Attachment

• CARE-GIVER INFANT INTERACTIONS: Why are the interactions important?


  Meaningful interactions with their care-giver allow for meaningful relationships to occur

  Important for child's social development
• What is reciprocity?


  Feldman and Eidelman found that neonates have "alert phases" in which they are most willing for human interaction- and mothers pick up on this 2/3 of the time.

  An action is reciprocated if there is a response to one another

  At 3 months, interaction is more frequent, where there is verbal communication and facial expressions

  Both mother and baby can take turns in initiating interaction, baby is not always in a passive role

  Brazelton described it to be like a dance- each person responds to each others moves
• What is interactional synchrony?


  Carrying out the same action simultaneously

  "temporal co-ordination of micro-level social behaviour"

  Mother and infant react in a way that their actions and emotions mirror each other
• What did Meltzoff and Moore do?


  Observed beginning of interactional synchrony in babies as young as 2 weeks

  Adult displayed 1 in 3 gestures and facial expressions and the reactions of the babies were filmed, the babies actions mirrored the adults gestures
• What did Isabella do?


  Claimed interactional synchrony is important for mother-infant relationships

  Studied 30 mothers and infants, found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality of attachment
• What are attachment figures?


  Who infants become attached to
• What did Schaffer and Emerson find?


  That babies become attached to their mothers in the first 7 months, yet a secondary attachment can be formed to other family members in a couple of weeks

  Infants form attachments to their fathers in the first 18 months, babies often protested when their father moved away, a sign of attachment
• What did Grossman find about the role of the father?


  Longitudinal study

  Studied the quality of attachment (by studying parents behaviours) and studied it's role in adolescence

  Quality of infant attachment to their mothers related to their attachment in adolescence Quality of father's play was linked to quality of adolescent attachment

  He thought that the fathers role is less important; that their role is more to do with play and comfort rather than nurture

  Which actually suggests their roles are different, not less important
• What about when fathers are primary carers?


  When fathers become the primary carers, they adopt roles that are typically associated with mothers
• What did Tiffany Field find?


  Filmed face-to-face interactions of 4 months old when their primary care-givers where mothers, primary care-giver was their father and when their secondary care-giver was their father.

  Found that fathers who were the primary care givers showed similar interactions as the mother who was a primary care giver. More smiley, held hands and imitated the infants behaviour. This is key if forming a better attachment

  So fathers can be primary care givers, it is the quality of the interaction that determines the attachment, not the gender
• What are the evaluations for the explanations of care-giver infant interactions?


  WEAKNESS: It is hard to know what is happening when observing infants- Many studies show similar patterns of interaction, but when assessing hand movements and facial expressions, it's difficult to determine whether the baby does this intentionally in response to the care-giver, or coincidentally. The action may be judged subjectively too, what someone else may determine as smiling, another person might not. Therefore, we cannot know for certain that behaviours seen in mother-infant interaction have a special meaning.

  
  

  STRENGTH: Controlled observations capture fine detail- Good evidence in studies as most often it's videos filmed from multiple angles which can later be analysed. Babies also dont develop demand characteristics, so their behaviour wont change when being filmed. This increases the validity of the study.
• What are the evaluations for the role of the father?


  WEAKNESS: Inconsistent findings on Fathers- ideas in the areas of this research differ as some study the role of the father as a primary care-giver, and others as secondary. Conflicting evidence to suggest that fathers aren't an important role in primary attachment, whereas some say they are. Means there is no valid answer on what exactly is the role of the father.

  
  

  WEAKNESS: Why do fathers not become the primary attachment figure?- Could be due to the result of traditional gender roles, that women are expected to be more nurturing than men, which makes men feel like they shouldn't be like that. It could also be due to the fact that women have more oestrogen, as opposed to men, which makes them biologically predisposed to be the primary attachment figure as they're more nurturing.
• Why is this research socially sensitive?


  Because Isabella theorised that mother interaction is essential in forming attachment> So it critiques child rearing styles, suggesting that mothers who return to work immediately place their children at a disadvantage. But some research suggests that mothers have enough time to make up for this after work. Critiquing the child-rearing styles just reinforces stereotypes
• SCHAFFER'S STUDY OF ATTACHMENT: What was their aim?


  Investigate formations of attachment: the intensity, at which age they developed and whom they were directed towards
• What was their method?

  Studied 60 babies from working-class families from Glasgow. Visited them every month when they were 1, then again at 18 months.

  Asked the mothers questions on how their children responded to stranger and separation anxiety to measure attachment
• What did they find?


