Attachment

• Attachment


  A two-way emotional bond between two individuals in which each individual sees the other as important for their emotional security
• Attachment behaviours


  • Proximity - staying physically close to their attachment figure
  • Separation anxiety - show high levels of anxiety when an attachment figure has left
  • Secure-base behaviour - returning to the attachment figure on a regular basis
• Reciprocity


  Caregiver-infant interaction is a two-way/mutual process; each party responds to the other's signals to sustain interaction (turn-taking). The behaviour of each party elicits a response from the other.
• Interactional synchrony


  Adults and babies respond in time to sustain communication
• Babies have alert phases which signals they are ready for interaction. Around 2/3 of the time, mothers can pick these signals up.
• From 3 months, interaction between baby and the carer become frequent and involves paying close attention to each other's verbal signals and facial expressions.
• Effective back and forth interaction allow for the development of a healthy attachment.
• Traditional views of childhood have portrayed babies in a passive role, receiving care from an adult. However, it seems that babies and the caregivers take an active role.
• Both caregiver and infant can initiate interactions and take turns in doing so.
• Caregiver and infant reflect both the actions and emotions of each other and do this in a co-ordinated (synchronised) way.
• Caregiver-infant interaction


  • Reciprocity - interaction flows both ways between adult and infant
  • Interactional synchrony - adults and babies respond in time to sustain communication
• Caregiver-infant interaction


  • Interactional synchrony - adults and babies respond in time to sustain communication
  • Reciprocity / turn-taking - interaction flows both ways between adult and infant
  • Imitation - infant mimics / copies the adult's behaviour
  • Sensitive responsiveness - adult attends sensitively to infant's communications
• Most attachment research has focused on mother and baby attachment and the role of the father in the development of attachment has often been neglected
• The father does not specifically refer to a baby's biological male parent – it refers to the child's closest male caregiver
• Secondary attachment


  Fathers are secondary attachment figures
• Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found that the majority of babies did become attached to their mother first (around 7 months) and within a few weeks or months formed secondary attachments
• In 75% of the infants studies, an attachment was formed with the father at the age of 18 months. This was determined by the fact that the infants protested when their father walked away – a sign of attachment
• Grossman (2002) found that quality of attachment with mother was more important on the teenagers attachment, in comparison to the father
• Fathers' play with infants was related to the quality of adolescents attachments
• Fathers possess the role of being the primary caregiver. They have the attributes and behaviours that have been previously linked to mothers
• Field (1978) found that primary caregiver fathers like mothers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than secondary caregiver fathers
• The results suggest that fathers have the potential to be the emotion-focused primary attachment figure and can provide the emotional responsiveness required for an attachment
• MacCallum and Golombock (2004) found that children growing up in a single or same-sex parent families do not develop any differently from those in a two-parent heterosexual family
• Asocial stage


  Behaviour between humans and inanimate objects is fairly similar. Babies tend to show a preference for the company of familiar people and more easily comforted by them.
• Indiscriminate attachment


  From 2-7 months, babies start to display observable social behaviours. Clear preference for humans rather than inanimate objects. Recognise and prefer the company of any person. Don't show separation anxiety or stranger anxiety
• Specific attachment


  From 7 months, most babies show signs of attachment to one person. Signs include stranger anxiety and separation anxiety. Attachment to primary caregiver. This person is not the individual who spends the most time but offers most interaction. 65% of cases the PCG is the baby's mother.
• Multiple attachment


  Babies extend attachment behaviour to multiple attachments with other people with whom they regularly spend time with. These are called secondary attachments. Schaffer and Emerson observed 29% of children secondary attachment within a month of forming a specific attachment. By the age of 1, most babies develop multiple attachment.
• Schaffer and Emerson wanted to investigate at what age different attachments form and the emotional intensity of the attachment.
• Schaffer and Emerson's study

  1. Studied 60 babies from working class families in Glasgow

  2. All children were studied in their own homes

  3. The children were visited monthly for a year and again at 18 months

  4. Mothers were asked about protest behaviours in seven everyday situations, e.g. adult leaves room (to measure separation anxiety) and responses to strangers (stranger anxiety)
• Sensitive responsiveness


  The extent to which a parent is in-tune with a child's emotional state, can decode those signals accurately, and able to respond appropriately and in a timely fashion
• Attachment to primary caregiver

  • This person is not the individual who spends the most time but offers most interaction
  • 65% of cases the PCG is the baby's mother
• STAGE 4: MULTIPLE ATTACHMENT

  1. Babies extend attachment behaviour to multiple attachments with other people with whom they regularly spend time with

  2. These are called secondary attachments

  3. Schaffer and Emerson observed 29% of children secondary attachment within a month of forming a specific attachment

  4. By the age of 1, most babies develop multiple attachment
• Specific attachment stage


  Attachment behaviour is now directed towards the mother, and she will show distress at separation from her, even when she is being cared for by another familiar adult
• Problems studying the asocial stage: Young babies in this stage have poor co-ordination and are generally pretty much immobile, making it difficult to make judgements about infants just from observing their behaviour and from a young age they do not have much observable behaviours. This makes it difficult to draw any conclusion.
• Conflicting evidence on multiple attachments: Research by Bowlby (1969) indicates that most babies form attachments to a single main carer before they become capable of developing multiple attachments, whereas other research by Van Ijzendoorn et al (1993) suggested that in collectivist cultures, multiple attachments are the norm because families work together when producing food and child-rearing.
• Schaffer and Emerson's study was a naturalistic observation because all the observations of babies and their carers took place in the family homes, and nothing was altered to observe the effect on the babies' behaviour.
• Schaffer and Emerson's study was an overt observation because the families were doing most of the observation themselves so clearly they knew it was happening!
• Schaffer and Emerson's study was a participant observation because separation and stranger anxiety were observed by the parents and researchers respectively.
• The validity of the observations on separation anxiety could be challenged because it depends on the mothers being honest, not biased by the social acceptability of their answers and being able to be objective about what happened during separations.
• Stages of attachment


  • Asocial
  • Indiscriminate
  • Specific
  • Multiple