Attachment

• Caregiver infant interactions


  mutual exchanges between caregivers and infants that foster and maintain attachment bonds

  1. interactional synchrony - infants move their body in tune with the rhythm of carers language

  (occur together)

  2. reciprocity - interactions between infant and carer result in mutual behaviour

  (each persons interaction affects the other)

  3. bodily contact

  4. mimicking

  5. caregiverese (modified language - high pitch and slow)
• Alert phases


  From birth babies signal when they are ready to interact.
• Klaus and Kennell - caregiver interacations

  compared mums who had extended physical contact with their babies to those who had contact with just feeding

  = mums who had greater contact found to hug them more and greater eye contact

  = closer physical contact
• Evaluation for caregiver infant interactions

  + practical applications to benefit families = K&K found the increased physical contact meant a closer bond = hospitals have increased the length of time mums should spend with babies after birth

  - Caregiverese has been observed to be used by many adults, not just those

  looking to build a long-term attachment = serves a different function, perhaps

  to aid communication and soothe infants in strange situations, rather than be

  specifically to help form an emotional bond.

  - interactional synchrony is not found in all cultures weakening support for the idea that is key in attachment formation = LeVine and Kenyan mother have little physcial contact with infants but most secure bonds = not universally necessary in formation in attachment bonds
• Stages of attachment - Schaffer

  ASOCIAL = Birth to 3 months = appear more content around people rather than objects = interactional synchrony and reciprocity

  INDISCRIMINATE ATTACHMENT = 3 to 7/8 months = clearly favour humans by not showing a lot of stranger anxiety

  DISCRIMINATE ATTACHMENT (specific) = 7/8 months onwards = increased stranger anxiety as they stay close and respond more meaningful to people they know

  MULTIPLE ATTACHMENTS = 9 months onwards = strong emotional ties with other major caregivers = low anxiety = primary remains strongest but attachment with grandparents
• Research supporting attachments - Schaffer and Emerson


  Aim = assess whether there was a typical pattern for attachment formation

  Procedure = longitudinal study on 60 Glasgow women and newborn babies studied first year and then 18 months later = their own homes

  observations were conducted and interviews with the mother (who infants smiled at and who they respond to)

  Measured via separation protest = level of distress shown by infants away from caregivers

  Stranger anxiety = degree shown by infants when with unfamiliar people

  Findings = most showed separation when parted at 6-8 months and stranger anxiety 1 month later = strongly attached had mothers who responded very quickly with more opportunities to react

  18 months = 87% had at least 2 attachments 31% had five or more

  39% was not to the main carer

  Conclusions = biologically controlled as they show similarities and made with people who are sensitively responsive
• Evaluation of Schaffer and Emerson

  Methodology:

  +Observation in homes= high ecological validity.

  +Large sample (60)=representative. Longitudinal= wealth of

  data and insight into change over time. Ways of measuring attachment realistic (face validity). Interviews collect rich

  valid data.

  - -Ethnocentric (all Scottish).

  -Bias from researcher and mothers.

  -DCs/SDB reduces validity of interviews.

  -Lacks temporal validity as out of date (1960s) and may not be

  relevant today.

  Stages of attachment

  +Stage theory supports nature. Biological, innate drive to survive.

  +Support for multiple attachments of equal importance, which is advantageous to individual. Cross-cultural support. Reliable findings.

  -Nature alone reductionist - individual differences in how and

  when attachments form (flexible stages?).

  -Multiple attachments goes against Bowlby's theory of monotropy.

  -There is evidence against, eg Carpenter disagrees when babies discriminate as he showed babies faces and voices mix matched or together = babies could recognise mothers face and were distressed if they had another voice = showing they can attract to their mothers at an early age contradicting SE
• Role of the father

  Mother likely to be primary attachment because ways she interacts

  different interactions affecting attachment

  - marital status

  - degree of sensitivity

  - own personal attachments

  - supportive co parenting

  father's more likely seen as play mates and mothers biologically seen as more sensitive to the needs
• Geiger and Lamb research - role of the father

  showed that fathers are more friendly and playmates compared to sensitive mothers = more nurturing and caring

  Lamb - found when in a positive mental state they go to their fathers and seeking stimulation whereas mothers when they are distressed and emotionally weak