  50% of babies showed separation anxiety towards a particular adult (usually the mother) shows specific attachment to the mother

  Attachment was usually formed to the parent who was the most sensitive and responded to the baby's social releasers (infant signals and facial expressions) which is an example of reciprocity. By 40 weeks 80% of the babies formed a specific attachment and 30% formed multiple attachments
• What happens in the Asocial stage?


  First stage (first few weeks)

  Baby is recognising and forming bonds with its carers.

  Attitude towards human and non-human objects is similar

  Show preference for familiar adults, but dont mind strangers
• Describe the indiscriminate stage


  Stage 2

  2-7 months

  more observable social behaviour

  Shows preference for people over objects

  Shows preference for and recognises familiar adults

  Accept cuddles from any adult

  Doesnt show separation anxiety
• Describe specific attachment


  Stage 3

  7 Months

  Separation anxiety and stranger anxiety

  Baby has formed specific attachment (65% of times it is the mother)

  Adult is labelled as the primary attachment figure (provides most interaction with the baby's signals, with the most skill)
• Describe the multiple attachment stage


  Extend attachment behaviour to multiple adults whom they regularly spend time with

  Known as secondary attachments

  In Schaffer and Emerson's study, 29% had formed secondary attachments within the first month

  Nearly all of the babies had developed a secondary attachment by 1
• What's a strength of the study?


  Good external validity- Conducted in ptpt's own homes and parents observed the children in mundane activities and then reported back to the researchers. Means that the behaviour of the babies wouldn't have been affected by other people being there. Therefore the study is reliable and has good external validity

  
  

  Longitudinal Study- Followed up the same children regularly, if he had visited the children at certain ages that would've been known as a cross-sectional study. But longitudinal studies have better internal validity as they're not affected by confounding variables influenced by participant variables. Makes the data more reliable.
• What's a limitation of the study?


  Limited sample characteristics- Large sample size of 60 babies, but they were all from the same class, same area and in the same time period. We cannot generalise the findings to all babies as child-rearing practices vary amongst countries.
• What are the limitations of the theory?


  Issues studying the asocial stage- Babies at this stage have poor coordination and are basically immobile which makes it difficult to make observations based on behaviour as there are no behaviours to observe. Means that we cannot entirely rely on the evidence.

  
  

  Conflicting evidence on multiple attachments- Not entirely clear when babies form multiple attachments. Some researchers claim that a primary attachment has to be formed in order for for multiple attachments to be formed. However, psychologists studying other cultures have found that babies brought up with many care-givers in collectivist cultures are able to form multiple attachments at birth. Suggesting we cannot generalise the findings to all babies.

  
  

  Issues measuring multiple attachment- Just because a baby gets distressed when an adult leaves the room, doesn't mean they're it's primary attachment figure. Babies have playmates and they get distressed when playmates leave the room, but doesnt necessarily mean that they have an attachment with them.
• ANIMAL STUDIES: What is the purpose of animal studies?

  . To study the relationships between infant animals and their mothers to see how this can help interpret human relationships
• What did Lorenz do?


  . Studied imprinting

  . Set up an independent groups experiment where he hatched one set of geese eggs in an incubator were he was the first thing they say, whilst the control group hatched with their mother

  . He found that the incubator group followed him everywhere, even when the goslings were mixed with the control group

  . The control group followed the mother

  . This phenomenon is known as imprinting
• What is meant by imprinting


  . When bird species attach to the first moving object they see
• What else did Lorenz find?


  . Identified a critical period where imprinting takes place

  . Few hours after they hatch to become attached

  . If species don't imprint during the critical period, they did not attach themselves to a mother figure
• What did Lorenz conclude about sexual imprinting?


  . Lorenz investigated the relationship between imprinting and adult mate preferences

  . Birds that imprinted on humans later displayed courtship behaviour towards humans

  . Case study of a peacock raised in a zoo where the first moving objects they saw were tortoises

  . As adults the peacocks displayed courtship behaviour towards the tortoises

  . Lorenz concluded that the peacocks had undergone sexual imprinting
• Why did Harlow use Rhesus monkeys?


  . Because they're more similar to humans than birds
• What was Harlow's procedure?


  . Tested the idea that soft objects serve some functions as the mother

  . Reared 16 monkeys with 2 wired mothers, in one condition the wired mother dispensed milk, and in the other condition, the cloth mother dispensed milk
• What did Harlow find?


