Attachment

• What is an attachment?

  An emotional link between the child and there primary caregiver, which ties them together.
• Four ways an attachment can be tested?

  1. Stranger Anxiety

  2. Seperation Anxiety

  3. Reunion Behaviour

  4. General Behaviour
• What is a bond?


  A bond is a set of feelings that ties one person to another
• Benefits of an attachment

  Survival

  Food

  Love

  Security
• Two caregiver-infant interactions are...

  Reciprocity and Interactional Synchrony
• What is reciprocity?


  Reciprocity is a description of how two people interact, the mother infant interaction is reciprocal in that they both respond to each others signal and each shows a response from the other.
• What is interactional synchrony?


  Where mother and infant reflect both the actions and emotions of one and other and do this in a co-ordinated manner.
• Outline research that supports reciprocity

  Feldman found that both babies have periodic alert phases to signal that they are ready to interact and mothers respond to this on average 2/3rds of the time.

  He also found that from 3 months of age this interaction is more frequent and involved close attention to verbal signals and facial expressions.

  
  

  Brazleton discovered the 'Dance' in which each partner responds to each others moves. Both the baby and the PCG can initiate interactions and take turns in doing so.
• Outline research that supports interactional synchrony

  Meltzoff and Moore conducted a study in which they observed infants at two weeks old and had adults show one of three facial expressions or one of three gestures. The children response was filmed and identified by independent observers. They found an association between the action of the adult and the action returned by the babies.

  
  

  Isabella observed 30 mothers and infants and found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better mother-infant attachment.
• Evaluate research into infant-caregiver interactions

  :) - Controlled observations in a controlled experimental setting with standardised procedures and operationalised behavioural categories with filming from multiple angles. High reliability as can be repeated to check consistency.

  :) - These observations are less prone to demand characteristics as obviously babies are unaware an experiment is taking place and thus will not change their natural behaviours.

  
  

  :( - Observations susceptible to observer bias as they require subjective interpretation from researches who may perceive behaviour as being something else to what it really is, this can lower the validity.

  :( - Observations only look at the changes in hand movements and gestures. It is very difficult to be certain that the moves or gestures etc, were actually deliberate or accidental, this reduces the value of the insight into caregiver-infant interaction.

  :( - These studies don't tell us the purpose of synchrony or reciprocity, they simply state that it happens and don't imply anything about why and what the purpose is. Other studies have said that it is important in the development of empathy and morals.

  :( - Conducting research into mother-infant interactions is controversial as it sates that certain people may be at a disadvantage for certain reasons. ie. Mothers going back to work...
• Outline three research studies into the role of the father

  Schaffer found that initially babies become attached to their mother (7 months) and then after this form secondary attachments with others such as the father. 75% of babies had an attachment with their father by 18 months of age, they showed separation anxiety.

  
  

  Lamb indicated that between the ages of 15-24 months they will show a preference towards their father, this suggests that the father may become the PCG.

  
  

  Grossman conducted a longitudinal study and found a direct correlation between the quality of fathers play with infants and the quality of adolescent attachments. This suggests that the father may be more about play and stimulation whereas the mother is more about nurturing.
• Evaluate research into the role of the father

  :( - It is very difficult to draw one conclusion from all the research as some psychologists have looked to prove he father as the PCG and others have tried to prove him as the secondary caregiver.

  :( - MacCallum and Golombrok found contradicting evidence as they found that children growing up in single or same sex parent families did not develop any differently to those in opposite sex parents.

  :( - Alternative explanations about why fathers don't usually become the PCG could be because of traditional gender roles that people don't like to break as it is not seen as normal and thus they continue with the social norms.

  :( - Alternatively it could be biological reasons for mothers being the PCG majority of the time. Females have much higher levels of oestrogen and oxytocin and these create higher levels of nurturing behaviour.

  :( - Socially sensitive research as it suggests children may be at a disadvantage by particular child rearing practices.
• Outline Schaffer's stages of attachment Research

  He has 60 babies from Glasgow and had Psychologists visited once a month for the first year and again at 18 months in participants homes and interviewed mothers.

