development of attachment

• Before Conditioning


  1. Food (UCS)

  2. Pleasure (UCR)

  3. Carer e.g. mother (NS)
• During Conditioning


  1. Food (UCS)

  2. Pleasure (UCR)

  3. Pleasure (CR)

  4. Carer e.g. mother (CS)
• After Conditioning


  1. Pleasure (CR)

  2. Carer e.g. mother (CS)
• Positive reinforcement


  • Crying baby
  • Mother/carer reinforces behaviour through feeding or comforting
• Negative reinforcement


  Mother/carer removes the unpleasant stimulus (the crying) by feeding, so she is rewarded
• This is how attachment grows – through a cycle of mutually reinforcing responses of baby and caregiver
• Gewirtz (1986) claimed that any positively reinforcing behaviour of the caregiver encourages development of attachment – not just the provision of food
• Sensitivity


  A sensitive caregiver provides comfort, soothing, etc., all of which contribute to the reinforcement of the attachment bond
• Evolutionary theory of attachment


  • Children come into the world biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with others
  • This will help them survive, by making them safer and giving them a secure base from which to explore the environment
• Imprinting


  • Lorenz and his geese
• Harlow's experiments on monkeys


  • Comfort and security are more important than just food in the formation of attachment
• Bowlby's attachment theory


  • Monotropy - A baby's attachment to one particular caregiver is unique to that person
  • Social releasers - Smiling, cooing, gurgling and grasping are social releasers - they elicit an emotional response from the caregiver
  • Critical period - The first 6 months are critical in forming these attachments. After that it is more difficult. No disruption should occur within the first 30 months (2.5 yrs)
  • Internal working model - A template for future relationships. This is the mechanism by which attachments are 'transmitted' from one generation to the next
• Theories of attachment


  • Behaviourist Theories
  • Evolutionary Theories
• Bowlby's continuity hypothesis emphasised the central role in the child's development of constant care from a primary attachment figure
• Deprivation


  Refers to a bond that was formed but then broken through some kind of separation (e.g. temporary hospitalisation, death of the mother, etc.)
• Privation


  Occurs when the baby does not form a bond with a caregiver at all (e.g. neglected children, orphans, etc.)
• Bowlby's maternal deprivation hypothesis was developed after carrying out research on 44 thieves
• He found that 14 of them showed affectionless psychopathy, and of these, 12 had experienced lengthy separations from their mothers before the age of two years - during the crucial 30 months
• Developmental delay


  Without the presence of an attachment figure intellect could be delayed
• Inability to feel empathy, guilt or affection towards others


  This is linked to criminality
• Using the parent as 'secure base'


  Social referencing
• Stranger anxiety


  Reaction to an unfamiliar adult
• Separation anxiety


  Reaction to reunion
• Reaction to reunion


  Proximity-seeking and contact-maintaining behaviours
• Ability to be soothed by a stranger

  Separation anxiety
• Exploratory behaviour: Babies explore more when their mother is present, to use as a safe base
• Crying: The differences in the amount of crying in various episodes suggests that it seems to be the mother's absence that the babies found most distressing, not just being left alone
• Searching: Babies will search more when left alone, as they must feel most unsafe when alone, compared to when there is a stranger in the room
• Proximity-seeking and contact-maintaining behaviours: Occur most in reunion, possibly to prevent them being separated again
• Contact-resisting and proximity-avoiding behaviours: A small number of babies are ambivalent; they resist contact whilst also seeking it out
• Attachment is primarily determined by biological factors because it is universal


  • Attachment is the result of nature - it continues to exist even when the baby does not behave in an 'attached' way
  • Attachment behaviours are also influenced by nurture, the situation can influence behaviour such as when the stranger is present, the baby may show close proximity to the carer
• Ainsworth and Bell's study


  • Adopts a standardised procedure - all infants were placed in the same episodes
  • Collects quantitative data in the form of attachment behaviours observed from the structured coding scheme
  • The controlled observation means that the research could be argued to lack ecological validity as the mothers and children were not in their natural environment
• The study included the use of 56 infants aged 12 months all from white, middle class American families
• Infants may have experienced distress during the episodes of the strange situation, however their mothers were there and able to comfort them if necessary
• The mothers were aware of the procedure, so it could be argued that they could withdraw if their infant become too distressed
• Strategies to develop attachment-friendly environment


  • Low staff : child ratio
  • Key worker (so has one primary caregiver)
  • High staff morale = low staff turnover
  • Qualified (so staff have relevant knowledge of child development)
  • Regular training
  • Staff observations (to ensure training is being implemented in practice)
• Employ enough staff so that there is a low, e.g. 1:3, staff to child ratio
• Ensure each child is allocated a 'key person' who will provide most of their care (e.g. feed and change them) so they can attach to them
• All staff should be suitably qualified in child development (e.g. they should have knowledge of the importance of attachment bonds)
• Provide regular staff training opportunities