Attachment module

• What is an affectional bond as defined by Ainsworth?


  a 'relatively long enduring tie in which the partner is important as a unique individual and...there is a desire to maintain closeness to the partner
• Define an attachment


  An attachment can be defined as a close two-way emotional bond between two individuals in which each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security.
• What are the additional factors in an attachment bond that differs from an affectional bond?


  Attachments are a special kind of affectional bond where, in addition to desiring closeness, one also feels a sense of comfort and security when with the other person. The other person can be used as a 'safe base' from which to explore the rest of one's world.
• Define proximity


  Proximity is when people try to stay physically close to their attachment figure.
• Define separation distress


  Separation distress is when people show signs of anxiety when an attachment figure leaves their presence.
• Define secure-base behaviour


  even when we are independent of our attachment figures we tend to make regular contact with them. For example, babies display secure-base behaviours when they regularly return to their attachment figures while playing.
• What are some ethical issue surrounding researching attachment?

  Babies need to be closely monitored for signs of distress

  Confidentiality and privacy need to be respected

  Parental consent is given rather than the child's
• What are some other challenges with researching attachment?

  Observations are used which are subjective and unreliable, with the additional problem of participant reactivity. Also, questionnaires are used so there is the problem of social desirability bias and selectivity of self-reports. Participant variables start to become a problem when there are cultural variations or variations in temperament. The lack of verbal ability also means assumptions about behaviour are relied upon.
• What do psychologists believe that interactions between the infant and caregiver have important functions for?

  The child's social development (especially the development of infant-caregiver interactions)
• Define infancy


  The period of time before a child is able to communicate verbally with people, using instead non-verbal communication.
• Define sensitive responsiveness


  When the primary caregiver responds appropriately to signals from the infant
• Define imitation


  Infants copy caregivers actions and behaviour (Meltzoff at al. (1977) found even babies between 2 to 3 weeks appeared to imitate facial expressions
• Define motherese


  A slow, high-pitched way of speaking that everyone uses with infants (although there is no evidence for this strengthening attachment between parent and infant)
• Reciprocity is also known as?

  Turn-taking
• Define reciprocity/ turn-taking


  The actions of one person (E.g. the mother) elicits a response from the other (E.g. an infant), I.E. a conversation.
• Interactional synchrony is also known as?

  Mirroring behaviour
• Interactional synchrony/ mirroring behaviour?


  Infant and caregiver's actions and emotions are synchronised, they are moving in a similar or the same pattern. This takes place when infant and caregiver interact in such a way that their actions mirror/copy each other.
• What are infant's 'alert phases'?


  Sections of time where infants signal they are ready for a spell of interaction
• How much of the time do mums pick up on alert phase signals?

  About two thirds of the time (Feldman, 2007)
• What role were infants traditionally seen as and what are they believed to be now?

  Traditionally seen as passive in their roles, just being taken care of, now seen as playing an active role, initiating interactions and appearing to take turns in doing so.
• Tronick et al (1979) smiling as a reciprocal behaviour


  Tronick showed how babies expect concordance responses to their smiles
• Kaye (1977) observed mothers and very young babies during feeding- what did he find?


  Mums tended to be still and quiet as babies fed, then interacting with babies as feeding ended. This instinctive pattern shows mums taking turns with their baby, which is crucial for the development of social and language skills
• Replication of Tronick's still face experiment (lack of reciprocity)


  The baby has an expectation that reciprocity is maintained, gets incredibly distress and confused when there is a lack of reciprocity. Crying and physical turning away observed.
• Meltzoff and Moore (1977) observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants as young as two weeks old. What did they find?


  By matching adult facial expressions displayed and children's responses, an association was found between the expression/gesture displayed and actions of the babies. This indicated mirroring.
• Brazeltom et al. (1975) observed 12 mum-baby pairs regularly over the first 5 months of life, filming and micro-analysing individual frames afterwards. What did they find?


  The babies showed three cycles of attention and non-attention with 3 clear cycles: Attention and build up, Turning away, Recovery (several every minute). Therefore this Raquel finds evidence of interactional synchrony, the first signs of organised infant behaviour, and therefore can be described as a dance.
• What did Isabella et al. (1989) observe and find?

  They observed 30 mum-baby pairs assessing the level of synchrony and quality of attachment. They found high levels of synchrony were associated with better mother-baby attachment.
• What are the real life implications of the Isabella study?


  Psychologists may advise parents to use synchrony with their infants to build a better attachment.
• Who proposed that caregiver-infant interactions can be explained by learning theory?


  Dollar and Miller (1950)
• What exactly did Dollar and Miller propose about caregiver-infant interactions?


  Sometimes called 'cupboard love' because it emphasises the importance of the attachment figure as a provider of food. Put simply, children learn to love whoever feeds them.
• Explain how attachment occurs due to classical conditioning.

  The Neutral Stimulus (mother/ PGC) is repeatedly paired with the Unconditioned Stimulus (food), resulting in an Unconditioned Response (pleasure from eating). This results in a Conditioned Stimulus (the mother/ PGC) producing a Conditioned Response (pleasure)
• How does operant conditioning explain babies' behaviour?


  Operant conditioning explains why babies cry for comfort (an important behaviour in building attachment). Crying leads to a response from the caregiver- for example, feeding- as long as the right response is provided, crying is reinforced. The baby then directs crying for comfort towards the caregiver who responds with comforting behaviour.
• Discuss how reinforcement is a two-way process.

  At the same time that the baby is reinforced for crying, the caregiver receives negative reinforcement because the crying stops- escaping from something unpleasant is reinforcing.
• What is two-way reinforcement sometimes referred to as and what is it important for?

  Mutual reinforcement- strengthens attachments.
• As well as conditioning, what else does learning theory draw on concepts of?

  Drive reduction- i.e. hunger as a primary drive- we are motivated to eat to reduce hunger.
• What did Sears et al. (1957) suggest?

  Because caregivers provide food, the primary drive of hunger becomes generalised to them. Attachment is then a secondary drive learned by an association between the caregiver and satisfaction of the primary drive being fulfilled.
• What did John Bowlby reject as a concept?


  He rejected the learning theory as an explanation for attachment, as if it were true infants would attach to whoever fed them and this doesn't not happen.
• What concept did John Bowlby come up with?

  An evolutionary explanation that attachment is an innate system that provides a survival advantage. it is referred to as Bowlby's Monotropic Theory
• Why did Bowlby call his theory 'monotropic'?

  He placed a large emphasis on a child's attachment to a particular caregiver
• What did Bowlby believe about the attachment to a particular caregiver, often called the mother?

  This attachment is stronger and more important than others. Although this person is often referred to as the mother, it need not be a biological mother.
• What are the two principles that Bowllby proposed to illustrate the importance of monotropy?

  The law of continuity and the law of accumulated separation