Attachment

• Reciprocity


  Two-way; the child has to bond with the mother, and the mother has to bond with the child for an attachment to form successfully. They must both be able to contribute to the relationship and generate a response
• Interactional synchrony


  When the infant and primary caregiver become synchronised in their interactions, with the way the two interact changing slightly according to the rhythm, pitch, volume etc of the adult's speech
• Reciprocity is important in teaching the child to communicate and allows the parent to better care for the child as they can detect certain cues from the baby and respond to their needs sooner and more effectively
• Condon and Sander (1974) said that children can synchronise their movements with the sound of an adult's voice, and Brazleton et al demonstrated that young infants can copy the displayed distinctive facial expressions or gestures
• Many of these studies used controlled observations, with Brazleton et al even filming the interactions from different angles, ensuring a high level of detail and accuracy and allowing valid conclusions to be drawn through inter-rater reliability
• The main issue with observations of such young children is that we do not know whether their actions are meaningful, especially since children as young as 2 weeks old have little or no motor coordination
• Bremner drew the distinction between behavioural response and behavioural understanding: just because an interaction appears to be reciprocal, does not mean that the child understands the purpose of either reciprocity or interactional synchrony
• Aim of Schaffer and Emerson's study

  To identify stages of attachment/find a pattern in the development of an attachment between infants and parents
• Schaffer and Emerson's study

  • Participants: 60 babies from Glasgow, all from the same estate
  • Procedure: Analysed interactions between infants and carers, interviewed carers, mother kept diary tracking infant behaviours
  • Longitudinal study lasting 18 months, visiting infants monthly and once at the end
• Schaffer and Emerson found that the babies of parents/carers who had 'sensitive responsiveness' - who were more sensitive to the baby's signals - were more likely to have formed an attachment
• Schaffer and Emerson found that sensitive responsiveness was more important than the amount of time spent with the baby, so infants formed more attachments with those who spent less time with them but were more sensitive to their needs than those who spent more time with them but were less sensitive
• Schaffer and Emerson found that infants who had parents who responded to their needs quickly and spent more time interacting with the child had more intense attachments, while those who had parents who did not interact with their child at all had very weak attachments
• Schaffer and Emerson found that attachments seemed to form when the carer communicates and plays with the child rather than when the carer feeds or cleans the child
• Stages of attachment identified by Schaffer and Emerson

  • Asocial stage (0-6 weeks)
  • Indiscriminate attachments (6 weeks – 6 months)
  • Specific (7 months +)
  • Multiple (10/11 months +)
• Schaffer and Emerson found that 75% of the infants in their study formed a secondary attachment to their father by the age of 18 months, with 29% doing so within a month of forming a primary attachment, as demonstrated by separation anxiety
• Tiffany Field observed that primary caregivers, regardless of gender, were more attentive towards the infant and spent more time holding and smiling at them, suggesting that mothers are not always the primary attachment figure
• MacCallum and Golombok demonstrated that children growing up in homosexual or single-parent families were not different compared to children with two heterosexual parents, suggesting the exact role of the father is still disputed
• The gender of the primary caregiver may be largely dictated by social and biological constraints, where women are expected to be caring and sensitive, and have higher levels of oestrogen and lower levels of testosterone compared to men
• Research into the importance of primary attachment figures is socially sensitive, as later abnormalities in development are often blamed on the parent(s)
• Imprinting


  Where animals will attach to the first moving object or person they see directly after birth. Imprinting/the formation of an attachment must occur within the critical period of attachment development, which is usually the first 30 months of life, after which an attachment is not possible and the consequences of a failure to form an attachment are irreversible
• There are significant issues associated with trying to generalise findings from Lorenz's studies on imprinting, as mammalian attachment systems are different to that of birds, and sexual imprinting is not as permanent as Lorenz theorised
• Harlow demonstrated that contact comfort was more important than food in the development of attachments in rhesus monkeys, and that monkeys who lacked a secure attachment to a primary figure had developmental issues like being less skilled at mating and more aggressive
• Harlow's research has significant practical value in the design of zoos and the care of animals in shelters, demonstrating the importance of attachment figures and intellectual stimulation alongside contact comfort
• Learning theory of attachment

  Views children as being born with blank slates, where everything is learned through experiences, so a baby has to learn to form an attachment with its mother through classical and operant conditioning
• Classical conditioning


  The baby forms an association between the mother (a neutral stimulus) and the feeling of pleasure that comes with being fed (an innate unconditioned response)
• Operant conditioning


  The child carries out an action such as crying, which triggers a response from the mother, and the more this happens, the more the action is reinforced as the child associates the mother with those rewards
• There is contradictory evidence from animal studies like Harlow's, and human studies like Brazleton et al, which suggest that learning theory does not fully explain the development of attachments

  
• Stimulus


  Event that causes a response
• Response


  The action that happens as a result of a stimulus
• Innate


  Natural, from birth
• There is contradictory evidence from animal studies. For example, Harlow demonstrated that contact comfort was more important than food in the development of an attachment, where the baby monkeys formed a primary attachment to the cloth-bound mother, regardless of which mother was dispensing milk. This suggests that there is no unconditioned stimulus (of food) and even if there is, it has very little influence upon the formation of attachments.

  
• There is also contradictory evidence from human studies! For example, Brazleton et al emphasised the importance of interactional synchrony and reciprocity in the secure formation of attachments between a primary caregiver and infant - these are universal features of attachment. Attachments form not to the person who spends the most time with the infant, but rather the person who is most attentive to the infant and deals with their signals most skilfully. This means that the unconditioned stimulus of food is irrelevant in most cases!
• The focus on unconditioned and conditioned stimuli means that there is a loss of focus. Interactional synchrony and reciprocity are both universal features of attachment and should be treated as such, as demonstrated by Feldman and Brazleton. Learning theory does not account for these aspects and so is a limited explanation of only some aspects of attachment formation.
• Bowlby's Monotropic Theory of Attachment


  Evolutionary theory of attachment, stating that attachments are innate
• ASCMI (acronym summarising Bowlby's theory)

  • Adaptive
  • Social releasers
  • Critical period
  • Monotropy
  • Internal working model
• Adaptive


  Attachments are an advantage, or beneficial to survival as it ensures a child is kept safe, warm and fed
• Social releasers


  e.g. a cute face on a baby. These unlock the innate tendency for adults to care for a child because they activate the mammalian attachment system
• Critical period


  Time in which an attachment can form i.e. up to 2.5 to 3 years old. Bowby suggested that if an attachment is not formed in this time, it never will. If an attachment does not form, you will be socially, emotionally, intellecturally and physically stunted.
• Monotropy


  You can only form one special intense attachment (this is typically but not always with the mother). This attachment is unique, stronger and different to others.
• Internal working model


  Mental schema for relationships where information that allows you to know how to behave around people is stored. Internal working models are our perception of the attachment we have with our primary attachment figure.