  During observations psychologists tested separation anxiety and stranger anxiety. He found that between 25-32 weeks of age 50% of the babies showed separation anxiety towards adults, usually the mother (specific attachment). He also found that attachments were formed with the adults who were the most sensitive to babies signals (reciprocity). By 40 weeks 80% had a specific attachment and 30% showed multiple attachments.
• Evaluate Schaffer's research into attachment

  :) - The babies were never taken out of there homes and thus were always observed in a natural setting for the babies, this allows for results that can be more easily generalised to the population.

  :( - The sample size was much too small to be able to have any sort of reliable generalising to the wider population. Not only was it too small but it was all people from working class families that lived in Glasgow. This sample is too specific.

  :( - The study was a longitudinal study which has its benefits however it then is susceptible to attrition where participants will inevitably drop out of it over time, making the sample even less generalisable to other children's stages of development.
• Outline Schaffer's stages of attachment

  AISM!

  Stage 1: The Asocial Stage (first weeks)

  Babies behaviour towards non-human objects and humans is similar but they do show a slight preference to adults and are happier with humans present.

  
  

  Stage 2: Indiscriminate Attachment (2-7 months)

  Begin to show a preference to humans over inanimate objects and also now recognise and prefer familiar adult faces. However they accept cuddles and affection from any adult. NO separation or stranger anxiety is shown.

  
  

  Stage 3: Specific Attachment (7+ months)

  Start to display stranger anxiety and showed separation anxiety to the PCG (65% mother).

  
  

  Stage 4: Multiple Attachments

  Baby forms secondary attachments to other adults who they spend time with. After one month of forming a PAF 29% formed secondary attachments and by the age of one majority had secondary attachments.
• Evaluate Schaffer's Stages of Attachment

  :( - It is near impossible to prove that a baby during the asocial stage is doing something, wether that be a a gesture or a movement, consciously or unconsciously and thus it is hard to make meaningful judgements about there behaviour so the evidence is hard to rely on.

  :( - Used very crude measurements to define attachment. By only using separation and stranger anxiety they have oversimplified a complex behaviour. This reduces the value of the insight into stages of attachment.

  :( - They used self report techniques done by the parents which are at risk of extreme social desirability as the parents may well have lied to present their babies in the best possible light, this means the validity of the findings are reduced.
• Outline Lorenz's Animal Study into attachment

  Lorenz divided up a clutch of goose eggs, where half were hatched with the mother goose and the other half in an incubator where Lorenz was the first living thing they saw. He found that the incubator group followed him around everywhere whereas the control group stayed with the mother and ignored him. When there two groups were mixed they stuck with there original attachment figure.

  Lorenz called this imprinting and he suggested that there was a critical period of a few hours depending on the species and if imprinting does not occur then the chicks do not attach to the mother figure.
• Evaluate Lorenz's Animal Study


  :( - This type of research will always have animal bias and we must be cautious when applying the findings to humans as we are very different to other species, cognitively that is.
• Outline Harlow's Animal Study into attachment

  16 baby rhesus monkeys were reared with two wire model mothers. In one condition milk was given to the plain wire mother whereas in the second it was given to the cloth covered mother.

  He found that the babies always chose to spend their time with the cloth covered monkey over the wire frame one. Specifically 22 hours compared to 2 hours, this shows that contact comfort was more important to the monkey then drive reduction when it came to attachment.

  Harlow also suggested that there was a critical period of 90 days, and if an attachment had not been formed by then, then it never could and the damage is irreversible.
• Evaluate Harlow's Animal Study


  :) - Many very useful practical applications have come from this as it gives us a very valuable insight into caregiver-infant attachment. It has helped social workers understand risk factors in neglect and instead of just making sure people have shelter and food that they are also being treated with love and care.

  :( - There are however drawbacks of this study and it is that it lacks the following of any ethical guidelines. The monkeys suffered greatly with irreversible effect and as they share a high percentage of humans gene pool they have strong emotions like us. However the argument is that the research is important enough to justify the effects on the monkeys.
• State two explanations of attachment

  The learning theory (Behavioural)

  Bowlbys Theory (Biological)
• Sate two theories for the learning theory

  Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning
• Briefly explain classical conditioning

  Learning a behaviour through stimulus, response and association
• Briefly explain operant conditioning

  Learning a behaviour through rewards reinforcements and punishments
• Explain classical conditioning linking it to attachment

  Milk provided by the mother is an unconditioned stimulus which provides an unconditioned response in the baby of relief from hunger.

