Attachment

• caregiver infant interactions include reciprocity and interactional synchrony
• reciprocity is an early form of communication featuring turn taking between infant and caregiver
• reciprocity research - tronick et al

  asked mothers enjoying dialogue with their baby to stop moving and maintain a static unsmiling expression. found babies tried to tempt the mother into interaction by smiling and became increasingly distressed
• interactional synchrony is when caregiver and infants mirror eachother's facial and body movements
• interactional synchrony research - meltzoff and moore

  observed infants exposed to 4 stimuli, three facial expressions and one gesture and their responses were observed with video recordings to find they imitated
• caregiver infant interaction evaluation

  :-) lab studies usually, high control and interrater reliability

  :-( observations aren't useful in understanding child development

  :-( hard to interpret babies behaviour, lack of co-ordination -> researcher bias
• schaffer and emerson found the majority of babies became attached to their mothers first
• 75% of the infants schaffer and emerson studied formed an attachment with the father by 18 months
• grossman found the quality of the childs attachment to the mother but not to fathers was related to attachment in adolescence, suggesting the father as less important
• however, grossman also found the quality of the fathers play has a different role in attachment - stimulation
• field found that fathers can take on the role of a more nurturing attachment figure is needed. level of responsiveness is more important than sex
• multiple attachments and the role of the father evaluation

  :-) biological processes and gender stereotyping - oxytocin and oestrogen

  :-( children growing up in single parent or same sex families don't develop differently
• schaffer and emerson procedure

  longitudinal study of 60 glaswegian babies

  mothers visited every 4 weeks

  mothers reported their infants responses to seperation in 7 everyday situations

  described intensity of protest

  stranger anxiety also measured
• schaffer and emerson findings

  25-32 weeks approx 50% showed sep anxiety

  by 40 weeks 80% formed specific attachment

  by 40 weeks 30% formed multiple attachments
• stages of attachment

  asocial, indiscriminate, specific, multiple
• asocial stage - first few weeks

  behaviour towards humans and non humans similar

  happier in the presence of humans
• indiscriminate stage - 2-7 months

  preference for people

  accepts cuddles and comfort from any adult

  no sep or strang anxiety
• specific stage aka discriminate stage - 7+ months

  babies show sep anxiety

  fear of strangers

  begin forming specific attachments
• multiple attachments - by one year

  multiple attachments form
• stages of attachment evaluation

  :-) natural conditions, real life instances of seperation

  :-( indivdualistic! multiple carer cultures may form multiple attachments faster

  :-( incorrect ages, carpenter found infants younger than 6 weeks could distinguish mums face and voice
• harlows monkeys

  harlow isolated baby monkeys from birth

  placed in cages with access to two surrogate mothers, one made of wire with milk and one covered in cloth without milk

  monkeys spent more time with cloth mother

  conclusion - primary caregiver isn't just satisfying primary drives, 'contact comfort' is just as important
• harlows monkeys variations

  scaring the monkey - frightening object, took refuge with cloth mother

  no comfort mother - psychological disturbances, no exploration

  placing monkey in large room to play - mothers present, felt safe to explore

  parental behaviours - smashed infants face into the floor and rubbed it back and forth
• harlows monkeys evaluation

  :-) lab setting

  :-( so unethical - but paradigm shift?
• lorenz's geese

  divided eggs into two groups, hatched one with mother and one with humans, marked geese to know which is which, placed in upside down box and lifted, observed to see where geese went and they went to who they were hatched with
• imprinting - 4-25 hours, irreversible. innate and programmed in goslings
• lorenz geese evaluation

  :-) chicks have been found to do the same even with inanimate objects, regolin and vallortigara simple shape combinations that moved, chicks followed first one they saw

  :-( extrapolation, goslings not humans

  :-( guiton et al found imprinting is reversible, chickens imprinted on yellow washing up gloves tried to mate and eventually learned they weren't chickens
• the learning theory

  infants are born tabula rasa

  all behaviour is learned not innate

  learns caregiver meets their physiological needs

  classical conditioning
• classical conditioning schedule

  food (ucs) -> pleasure (ucr)

  food (ucs) + caregiver (ns) -> pleasure

  caregiver (cs) -> pleasure (cr)
• learning theory evaluation

  :-) watson and raynor backs up classical conditioning, phobias can be learnt so its plausible attachments can be learned too

  :-( attachments formed by 39% of babies was not the person carrying out physical care -> play/responsiveness

  :-( harlows research contradicts. comfort>food?
• bowlby's theory/evolutionary theory

  ASCMI

  adaptive, social releasers, critical periods, monotropy, internal working model
• attachment is adaptive as its evolutionary
• social releasers increase chances of receiving care
• social releaser examples include cute baby faces
• critical period is parents instinctive drive to care for infants at their most vulnerable. attachment must form in this time or no future attachments will be formed
• monotropy is one main attachment, usually with the mother
• the internal working model is an attachment template for all future relations. aka continuity hypothesis
• bowlby's theory evaluation

  :-) evidence from lorenz, attachment innate

  :-) hazen and shaver's love quiz supports the iwm

  :-( howes et al - parent child relationships differ from child peer relationships, early attachments do not equal future relationships
• ainsworth aimed to investigate the individual differences in attachment
• strange situation

  observed through video camera in lab playroom

  two chairs and set of toys

  8 different situations consisting of mother child and stranger
• type b

  secure

  70%

  some seperation anxiety but easily soothed, high stranger anxiety, enthusiastic at reunion, high willingness to explore with mother as secure base