  = dads as entertainment

  = mothers for serious
• Belsky research - role of the father

  found that dads with high levels of marital intimacy were related to secure father infant attachment = showing that there is influence with how they portray their own lives and the relationship they form with child
• Evaluation of role of the father

  + supporting and importing for mother and children

  + children with better relations to the dad = less behavioural problems = well behaved = socially interact better

  + distinct role of playmate research allows for better relations with peers and social interactions increasing problem and difficult task abilities

  - no dad leads to other problems with school and education = interactions = can lead to home problems = poverty
• Lorenz study (AO1)


  Aim :

  Investigate imprinting in baby geese

  Procedure :

  - Divided a clutch of goose eggs into two groups

  - One group was left with natural mother

  - Other group placed in incubator

  - The incubator hatched ducklings, Lorenz made sure he was first to be seen, He marked the two groups and returned them to the mother

  Finding that the naturally hatched eggs to be following the mother whereas the incubator eggs followed Lorenz (imprinting)

  - when all In the same box the same thing happened with them following the mother and also Lorenz

  formed the bond within the critical period (4-25 hours)
• Evaluation of Lorenz study (AO3)

  +Findings suggest imprinting is irreversible suggesting biology is responsible.

  +Highly scientific, controlled study (Experiment: IV=hatch to mother goose or Lorenz and DV=who goslings imprint on).

  +Findings about imprinting, critical period and continuity have been applied by Bowlby to explain human attachment formation (linked to monotropy and MDH).

  -Difficult to extrapolate/generalise animal findings to explain human attachment formation as humans are more complex and have more influences.

  -Research has questioned Lorenz's conclusions- Guiton found chickens that imprinted on yellow washing up gloves would try to mate with them as adults (as Lorenz predicted), but that with

  experience they eventually learned to prefer mating with other chickens, suggesting imprinting isn't permanent.
• Harlows study (AO1)


  4 conditions = wire mother with milk or no milk and a soft towel mother with no milk and milk

  = recorded the amount of time spent with each mother = feeding and nurturing

  Frightened with a loud noise to see who they likely to go towards

  = comforted more by the cloth mothers and wire mother meant they showed severe signs of distress = diarrhoea = not comforting at all

  when placed in a larger cage the monkeys explored more willingly if the cloth mother was nearby = felt safe enough
• Evaluate Harlow's study (AO3)

  +Results had a profound effect on psychology

  Insight into the importance of contact comfort over cupboard love explanations of attachment. = Practical applications for social workers understanding risk factors of neglect (and also animal welfare).

  +Findings have been applied to Bowlby and others in relation to the critical period and continuity hypothesis, where quality of early relationships effects social development and later

  relationships.

  -Difficult to extrapolate/generalise animal findings to explain human attachment formation as humans are more complex and have more influences

  -Ethical issues as monkeys suffered greatly from the maternal deprivation, such as becoming more aggressive or withdrawn, subjected to rape and becoming poor mothers, eg attacking

  their children and even killing their children in some cases.
• Social learning theory - explanation of attachment

  beliefs that attacments develop trhough conditioned processes

  1. classical conditioning = learned via association

  food UCS = pleasure UCR

  food UCS + caregiver CS = pleasure UCR

  caregiver CS = pleasure CR

  2. operant conditioning = learning via negative reinforcement (strengthens behaviour making more likely to happen = hunger is bad so behaviour to gain food reoccurs to make hunger less likely to happen)

  Dollard and Miller = first year babies are fed around 2,000 times making the person feeding assocaite with removal of negative feeling of hunger

  = secondary drive hypothesis survival elements leads to closeness
• Evaluation of learning approach for attachment

  + Learning theory provides a very plausible and scientifically reliable explanation for attachment

  formation. It seems highly likely that simple association between the provision of needs essential for

  survival and the person providing those needs can lead to strong attachments.

  +There is research to support Learning Theory as an explanation of attachment. Dollard and Miller found

  babies were fed 2000 times in the first year, giving ample opportunity for the carer to be associated with

  the removal of the unpleasant feeling of hunger.

  - The theory is extremely reductionist and there is evidence that infants can form attachments with a

  person who is not the primary care-giver.