  This response is automatic and does not need to be learnt. The neutral stimulus is the feeder, and through repetition of feeding the feeder becomes the conditioned stimulus. Therefore whenever the baby is hungry at just the sight of the feeder it will link the CS and the UCR together and become relieved.
• Explain operant conditioning linking it to attachment

  When the baby feels uncomfortable because it is hungry they experience a drive state. This drive state motivates the baby to find a way to lessen the discomfort. In the early years the baby can do nothing but cry and being fed leads to drive reduction as the child is satisfied. The food is the primary reinforcer and the child learns that the food is a reward. The person that feeds the baby becomes the secondary reinforcer and the infant thus seeks to be near to this feeder as they are the source of reward and the attachment is formed.
• Evaluate the learning theories explanation of attachment

  Contradictory evidence from animal studies

  :( - Lorenz showed how young animals imprint on carers who don't necessarily feed them. Harlow's monkeys chose to spend contact comfort over drive reduction, showing us that the value of insight into human attachments is limited.

  Counter evidence from human studies

  :( - Schaffer found that babies developed a primary attachment to their biological mother regardless of who did most the feeding, this directly contradicts the learning theories explanation.

  Too oversimplified

  :( - Learning theory ignores other factors associated with forming attachments such as interactional synchrony and reciprocity. Furthermore studies have shown that the best quality attachments are with sensitive and responsive caregivers who respond to infants signals.
• Outline Bowlbys Monotropic Theory


  Bowlby stated that it is likely that adults are innately programmed to become attached to their children as attachments have short and long term benefits such as survival.

  There are four main features of Bowlby's theory;

  Monotropy - He suggested that the child attaches to one particular caregiver which is the mother (not necessarily the biological one). The law of continuity is the more consistent a child's care = better quality of attachment. The law of accumulated separation is the separations from the mother adding up affecting the attachment.

  Social Releasers - These are important and ensure interaction takes place, they are behaviours such as smiling crying etc.

  Critical Period - This is biological and if an attachment is not formed in this critical period of 2.5 years then it may not take place at all.

  Internal Working Model - This relationship with the monotropy provides infants with an IWM of relationships. This is a template of self worth and they will apply it to all future relationships.
• Evaluate Bowlby's Monotropic Theory

  :) - Brazleton observed mothers and babies interact and showed that there was interactional synchrony. In further experiments he instructed the PCG to ignore the babies signals (social releases). He found that after some distress the babies curled up and remained motionless. The fact the children responded so strongly supports Bowlbys theory.

  :) - Hazan printed a love quiz in an American newspaper. They collected information about individuals early attachments and their current attachments wth loved ones. They found that securely attached children had happy and long lasting relationships in later life. insecurely attached children found it hard to form relationships. This supports the IWM.

  :( - Bowlby stated that the only use of the father was to support the mother however Lamb indicated that as an infant grows older they show a preference towards the father, this therefore contradicts Bowlbys theory.

  :( - Other psychologists criticise Bowlbys mono-tropic theory for not accepting the role of the child's temperament. It has been shown that some babies are born more social or more anxious than others. Therefore this could explain later social behaviour rather than the IWM.
• Outline The Strange Situation (research into children's attachment behaviour)

  She had a sample of 100 middle class American infants and observed them through a two way mirror. Specifically watching how children reacted to; Separation anxiety, stranger anxiety and reunion behaviour.

  What they did was:

  1) Parent entered room for three mins with adult and explored room

  2) Stranger enters and joins, adults talk

  3) Parent leaves

  4) Parent returns and stranger leaves

  5) Parent settles infant and leaves

  6) Stranger returns

  7) Parent returns and stranger leaves

  
  

  Results: She found three attachment types; secure (66%), insecure avoidant (22%) and insecure resistant (12%).
• Explain Ainsworth's three attachment types

  Secure - Upset when put under separation anxiety, avoidant of stranger but curious, instantly soothed when mother returns. Responsive and sensitive caregiver.

