psychology - attachment

• Attachment definition


  A deep and enduring emotional bond between two people in which each seek closeness and feels more secure when in the presence of the attachment figure.
• Caregiver-infant interactions


  Reciprocity- alert phase - mothers typically pick up and respond to infants alertness around 2/3s of the time. From around 3 months, the interaction becomes more frequent and involves close attention to each others verbal signals and facial expressions. (Feldman)

  -active role - traditional views of childhood have seen the baby in a passive role but the baby takes the active role.

  
  

  interactional synchrony - when the mother and the infant interact in such a way that their actions and emotions mirror each other. It is believes that this is important for the development of mother-infant attachment. Isabella et al - observed and found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality attachment
• Evaluating research into caregiver-infant interaction

  strength - usually observed under well controlled procedures (labs with cameras)

  limitation - infants cannot communicate verbally, we can't tell whether it is a random gesture or a reflection

  limitation - observational research does not tell us the reasons of these interactions, simultaneous actions does not establish cause and effect and its impact on child development, however Isabella at al found that reciprocal interactions are helpful in the infants social and emotional development
• Schaffer and Emerson study

  Aim : Investigate formation of early attachments

  Method :

  - 60 babies from Glasgow

  - Observed children and interviewed mothers W/C

  -they were visited every month for the first year and again at 18 months

  - measured separation anxiety and stranger anxiety

  results : By 40 weeks 80% had a specific attachment and they tended to be caregiver who were most interactive and sensitive. 30% multiple attachments.

  conclusion; children's attachment changes over time
• evaluating research into stages of attachment

  - low generalisability - unrepresentative

  - high ecological validity

  - low temporal validity

  - some degrees of ethical concerns

  -practical application in daycare

  - contradicting evidence, babies form multiple attachments from the onset, collectivist families work jointly in raising a baby
• Stages of attachment


  Asocial- 0-2 months - recognising and forming bonds w objects and carers , indiscriminate- 2-7months - prefer familiar adults over objects , specific - 7-10months - start to display stranger and separation anxiety , multiple - 10+months - extend attachment behaviour to other adults
• Lorenz research imprinting


  A- to see if geese form their first attachment to when hatched

  M- randomly divided a clutch of goose eggs, half hatched with their mother in their natural environment other half were hatched in an incubator where they first saw Lorenz

  R- the incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere whereas the control group followed her. even when mixed they still followed the first person they saw.

  C - Lorenz identified a critical period in which imprinting occurred, depending on the species it can be as brief as a few hours. If not, then they would never attach to a mother figure
• evaluating the research into stages of attachment

  strength - it was conducted in a natural environment = ecological validity

  - practical application, send children to day care during the asocial stages

  limitation - did not use a representative sample (Glasgow +w/c)

  - contradicting evidence, other psychologists believe babies form multiple attachments from the onset
• Lorenz research into sexual imprinting


  - described a peacock that had been raised in the reptile house of a zoo. The first moving thing it saw were giant tortoises

  - when it grew up, it only directed courtship behaviour towards tortoises
• Harlow's research


  A- the role of contact comfort in attachment

  M- placed 16 rhesus monkeys with 2 wire mothers, 1 with a milk dispenser and the other covered in cloth

  R - the monkeys cuddles the soft mother in preference to the wire one and sought comfort from it when scared

  C- comfort contact was more important than food for attachment (critical period+90 days)
• Maternally deprived monkeys as adults


  Harlow also looked at the maternally deprived monkeys as adults to see if this early maternal deprivation had a permanent effect.

  they found severe consequences.

  the monkeys reared with wire mothers only were the most dysfunctional, but even those reared with the cloth mother did not develop normal social behaviour.

  they were more aggressive & less sociable than other monkeys and they bred less often than is typical for monkeys, being unskilled at mating.

  as mothers some of the deprived monkeys neglected their young & others attacked their children, even killing them in some cases.
• attachment to fathers


  - Schaffer and Emerson found that the majority of babied did become attached to their mother first (around 7 months) and within a few weeks or months formed a secondary attachment was formed with the father by the age of 18 months.

  - factors affecting relationships between fathers and children, 1. degrees of sensitivity (how secure), type of attachment with own parents, marital intimacy, supportive co-parenting (support the father gives his own parents )

  - grossman - carried out a longitudinal study on both parents behaviours and how it relates to the quality of children's attachments into their teens, mothers had a general impact while fathers were for quality play time
• Fathers as primary caregivers

  Field - filmed 4 month old babies in face to face interactions with 1. primary caregiver mothers 2. secondary caregiver fathers and 3. primary caregiver fathers. Primary caregiver fathers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than secondary caregiver fathers. This behaviour appears to be important in building attachment with the infant which shows similarities in 1 and 3, so fathers can be more nurturing attachment figure showing that gender does not matter.
• evaluating the research into the role of the father

