attachment

• Interactional synchrony


  The temporal coordination of behaviors between an infant and their caregiver
• Interactional synchrony predicts the quality of attachment formed between caregiver and infant
• Research on caregiver-infant interactions encourages mothers to engage in social interaction and respond to infant behaviors appropriately and timely
• Attachment


  Formed between a parent and their child
• Stages of attachment identified by Schaefer in the first year of life

  1. Asocial stage (0-6 weeks)

  2. Indiscriminate attachment (6 weeks-7 months)

  3. Discriminate/specific attachment (7-9 months)

  4. Multiple attachment (10-18 months)
• Asocial stage


  • Infant can form bonds with anyone, including inanimate objects
• Indiscriminate attachment


  • Infants begin to develop a preference for human company, but are relatively indiscriminate in their attachment behaviors
• Discriminate/specific attachment


  • Infants form strong bonds with specific individuals, usually their primary caregivers, and show separation and stranger anxiety
• Multiple attachment


  • Infants form attachments with multiple individuals, including grandparents, siblings, and other close family members or caregivers
• Schaefer and Emerson observed a sample of 60 infants from working-class families in Glasgow and recorded their attachment behaviors at regular intervals between the ages of six weeks and 18 months
• Attachment was measured through separation anxiety and stranger distress
• At 25-32 weeks, 50% of babies showed signs of separation anxiety, and attachment tended to be to the most interactive and sensitive caregiver
• At 40 weeks, 80% of babies had a specific attachment, with 30 having multiple attachments
• Strengths of Schaefer and Emerson's research

  • Ecological validity (observations in natural home setting)
  • Longitudinal design
• Limitations of Schaefer and Emerson's research

  • Use of self-report data from caregivers
  • Limited sample (working-class families in Glasgow)
  • Potential cultural bias
• Psychological research into attachment points to the importance of the relationship between the baby and their caregiver in the first years of life
• This has raised questions for psychologists about the role of fathers
• At around 18 months, 75% of infants had formed an attachment with their father
• Reasons fathers may not be equipped to form attachment like mothers

  • Societal norms and expectations that caregiving is a feminine role
  • Lack of paternity leave, putting responsibility on mothers
  • Biological differences in hormones like estrogen and oxytocin
• Role of fathers


  Seen more as playmates rather than primary caregivers
• Imprinting


  A process in birds where they form an attachment to the first thing they see upon hatching
• Lorenz's experiment with goslings


  1. Randomly divide eggs into two groups

  2. One group hatches naturally with mother

  3. Other group hatches in incubator away from mother

  4. First moving object they encounter is Lorenz

  5. Observe goslings' behaviour
• Implications of Lorenz's findings


  • Attachment formation has instinctive survival component
  • Critical period for imprinting, around 12-30 hours
• Behaviorism


  Dominant psychological view at time of Harlow's research, babies form attachment to mother for food
• Findings from Harlow's experiment

  • Monkeys choose contact comfort over food
  • Monkeys look to cloth mother for safety in fear
• Practical value of animal studies

  • Importance of early attachment for social workers
• Classical conditioning


  1. Infant learns to associate caregiver with satisfaction of basic needs

  2. Food (unconditioned stimulus) produces unconditioned response

  3. Caregiver (neutral stimulus) becomes conditioned stimulus
• Strengths of learning theory explanation

  • Based on established theory of behaviorism
  • Provides clear and straightforward explanation
  • Allows for investigation and observation
• Limitations of learning theory explanation

  • Contradicted by research showing attachment not solely based on who feeds the child
  • Ignores biological factors involved in attachment formation
  • Overly reductionist, fails to account for complex social behaviors
• Learning theory explanation of attachment formation is criticized by Bowlby's more biological view
• Instead, Bowlby believed that attachment had much more of a biological called basis to it with the animal stories of Lorenz in 1935 shaping his thinking
• Bowlby's Monotropic Theory of Attachment

  1. Adaptive

  2. Social releases

  3. Critical period

  4. Monotropy

  5. Internal working model
• Monotropy


  The emphasis on the importance of the child's attachment to one caregiver, usually the mother, and that this relationship is more important and significant than the relationships they may form with other people
• Internal working model

  The idea that as a result of the monotropic relationship formed with the caregiver, the child forms a model or template for all their future relationships
• Lorenz's research on imprinting in geese demonstrates features of Bowlby's Monotropic Theory, such as attachment being instinctive and the critical period
• Harlow's research on rhesus monkeys supports Bowlby's idea of the internal working model
• Bowlby wrote that "Mother Love in infancy and childhood is as important for mental health as our vitamins and proteins for physical health"
• Bowlby's 44 Thieves study


  1. Studied 88 children referred to his clinic, 44 for stealing and 44 for emotional problems

  2. Assessed intelligence and emotional attitudes

  3. Interviewed mothers to establish psychiatric history

  4. Interviewed children and mothers

  5. Reviewed other reports before drawing conclusions
• Affectionless psychopaths


  • Lacked empathy for others, showed little affection or concern for other people
• 12 out of 14 affectionless psychopaths had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers in the first two years of life