  Schaffer & Emerson (1964) studied the attachments formed by 60 infants from birth. They found that a

  significant number of infants formed attachments with a person other than the one doing the feeding,

  nappy changing, etc. and that the primary attachment was often with the father and not the mother. They

  found that it was the quality of interaction with the infant that was most important - stronger attachments

  were formed with the person who was most sensitive and responsive to the infant's needs, so cupboard lve

  is an incomplete explanation.

  - Harlow's findings were that the monkeys would cuddle up to and be more distressed at losing the

  comfortable padded surrogate mother that provided no food than they were the uncomfortable wire-framed

  surrogate mother that fed them, suggesting contact-comfort was more important in attachment than food.
• Bowlby's theory of attachment


  monotropic theory = inbuilt tendency to make an initial attachment with one attachment figure

  Social releasers innate trigger stimulating the caregivers interactions = crying / clinging / vocalisation / smiling

  Critical period = specific time in which an attahcment must form

  internal working model = cognitive framework used to understand the world, the self and the future relationships = based upon primary attachments

  = consistency between the early emotional experiences and later relationships
• Evaluation of Bowlby's theory for attachment

  +There is evidence to support aspects of Monotropic theory

  Internal Working Model and Continuity hypothesis - Hazan and Shaver found children who

  had better quality relationships continued to develop positive, secure relationships into adulthood.

  Social releasers - Brazleton found children respond strongly to caregiver's interactions, showing

  initial distress and then lying motionless when carer was told to ignore their baby's signals.

  - There is counter-evidence to Monotropy - S&E found children tend to form multiple

  attachments of equal importance (87% of children in their study by 18 months had at least two

  attachments and 31% had five or more), which is advantageous should a primary caregiver be

  lost. This goes against monotropy.

  -S&E also suggest that sensitive responsiveness is a more important feature of forming

  attachments than imprinting, going against Bowlby.

  -Socially sensitive research as findings have been used to discriminate against women to keep

  them in the home looking after children and not go out to work.
• Ainsworth types of attachment


  Type A - insecure avoidant = infants willing to explore with low stranger anxiety and unconcerned by separation = avoid contact at return

  Type B - securely attached = keen to explore with high stranger anxiety = distressed by separation but easy to calm = enthusiastic on return

  Type C - insecure resistant = unwilling to explore = high stranger and separation anxiety = seek and reject contact (caregiver goes for attention and infant does the opposite)
• Ainsworth strange situation


  aim - to assess how individuals react under mild distress

  consisted of 3 minute episodes being observed with behaviour being recorded for proximity/ contact seeking/ search behaviours/ contact and interaction

  stages

  1. m + i + o 2. m + I 3. s + m + I 4. s + I 5. m + I 6. I 7. s + I 8. m + I

  type A = 15% of infants ignored mother and were indifferent to their return

  type B = 70% infants played contently when mum there

  type C = 15% infants were fussy and wary even with mum there (unhappy they left = reject and resist the contact comfort)
• Cultural variations in attachment

  van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenburg

  meta analysis of 32 studies of strange situation conducted in 8 countries overall attachment Type A was 21% B = 67% C = 12%

  A = Germany and more western countries

  C = Israel, Japan and China
• Evaluation of Ainsworths strange situation

  + controlled observation = standardised = replicable (paradigm for measuring attachment)

  + high inter observer reliability

  + predictive = face validity = predictive for later development

  - low ecological validity (Biofenbrenner found attachment highest in unfamiliar settings)

  - unethical = placing them under mild distress

  - may not be 100% valid = mothers temperament may be a cofounding variable
• Evaluation of stages of attachment

  + children identified at 18 months as securely attached = 75% still securely attached at 6 years old

  - additional attachment (disorganised) is a mixture of all is ignored

  - SS and attachment assumed to be fixed = not permanent = dependant on family situations

  - unethical = labelled as insecurely attached = self fulfilling prophecy = explain predictive behaviour
• Bowbly's maternal deprivation hypothesis


  explanation of the consequences sees permanent serious damage to the children development
• Short term separation


  brief temporary separations from attachment figures. Bowlby used PDD model to desribe the distress caused

