Attachment

• Caregiver-infant interactions


  Infants and caregivers develop deep and lasting emotional bonds, both members see closeness and feel more secure when close
• Reciprocity


  • Similar to a conversation, a mutual turn-taking form of interaction where both caregiver and infant contribute by responding to the other's signals and cues
• Interactional synchrony


  • A simultaneous interaction between the infant and caregiver who appear to be acting rhythmically with matching coordinated behavior and matching emotional states
• Imitation


  • The infant directly copies the caregiver's expression
• Sensitive responsiveness


  • The adult caregiver correctly interprets the meaning of the infant's communication and is motivated to respond appropriately
• Meltzoff and Moore

  • An experimenter displayed facial gestures such as sticking a tongue out and opening their mouth in front of 12 to 21 day old infants, finding infants had the ability to observe and reciprocate through imitation
• Cond and sander 1974


  • Videotaped interactions between adults and neonates, finding evidence of interactional synchrony and coordination
• Infants cannot directly communicate their thoughts or emotions, therefore findings in caregiver-infant interaction research depend on inferences and assumptions about the infant's internal mental states which are considered unscientific
• Social sensitivity is a concern when investigating child-rearing techniques including norms around caregiver-infant interactions, as some women may find their life choices criticised
• Stages of attachment


  • Stage 1 (0-6 weeks): Asocial, babies display innate behaviors to ensure proximity to any potential caregiver

  Stage 2 (6 weeks-7 months): Indiscriminate attachment, infants develop ability to tell difference between familiar and unfamiliar individuals

  Stage 3 (7-9 months): Specific attachment, babies form strong attachment to primary caregiver, separation and stranger anxiety develop

  Stage 4 (9-10 months+): Multiple attachment, infant starts to form attachments with other regular caregivers, stranger anxiety decreases
• Schaffer and Emerson 1964

  • Longitudinal observation of 60 working-class babies from Glasgow, found separation anxiety occurred in most babies by 25-32 weeks, stranger anxiety started 1 month later, and at 18 months 87% had developed multiple attachments with strongest to mothers with consistent caregiver-infant interactions
• The sample and setting of the Schaer and emson study may not be generalizable or have temporal validity as it only included a group of working class mothers in 1960s Glasgow
• Role of fathers


  • Schaffer found 75% of infants had formed attachment with father by 18 months, showing separation anxiety. Fathers encourage more active play, and if they are primary caregiver their interactional style becomes more sensitive and responsive like mothers
• Strong attachment to father


  Best predictor of ability to make friends in school
• Theories arguing the role of the mother cannot be replaced by the father may lead to single father or two father families feeling they cannot fully provide for the needs of infants
• Research on caregiver-infant interactions could lead to legislation ensuring equal paternity and maternity leave, which may reduce the number of males in the workforce but also help address the gender pay gap
• Animal studies of attachment


  • Lorenz's research on imprinting in geese, finding they form strong bonds with and follow their mother shortly after hatching. Harlow's research on rhesus monkeys, finding they prefer a cloth 'mother' providing comfort over a wire 'mother' providing food
• The generalization of animal behavior to human psychology is problematic as humans and animals have very different biology and social/cultural experiences
• Learning theory


  Infants become attached to their caregiver through classical conditioning (caregiver associated with food) and operant conditioning (crying gains attention and food)
• Learning theory has face validity and is backed by well-controlled research, but many parents would say their relationship with their children is more complicated than simple stimulus associations
• Monotropy theory


  Infants have an innate instinctual drive to form an especially strong attachment to their mother, using signals to attract the caregiver's attention. Lack of monotropy in the first 30 months can result in permanent negative consequences
• Research on orphans suggests Early Childhood is sensitive but not critical, and suitable care can lead to recovery, counter to Bowlby's claim of permanent damage
• Bowlby's ideas about the father's role as provider and the mother's monotropic role are likely a reflection of 1940s worldview that now lacks temporal validity
• Ainsworth's strange situation and attachment types

  • Behaviours indicating attachment strength: proximity to mother, exploration, safe base, stranger anxiety, separation anxiety, reunion response, sensitive responsiveness. Attachment types: secure, insecure-avoidant, insecure-ambivalent
• Bobby argues the father's role is to provide resources for the family while the mother's monotropic role is crucial
• This is likely a reflection of 1940s worldview that is likely correct in its time but now lacks temporal validity
• Ainsworth identified behaviors that indicated attachment strength: proximity to the mother, exploration safe based Behavior, stranger anxiety, separation anxiety, reunion response and sensitive responsiveness
• Ainsworth's attachment types


  • Insecure avoidant type A
  • Secure type B
  • Insecure resistant type C
• Ainsworth's strange situation procedure was a structured observation of infant and mother pairs in a lab setting with 8 stages
• Ainsworth's findings provided evidence for three distinct attachment types that seem to correlate with a level of sensitive responsiveness shown by the mother
• Ainsworth found 66% of infants were secure, 22% insecure avoidant and 12% insecure resistant
• Ainsworth's research suggests that a secure attachment develops due to the attention of a consistently sensitive responsive mother
• The strange situation is a highly controlled observational research study with standardized procedures and clear behavioral categories
• The strange situation has predictive validity - children classified as securely attached tend to have better social emotional and academic outcomes in later childhood and adulthood
• The strange situation was developed in America so may be a culture-bound test not valid when applied to other cultures
• The strange situation has low ecological validity as the observation is not in a familiar environment like the family home
• Kagan's alternate temperament hypothesis suggests infants have inherited a high or low reactive temperament
• Ainsworth's 1988 meta-analysis found secure attachment was the most common type in all countries, insecure resistant was the least common, and avoidant was more common in individualistic Western cultures and resistant in collectivist cultures
• Ainsworth's 1970 and Van endor's 1988 findings may lack temporal validity - a 2014 study found fewer secure and more avoidant infants in modern Italian families
• Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation suggests if the child's monotropic attachment is disrupted during the critical period due to prolonged separation from the mother, this deprivation has negative and irreversible consequences