  -weakness, MacCallum and Golombok found that children growing up in single or same sex parent families do not develop any differently from those in 2 parent heterosexual families

  - weakness (socially sensitive), research into mother-infant interactions suggests that children may be disadvantaged by particular child-rearing practices, Mothers who return back to work shortly after a child is born restrict opportunities for attachment

  - strength, practical applications, research suggests that fathers as the caregiver can lead to the same level of development as the mother being the caregiver which reduces t he stigma of single father parenting
• learning theory as an explanation of attachment

  - cupboard love theory

  - classical conditioning

  - operant conditioning

  - attachment as a secondary drive
• cupboard love theory


  - Dollard and Miller: attachment is a learned behaviour that is acquired through both classical and operant conditioning

  - the theory emphasises the importance of the caregiver as a provider of food. Children learn to love whoever feeds them.
• classical conditioning


  - unconditioned response is happiness, to food which is the unconditioned response. The caregiver is the neutral response. The baby learns to associate the food with the caregiver and so the caregiver becomes the conditioned stimulus which provides happiness (the conditioned response)
• operant conditioning


  - explains why babies cry for comfort which is important in building attachment

  - crying leads to a response from the caregiver as long as the caregiver provides the correct response, crying is reinforced and the baby directs crying for comfort

  - reinforcement is a 2 way process, the caregiver receives negative reinforcement because the crying stops. The interplay of mutual reinforcement strengthens an attachment
• Attachment as a secondary drive

  Hunger is the primary drive (innate and biological)

  - sears et al suggested that as caregivers provide food, the primary drive of hunger becomes generalised to them. Attachment is a secondary drive learned by an association between the caregiver and satisfaction of a primary drive.
• evaluating the cupboard love theory

  - A range of animal studies has shown that young animals do not necessarily attach to those who feed them. Lorenz / Harlow

  - Human studies found that food was not the most important factor for attachment. Schaffer and Emerson show that 65% of babies developed a primary attachment to their biological mother regardless of who fed them

  - Psychologists do believe that some aspects of human development are affected by conditioning. e.g. it can be used to explain associations between the primary caregiver and contact comfort

  - Hay and Vespo proposed a newer explanation, SLT is based on the idea that social behaviour is acquired largely as a result of modelling and imitation behaviour. Parents teach children to love them by modelling attachment behaviour and instructing and rewarding them with approval when they display attachment behaviour of their own
• Bowlby's monotropic theory


  Bowlby rejected the learning theory of attachment because 'if it were true an infant of 2years old should take readily to whoever feeds them and this is not the case'. Instead he looked at the studies of Lorenz and Harlow and proposed an evolutionary explanation: attachment is an innate system that gave us a survival advantage.

  - Emphasises on only one caregiver

  - mother does not equal biological mother. the more time a baby spends with the mother figure the better

  - 2 key principles: 1. continuity(constant and predictable childcare) 2. accumulated separation

  - social releasers activate the adult attachment system

  - critical period for humans is 2 years and it is much harder to form one later

  - internal working model, a child forms a mental representation of their relationship with their primary caregiver. This can affect how they perceive and form later relationships
• evaluating Bowlby's theory of attachment


  - strength, Bailey et al tested the internal working model and assessed mothers using interviews and observations. He found that those who reported poor attachment to their own parents in the interviews were much more likely to have poor relationships with their own children

  - weakness, Schaffer and Emerson showed that babies attached to 1 person first but they also found a significant minority appeared able to form multiple attachment at the same time

  - weakness, socially sensitive, it emphasises that having substantial time apart from the primary attachment figure risks a poor quality attachment that will disadvantage the child later
• Ainsworth's strange situation


  A- to observe behaviours to assess the quality of attachment

  M- 100 m/c americans and their infants in a controlled, covert, structured and non participant observation.

  - 5 behaviours assessed: proximity seeking, exploration and secure base behaviour, stranger anxiety, separation anxiety and responses to reunion. 7 episodes that lasted 3 minutes each

  R/C - 3 types of attachments:

  - secure attachment(moderate separation and stranger anxiety+ acceptance when reunited) 60-75%

  - insecure-avoidant (little to no separation and stranger anxiety + does not require comfort when reunited) 20-25%

  - insecure-resistant (huge stranger and separation anxiety, reist comfort when reunited) 3%
• evaluating ainsworth's research


  - strength, useful, attachment types are predictive of after development and babies assessed as secure typically go on to have better outcomes in many areas ranging from success at school to romantic relationships

  - weakness, a minority of children has a typical attachment and displayed a mix of insecure avoidant and insecure resistant behaviour (disorganised)

  - weakness, 100 m/c americans, culturally biased as america is individualistic
• Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg

  A- proportions of types of attachments across countries

  M- Conducted a meta-analysis of 32 different Strange Situation experiments from around the world

  R- found secure attachment was always the most common(75% britain 50% china), with variations between countries