  Insecure Avoidant - Unconcerned by mothers absence, avoidant of both, unresponsive in reunion. Unresponsive caregiver.

  Insecure resistant - Overly distressed when mother left, fear of stranger, clinginess + rejection on reunion. Inconsistent caregiver.
• Evaluate Ainsworth's Strange Situation

  :( - Lacks ecological validity as it was fake environment with unrealistic task. Means it is difficult to generalise the three different attachment styles to other children in the real world.

  :( - The SSC has been criticised for imposed etic. The tool is based on western practices and ignores cultural norms and practices in collectivist cultures. We must take caution when using it in cultures it is not designed for.

  :( - Low pop validity, hard to generalise

  :( - Criticised for being over simplified, other psychologists believe that you cant fit every child into one of three attachment types and that there are large individual differences between children that play a huge part. This lowers the value of the insight into children's attachment types and development.
• Reliability & Validity of TSS

  Reliability was proved by 'Main et al', he tested babies at 18 months and then retested them at 6 years of age and found 100% of the secure babies were still secure and 75% of the avoidant babies were still avoidant. This is called test retest reliability.

  Ainsworth tested inter-rater reliability, this was also found to be very high.

  Validity has been argued that TSS only measures the relationship between two people and not the attachment style
• Outline Cultural Variations in individualistic and collectivist cultures

  Different cultures have different rules, laws social norms and customs etc. If there is difference in social norms it is natural to assume that attachment types vary across different countries. People use different child rearing practices when bringing up their children which encourages them to develop different qualities and abilities.
• Outline research done into cultural differences in attachment types

  Van Ijzendoorn conducted a meta-analysis of 32 studies from 8 countries based on around 2000 children.

  He found non-western cultures had most number of insecure resistant and as a whole most attachment types were secure.

  Overall consistent results in countries were found showing us that there must be universal characteristics.
• Evaluate research into cultural differences in attachment types

  :) - The study used 2000 children which gives it a very high population validity, meaning the results about cultural differences in attachment styles can be generalised to the target population of other children around the world.

  :( - Although a large number of studies were used nearly half of them were done in US therefore the study has culture bias and we must be cautious when generalising the results across different cultures. This limits the value of the insight into cultural variations in styles.

  :( - This study used the SSC which has been criticised for imposed etic and was made solely for individualistic cultures originally. This means we must be cautious when extrapolating results as the SSC might not be suitable to measure attachments in collectivist cultures.

  :( - Reductionist as it doesn't take other factors into account such as individual differences.
• Outline Bowlby's theory of Maternal Deprivation

  The theory is concerned with prolonged separation from the mother and the effects on the children that this has, emphasising how important continuous care from a mother figure is essential.

  If separations are brief it is acceptable and wont damage the child, it is when these become common and for prolonged periods when it becomes deprivation where attachments can be broken.

  Bowlby stated that the first 2.5 years are the critical period and if separation occurs here then psychological damage is inevitable.

  Damage can be mental retardation, lowered IQ, which Goldfarb found when comparing IQ in children who were fostered to children in institutions. Bowlby also said that it could lead to affectionless psychopathy, which is where children cannot feel remorse and prevents children from forming normal relationships.
• Outline research into Maternal Deprivation

  Bowlby had 44 criminal teens and interviewed them for signs of affectionless psychopathy and lack of affection to their victims. Their families were also interviewed to see whether they had had prolonged separations.

  He found that 14/44 thieves were AP's, of the 14 12 had experienced long term separation at a young age. In contrast only 5/30 had experienced separations.

  He concluded that early separation can cause affectionless psychopathy.
• Evaluate Maternal Deprivation


  :( - His research he used to support his theory is flawed as there are many confounding variables such as the fact that his study on war orphans were not just deprived as children but they were often traumatised from atrocities of war.

  :( - Furthermore Bowlby carried out all the interviews himself and thus it is at risk of extreme researcher bias as the results could have been subjective. This would reduce the value of the insight into maternal deprivation in children.

  :( - Lewis replicated the 44 thieves study with 500 children and found no relationship between criminality and separation as a chid. This shows other factors could have been present causing AP.
• What is institutionalisation?


  It refers to children spending a period of time within an institute such as an orphanage where there is often little emotional care provided.