  Protest = immediate response to being left

  Despair = calmer apathetic behaviour

  Detachment = responds to people again (warily)
• Robertson and Robertson


  they filmed and studied various children under the age of 3 during short separations. John, 17 months, stayed for 9 days in a residential nursery. The staff had little time to attend to his personal needs = found to struggle leaving his mother when she returned
• Long term deprivation


  Lengthy or permanent separation from attachment figure e.g. Death or divorce
• Privation


  never having formed an attachment bond
• Curtiss - case study Genie


  denied human interaction with grammar and intellectual problems = could not speak so she spat = potty trained at 13 years old = led to learning difficulties
• Freud and Dann - Nazi concentration camp children


  taken into orphanages at months old and rehired at 3-4 years old developing strong attachments to carers = weakens MDH
• Institutionalisation


  forming an attachment in an institution, such as a children's home or orphanage
• Bowlby's 44 thieves


  inability to feel concern or guilt for others = affection less psychopathy

  = 86% had experienced maternal separation
• Rutter = Romanian orphan study


  longitudinal quasi study

  studying orphans adopted before 6 months / between 6 months and 2 years / after 2 years

  = measured levels of cognitive functioning 111 orphans measured on ability against a control of British children

  50% found to be retarded and underweight

  after 4 years they showed improvements = if adopted before 6 months they were shown to have the same levels as the British children
• Evaluation of short term separation

  + research to support = R&R to show the effects of short term separation

  + practical application = offer a substitute mothering with routine to lessen the distress

  - Individual differences in extent to which children suffer effects suggested by Bowlby- Securely attached children and more mature children cope better with separations, so distress is not the same for all.

  -Evidence is correlational, so there is no cause and effect established between short term separation and later emotional and behavioural difficulties.
• Evaluation of Long term deprivation

  +Research to support - Richards found negative effects of long term deprivation, but that effects were different depending on the separation. For divorce, children might suffer resent and stress, while when a death occurred, children might become depressed and delinquent.

  +Practical applications to support children through deprivation, eg education classes for divorcing parents to help them avoid problems by providing warmth and rules.

  -Individual differences in extent long term deprivation affects children- Hetherington found 25% (rather than nearly all) children affected by divorce experienced long term adjustment problems, most children are able to adapt, lessening support for Bowlby.
• Evaluation of privation


  +Research to support - Curtiss's study of Genie, who would never develop grammar and continued to have learning and social difficulties through her life, to the point where she stopped talking.

  +Case studies provide insight into consequences of privation, and offer valid data on what would be an otherwise unethical investigation.

  - Research to contradict Bowlby, suggesting his view that the negative effects of maternal deprivation are irreversible to be overstated- Freud and Dann- Six orphaned children from a concentration camp were rehomed with little language and hostility. Gradually they became attached to their carers and made rapid developments in physical and intellectual capabilities. Those traced later made good recoveries.

  -Case study evidence is subjective, not controlled and unreliable.
• Evaluation of institutionalisation


  +Research to support negative effects of institutionalisaiton- Bowlby's 44 thieves study found 86% of the thieves had experienced maternal separation and 32% exhibited affectionless psychopathy.

  -Methodological problems investigating effects of institutionalisation over time weakens quality of Bowlby's MDH- no use of random samples, interviews yield inaccurate data, lack of validity as lack of stimulation in orphanage could lead to retarded development rather than maternal deprivation.
• Rutter evaluation


  +Research to support MDH- Rutter's follow-up study found specific problems associated with long periods of institutionalisation, eg hyperactivity and cognitive impairment. Disinhibited attachments observed at age 6 were found to continue in 50% of children followed up at age 11.

  +Practical applications- insight into orphanages has helped with improving care, eg having a smaller number of people central to the care of a child

  -Rutter's Romanian orphan studies lessen support for Bowlby- negative effects of institutional care can be overcome by sensitive, nurturing care. After four years of adoption, Romanian orphans showed great improvement in physical and cognitive development. In a follow-up at age 11, many showed normal levels of functioning.
• continuity hypothesis


  consistency between early emotional experiences and later relationships

  based upon internal working model = future template)

  young blade = 3 to 5 year olds securely attached were more curious, empathetic and able to form close relationships