  - insecure avoidant most common in Germany and least common in Japan

  - within countries there were differences. In usa one study showed 46% secure while another showed 90%

  C- secure is the norm among a wide range on cultures so it is innate and universal but cultural practices have an influence on attachment types
• evaluating cultural variations in attachment

  - strength, large sample size as they studies a total of 1990 babies through meta analysis, results are less affected by individual differences

  - weakness, it studies countries but not cultures, distributions of attachment types in Tokyo were similar to western studies whereap a rural sample has an over-representation of insecure resistant individuals , results are not measuring what they intend to measure

  - weakness, kagan et al suggested attachment types are more related to temperament than to the relationship with the primary attachment figure, so the strange situation is not assessing attachment but anxiety
• cultural variations in attachment studies

  Simonella et al (Italy) - 50% secure and 36% insecure avoidant, more mothers go to work and use professional childcare

  Jin et al (Korean)- more of the insecurely attached were resistant and one child was avoidant
• Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation

  separation - a primary attachment figure is not present to the child

  brief separation- unlikely to have significant impact on development (e.g. going to work)

  extended separation - can lead to deprivation which causes harm

  maternal deprivation - primary caregiver is not present and there is a failure to find a substitute caregiver during the critical period which leads to long lasting psychological damage

  - poor intellectual development and poor emotional development (affectionless psychopathy- the inability to experience strong emotions)

  - Bowlby 44 thieves study
• Bowlby 44 thieves study


  [A] To investigate the effects of maternal deprivation on people to see whether delinquents have suffered deprivation.

  [P]

  Interview 44 adolescents who were referred to a child protection program in London because of stealing.

  Another group of 44 adolescents were selected as controls. These people were referred to the child protection program because of emotional problems, but have not committed crimes.

  Bowlby also interviewed both groups' parents to state whether their children had experienced separation during the critical period and for how long.

  [F]

  More than half of the juvenile thieves had been separated from their mothers for longer than 6 months during their first 5 years.

  In the control group only two had had such a separation.

  Several of the young thieves (32%) showed affectionless psychopathy (they were not able to care about or feel affection for others).

  None of the control group were affectionless psychopaths.

  [C]

  The reason for the anti-social behaviour and emotional problems in the first group was due to maternal deprivation.

  [E]

  -supported by animal studies - Harlow

  - opposing theory (Rutter) - privation rather than deprivation (failure to form any attachment in the first place)

  - Experimenter bias-Bowlby designed and conducted this experiment himself.

  only shows a correlation between maternal deprivation and affectionless psychopathy.

  - It is not a cause-effect relationship due to other variables such as diet, income, education.
• Rutter's ERA study


  A - comparing the difference between British and Romanian adoptees later development

  M- 169 Romanian orphans physical, cognitive and emotional development was assessed at ages 4,6,11 and 15

  control group - 52 British adoptee's

  R - when arriving in uk 50% showed signs of delayed intellectual development. at 11 there were different rates of recovery depending on when they were adopted . these differences were still present in later development. if adopted after 6 months they were likely to show disinhibited attachment; attention seeking, clinginess, no stranger anxiety
• Bucharest Early Intervention Project


  Procedure: assessed attachment in 95 children aged 12-31m who spent time in institutional care compared to a control group of 50 never institutionalised children, used the strange situation and questions to interview

  
  

  Findings: 74% of control secure, 20% disinhibited

  19% of institutionalised secure, 44% disinhibited

  c- 2 effects of institutionalisation = disinhibited attachment and intellectual disability
• influence of early attachment on later relationships

  IWM- if a child experiences a loving relationship then they would have a functional relationship but if they had an unpleasant relationship then they will struggle to form healthy relationships

  - continuity hypothesis - early attachment predicts later relationships and it continues when an infant becomes a parent themselves
• Hazan and Shaver


  A - investigate the relationship between early attachment and adult relationships

  M - posted a love quiz on the local American newspaper, current relationships, general love experiences and childhood attachment were assessed

  620 replies, 56% secure 25% avoidant 19% resistant

  secure attachments lead to long lasting romantic experiences

  avoidant lead to unhealthy relationships with jealously and fear of intimacy
• evaluating research into institutionalisation

  - real life applications - orphanages can have larger numbers of key workers to a smaller amount of people

  - longitudinal studies e.g. rutters era study, removes participant variables

  - no manipulation of variables may have affected results so there could be other risk factors affecting later development (undernourished)
• mcarthys study


  m - studied 40 females early attachment types and their status relationships with others

  R - they found that secure had the best friendships and romantic relationships

  avoidant struggles with intimacy

  resistant had problems maintaining relationships
• evaluating research into early attachment and later relationships

  -has real life applications

  -studies lack validity (hazan and shaver)

  - zimmerman - very little relationship between quality of infant attachment type and adolescent attachment