattern showing the quality of the interaction
• meltzoff and Moore study 


  observational study on 2 week old babies + one 42 min old in which adults displayed one of three facial expressions + hand gesture which were recorded and watched by independent observers who were unaware of which the baby had seen. the behaviour catagories include mouth opening and tongue protrusion. the observers scored twice to ensure inter-rater reliability. the finding found the scores were 92% +. an association was found between facial expressions and babies actions suggesting evidence of reciprocity from a young age
• Isabell et al 


  observed mother-infant interactions at 3, 9 and then 12 months, assessing the quality of their interactions using the strange situation
• findings of Isabella et al


  good interactional synchrony= secure attachment showing that interactional synchrony is the biggest predictor of a healthy attachment vs minimally involved or over stimulating mothers to have insecure attachments. over stimulating leading to insecure shows that its too simple to say reciprocity leads to secure attachments
• evolution of care-giver interaction research

  most of the research is done under controlled observations. in these controlled observations they are recorded from multiple angles, independently observed and the babies are unaware of being watched. this means you can catch fine details, watch it multiple times and know the babies won't behaviour differently due to being filmed. this shows the validity of this research and gives faith to concepts of reciprocity and interactional synchrony. the inter-rater reliability was also high being 0.92, showing the reliability of the observers
• evaluation of care-giver infant interactions

  research is socially sensitive. interaction synchrony suggests a mother needs to be present from birth in order to achieve a secure attachment and develop sensitive responsiveness to their child. mothers who return back to work quickly after birth are however restricted from opportunities for achieving interactional synchrony. this research then has implications for certain social groups e.g working mothers who are prevented from achieving interactional synchrony
• Schaffers stages of attachment study procedure 


  longitudinal study on 60 babies from Glasgow (31 male 29 female) majority from working class backgrounds, and visited them at home every month for a year and then again at 18 months. mothers interviewed about how their children would respond to 7 situations e.g measuring separation and stranger anxiety to measure infants levels of attachment.
• Schaffers study findings

  Timings-Specific attachment (signs of separation anxiety) 50% of infants by 7 months, 80% by 40 weeks and almost 30% displayed multiple attachments. By one year 78% had developed multiple attachments with 33% having five or more multiple attachment figures.
• what is the first stage identified by Schaffer

  pre attachment- up to 3 months. Babies start to smile and become more sociable by 6 week. Tell people apart and enjoy human company= stronger attachments and no fear of strangers .
• second stage of attachment identified by Schaffer

  indiscriminate attachment - 3 months -7/8 months. infants are recognising and forming bonds with carers through reciprocity and interactional synchrony however show similar behaviour to animate and inanimate objects. towards the end of the stage they are more content in the presence of others and are easily calmed and handled by strangers
• third stage of attachment identified by Schaffer

  discriminate attachment- 7/8 months onwards. begin to show separation anxiety and protests by crying when primary attachment figure leaves = formed a specific attachment. begin to fear strangers
• fourth stage of attachment identified by Schaffer

  multiple attachments - 9 months onwards. 29% according to Schaffer begin to form multiple attachments usually towards friends grandparents, childminders/ nursery stuff etc
• strength of Schaffers stages of attachment

  based off longitudinal research. babies were observed every month for a year and then at 18 months allowing Schaffer to clearly observe the stages and at what time the babies went though them in order to identify his stages. this further improves the validity of the study as based on longitudinal research that allows us to improve understanding of dynamic process that shapes development
• evaluate Schaffers stages of attachment

  sample based on 60 babies from working class backgrounds in Glasgow so limited to only one country and background = questions whether findings can be generalised.then supported when looking at attachments around the world. e.g in cultures where multiple caregivers are the norm, psychologists suggest they form these attachments from the outset ( so pre-attachment stage) meaning that Schaffers stages wouldn't apply to these children. this then supports the suggestion that Schaffers stages do not generalise and questions the university of them
• paquettes study into the role of the father 


  fathers more likely to Foster risk-taking behaviours in children by engaging in more physical, enjoyable activities + prefer when children are in a more positive state compared to mothers who prefer when children are distressed and seeking comfort
• fields study on the role of fathers

  filmed 4 month old babies face to face interactions between primary caregiver mother and secondary caregiver father. findings- primary caregivers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding the baby as these behaviours are important to forming attachments. suggests father is just as capable as being the primary caregiver if given the chance as it is the level of responsiveness that is key to attachments not the gender.
• lamb- role of the fathers 


  said the characteristics of the individual father are less important than he quality of the relationship established; children with secure, sensitive and reciprocal relationships with they fathers (or mothers) do better on every measure of development
• what is challenging research to role role of the father 


  research leaves unanswered questions such as if the fathers have such a distinct role then why do children w out them develop no differently. research found that children who have grown up with single or same-sex parents develop no differently to the with metro-sexual parents. this suggests that the role of the father as the secondary caregiver figure is not as important as some people think
• what is a weakness of the role of the father

  inconsistent findings of the role of the father. e.g research is confusing as researchers are interested in different questions, either the secondary role of the father or the primary role. the former have found fathers to have a distinct role compared to the latter who have found fathers can adapt a maternal role. this means psychologists cannot easily answer the question of what is the role of the father? due to inconsistent findings no firm conclusions can be drawn
• evaluate research into the role of fathers

