Attachment

• Attachment (Definition)


  A close two-way emotional bond between two individuals, in which each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security
• Harlow


  Researcher who wanted to investigate whether food or comfort was more important in forming a bond
• Harlow conducted his research

  1958
• Harlow's experiment

  1. Designed 2 wire 'mothers', one covered in a soft cloth

  2. Observed 8 infant monkeys over many months

  3. 4 cases had wire mother with milk bottle, 4 cases had cloth mother with milk bottle

  4. Recorded time monkeys spent with each mother, and their responses when frightened
• All 8 monkeys favoured the cloth covered mother regardless of whether or not it had a bottle. All monkeys also sought comfort from the cloth mother when frightened
• Follow up investigation by Harlow

  1. Found long term effects of maternal deprivation on monkeys

  2. Increased aggression

  3. Reduced sociability

  4. Lower reproductive rates

  5. Some neglected and attacked their offspring
• Critical period for attachment in

  90 days
• Harlow's research suggested infants form attachments based on comfort rather than nutrition
• Evaluation: Harlow

  Ethical issues - monkeys suffered greatly (cost-benefit dilemma)

  Extrapolation issues: humans aren't monkeys

  Possible confounding variable as wire and cloth monkeys don't look alike
• When did Lorenz conduct his research

  1952
• What was Lorenz's aim?

  To investigate the mechanisms of imprinting where infants form an attachment to the first large, moving object they meet
• Lorenz's Experiment


  Randomly divided up goose eggs

  Half were hatched in their natural environment, half hatched in an incubator where the first large, moving object they saw was Lorenz

  The incubator group imprinted on Lorenz and followed him everywhere
• What happened when Lorenz mixed the two geese groups? 

  The control group continued to follow their mother and the experimental group followed Lorenz
• Critical period for imprinting


  As brief as a few hours (identified by Lorenz)
• Sexual Imprinting (Lorenz)


  Loren investigated the relationship between imprinting and adult male preferences.

  He observed that birds who imprinted on humans displayed courtship behaviour towards humans.

  He later studied a peacock who imprinted on a giant tortoise and went on to try to court them.
• Evaluation: Lorenz

  Extrapolation issues: humans aren't animals

  Imprinting may not be permanent: Guiton found that leghorn chicks could have their Imprinting reversed by spending time with their own species

  Ethical issues (cost-benefit dilemma)
• Primary Reinforcers


  Physiological needs which drive behaviour (biological motivators)
• Secondary Reinforcers


  Drive behaviour, associated with primary reinforcers eg. money and work
• How can primary and secondary reinforcers explain attachment?


  We are attached to our family/caregivers as they provide us with our physiological needs such as food, water, and shelter. Therefore our attachment to them is a secondary reinforcer.
• Who theorised 'cupboard love'?


  Dollard and Miller (1950)
• What is cupboard love?


  The theory that infants place importance on caregivers as the providers of food and therefore learn to love them to satisfy their physiological needs
• How does classical conditioning explain attachment?


  Food is the unconditioned stimulus

  Pleasure is the unconditioned response

  Caregiver is the neutral stimulus

  An association is formed between the caregiver and pleasure over time

  Caregiver becomes the conditioned stimulus

  Pleasure becomes the conditioned response
• How does operant conditioning explain attachment?


  Caregiver provides food when the baby cries; positive reinforment - the baby learns to cry every time they are hungry

  Baby stops crying when fed; negative reinforcement for the mother

  They learn through consequences
• Evaluation: Learning theory for attachment


  Counter evidence from Lorenz and Harlow's animal research

  Counter evidence from Schaffer and Emerson's human research

  Social learning theory possible alternative explanation (Hay and Vespo)

  Conditioning may not necessarily be through food (warmth and comfort involved too)
• Attachment & Social Learning Theory


  Hay and Vespo (1988) thought attachment is learned through modelling and imitation of behaviour eg hugging

  However this doesn't explain attachment in very young infants, reducing credibility
• Bowlby's 4 theories

  Monotropy

  Social Releasers

  Critical Period

  Internal Working Model
• Monotropy


  Emphasis on importance of primary caregiver

  Separation is always bad and accumulates over time (suggests infant should always be with caregiver)

  More consistent and predictable relationship - higher quality of relationship

  Facilitated by social releasers, important in critical period that separation does not occur, allows for formation of internal working model
• Social Releasers


  Innate cute behaviours that babies do such as smiling and gripping, which adult are genetically hardwired to respond to
• Critical Period for infants (Bowlby)


  -2 years old: sensitive period wherein they form most bonds

  After 2 years caregiver attachments are harder to form
• Internal Working Model


  Child's schema for relationships as formed by their relationship with their primary caregiver
• Brazelton et al

  Observed mothers and infants and noted reciprocity which he described as a dance
• Bailey et al


  Mothers who reported poor attachments to their own mothers were more likely to be classified as having poor attachments towards their own children

  Supports transmission of Internal Working Model across generations
• Bowlby Eval

  Brazelton et al supporting social releasers

  Schaffer and Emerson contradicting monotropy

  Bailey et al supporting internal working model

  Controversial anti-feminist implications of monotropy
• Mary Ainsworth created the Strange Situation to investigate how babies behave in conditions of mild stress
• The strange situation procedure is controlled in lab conditions, involving 7 episodes
• Proximity seeking


  A baby with a good attachment will stay fairly close to the caregiver
• Exploration and secure-based behaviour


  Good attachment enables a baby to feel confident in exploring, using their caregiver as a secure base
• The Strange Situation:

  1. Baby is encouraged to explore
  2. Stranger enters
  3. Caregiver leaves stranger and baby alone together
  4. Caregiver returns and stranger leaves
  5. Caregiver leaves baby alone
  6. Stranger returns
  7. Caregiver returns
• Behaviour assessed in strange situation

  1. Use of parent as a secure base
  2. Stranger anxiety
  3. Separation anxiety
  4. Reunion behaviour
  5. Separation anxiety
  6. Stranger anxiety
  7. Reunion behaviour
• 70% babies have secure attachment