  . Monkeys cuddled the soft mother as opposed to the wired one

  . They also sought comfort in it when frightened, even when it didn't dispense milk

  . Shows that contact comfort was more important than food when forming an attachment (disproves cupboard love)
• What did Harlow conclude about maternally deprived monkeys as adults?


  . Harlow followed the maternally deprived monkeys into adulthood

  . Monkeys reared with wired mothers were most dysfunctional

  . Those reared with cuddly mum didn't have normal social behaviour either

  . More aggressive

  . Less sociable

  . Bred less often

  . Deprived monkeys attacked their children, neglected them, and even killed them in some cases
• What is meant by the critical period for normal development?


  . Concluded that there was a critical period for this behaviour

  . Mother figure had to be introduced to the infant within 90 days for an attachment to form

  . After this attachment was impossible and the consequences of maternal deprivation became irreversible
• What are the evaluations for Lorenz's research?


  WEAKNESS: Generalisability to humans- Study was done on birds, even though it tells us something about human attachment, we can't generalise from birds to humans because the mammalian attachment system is different. Mammalian mothers are more loving and babies can form the attachment beyond the critical period. So it's not appropriate to generalise Lorenz's findings.

  
  

  WEAKNESS: Some of Lorenz's observations have been questioned- Some of Lorenz's conclusions have been questioned, like imprinting having a permanent effect on mating behaviour. Guiton found that chickens who imprinted on yellow washing up gloves would try imprinting on them in the future, but they eventually learned to imprint on actual chickens. Suggests impacts aren't as permanent as Lorenz believed.
• What are the evaluations for Harlow's research?


  STRENGTH: Theoretical Value- Improve understanding of human mother attachment. Showed that attachment doesn't form from being fed. but from receiving contact comfort. Also showed us the importance of early attachments on later relationships and social development. Suggesting that Harlow's research has real world application.

  
  

  WEAKNESS: Ethical Issues- The monkeys suffered as a result of Harlow research. The species are similar to humans so its credible to assume that their suffering was human-like. Harlow was aware of this suffering and even named the monkeys "Iron maidens" (after the medieval torture device). The results do outweigh the ethical implications but research should be conducted without causing harm.
• LEARNING THEORY: What did Dollard and Miller theorise?


  That care giver-infant interactions can be explained by learning theory,

  Cupboard Love- child develops attachment to whoever feeds them
• Explain the role of classical conditioning in the role of learning theory in attachment


  Responding to a stimulus in a way in which we respond to something else

  Food is the unconditioned stimulus in this instance

  Being fed provides pleasure which is an unconditioned response- we didn't have to learn that

  Care giver is initially neutral stimulus, but when they keep providing food, the baby associates them with food, so now they have become the conditioned stimulus.

  When conditioning takes place, when the baby sees the care giver, the conditioned response of pleasure occurs .
• What role does operant conditioning play in cupboard love?


  The liklihood of a behaviour being repeated depending on its consequence

  Rewarded= reinforced behaviour

  Punished= Less likely to be repeated

  Explains why babies cry, when the baby cries, the baby is rewarded with food

  So it knows that as long as it cries, it will be fed

  The operant conditioning works both ways: when the care giver feeds the child, the crying stops, carer has escaped something unpleasant through negative reinforcement

  Feeding acts as a social suppressor for the crying

  This builds a stronger attachment
• Explain attachment as a secondary drive


  Hunger is seen as a primary drive as it is innate and a biological motivator: we are motivated to eat to reduce the hunger drive

  Sears theorised that as care givers provide food, the primary drive becomes generalised to them

  Attachment is then a secondary drive which is learned through association through the care giver and the satisfaction of the primary drive
• Outline the weaknesses of this theory


  Counter evidence from animal research- Young animals don't imprint on whoever feeds them. Lorenz's geese imprinted before they were fed and maintained these attachments even after they were fed. And Harlow's monkeys attached to a soft surrogate opposed to a wired monkey that dispensed milk.If this is the case for animals, it should be the case for humans as learning theorists suggested we're the same. But as it isnt, it suggests that we do not form attachments based on those who feed us.

  
  

  Counter evidence from human research- Shows feeding is not a key element, in Schaffer and Emmerson's study, most babies formed primary attachments to their mother, even though other carers did the feeding. Shows that feeding doesnt play a primary role so there is no unconditioned stimulus or primary drive involved.

  
  

  Reductionist- Ignores other factors associated with forming attachments. |sabella noticed how reciprocity and interactional synchrony are involved with attachment, but cupboard love doesnt take into account these factors. If attachment was purely based on feeding, then these factors wouldn't be considered