  pos and neg implications on mothers and fathers = socially sensitive. research showing a large indifference in mother and father roles has led to negative implications e.g bowlbys monotropy theory suggested fathers cannot be primary care giver leading.to idea mothers should stay at home. feminists suggest this places burden of responsibility on mothers. + part blame for stigma on stay at home fathers. but research has suggested sensitivity is key not gender = 2015 father and mothers sharing maternity leave = improves economic potential for families
• aim and procedure of Lorenz study

  aim- to investigate the imprinting mechanisms of bird species who are mobile from birth then follow and form attachments to the first moving object they see

  procedure- split batch of greylag goose eggs, 1) naturally hatched by mother 2) hatched in an incubator with Lorenz as first moving object seen. then recorded their behaviour

  he also marked the goslings placed them in an upturned box, removed the box and recorded behaviour
• findings of Lorenz study

  incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere + control followed mother round , even when mixed up this behaviour continued

  found a critical period between 4-25 hours where if imprinting didn't occur then chicks wouldn't attach to mother figure

  found goslings who imprinted on humans would later attempt to mate with them
• aim and procedure of Harlows animal study

  to determine whether food or close comfort was the important factor in determining attachment.

  p- 16 rhesus monkeys. placed monkeys in cages with two surrogate mothers either hard wired or a soft towel mother. 4/16 placed in one of four conditions 1) wire + milk, towel no milk 2) wire no milk, towel milk 3) wire + milk 4) towel + milk. time spent with mother and feeding time recorded. large cage used to test exploration.

  they then frightened the monkeys with a loud sound to see their preference in mother when stressed
• findings of Harlow animal study 


  monkeys preferred bowling mother despite whether they were or weren't fed milk by it. monkeys with just wire mother showed signs of distress. + when frightened by Loud noise, monkeys clung to towel mother when available
• strength of animal studies

  useful to understanding human attachment. Lorenz idea of critical period influenced bowlbys research that infants need to attach by 2 or long-term consequences + Harlow- showed consequences of early neglect and long term impact on future relationships = influences bolwbys internal working model. despite not being able to fully generalise, still had a huge significance of understanding human attachment and how to improve it
• weakness of animal studies

  p- can be seen as unethical. E- argued animals have a right to not be researched on and that the pursuit of academic conclusions for human benefits is detrimental to non-human species. however it is not possible to do these experiments on human infants and the findings have has significant benefits e.g helping social workers to identify risk factors to avoid long-term consequences. have to consider cost of monkeys and animals compared to the benefits to human species
• Ainsworth and bell strange situations aim


  produce a method for assessing security of an infants attachment by placing infant in a middle stressful situation and observe attachment behaviours that result
• Ainsworth and bell procedure 


  the strange situation took place in a lab. the pts were American infants 12-18 months, caregiver usually mum, same stranger used every time. lasted 20 mins and behaviour closely observed to asses infants level of exploring, playing and distress behaviours at separation
• outline the 8 stages in the procedure of Ainsworth and bell

  1. researcher brings caregiver into the room and then leaves
  2. caregiver sits and infant is free to explore
  3. stranger enters, talk to caregiver and infant and then caregiver leaves
  4. stranger talks and plays with infant
  5. stranger leaves, caregiver returns end of stage leaves
  6. infant left alone
  7. stranger returns and interacts with infant
  8. stranger leaves caregiver returns and interacts with infant
• findings of Ainsworth and bell strange situations

  secure- 66%, high stranger anxiety, pleasure on reunion but some separation anxiety, willingness to explore

  insecure-avoidant- 22% avoid social interactions and intimacy with others, similar ways of treating stranger and caregiver, no separation anxiety, low stranger anxiety and avoid contact with caregiver on reunion

  insecure-resistant- seek and reject intimacy and social interactions, low willingness to explore, high stranger anxiety, distressed on separation and both seeks and rejects caregiver on reunion
• Strange situations

  • Culture bound
  • Developed in America and on American children
  • Not valid for other cultures when studying attachment behaviours
  • Behaviours seen as healthy in the USA may not be in other cultures
• Strange situations not working on Japanese infants


  • Japanese infants rarely being separated from their caregiver
  • Japanese mothers scooping children on reunion
• German children


  • Encouraged to be independent
  • Appear avoidant in strange situations
• Strange situations only truly valid for cultures similar to USA and can draw incorrect conclusions for other cultures using the strange situation
• evaluation of strange situations

  controlled= findings questioned. popular but argument that due to unfamiliar playroom and mothers awareness = distort behaviour leading to lack of ecological validity + findings may not reflect real-life at home attachment behaviours

  BUT- vaughn and waters- 1 year olds, strange situation at home = secure - higher security and sociability but insecure- small difference = strange situations has ecological validity
• van ijendoorn and kroonenburg procedure 


  meta-analysis on 32 studies results using the strange situations to measure attachments. from 8 different countries including western (USA, uk and Germany) and non-western (Japan, china and Israel)
• rothbaum 


  also contrasted western notion of secure attachment with Japanese word amae+ emotional dependance. children exhibiting amae would shows signs of clinginess and need for attention - in west regarded as insecure attachment but healthy adjustment in Japan
• rothbaum 


  explored how American vs Japanese mothers viewed mother-child attachment but asking question how they would interpret their child calling for them during nap time. American- negative behaviour + testing boundaries + limit behaviour by ignoring child vs Japanese mothers - secure attachment
• bowlbys maternal deprivation theory

  hypothesis- if prolonged separation occurs before the critical period without an effective substitute, the Childs well being will be severely effected - at risk of this up to age 5. Effected: