attachment

• reciprocity

  -when an infant responds to the actions of another person in form of turn taking. The actions of one person elicts the response of another
• interactional synchrony

  two people interacting mirroring one another at the same time( synchronised fashion)
• Melzoff and Moore

  • adult displayed 1-3 facial or hand expressions
  • Dummy placed in babies mouth during demo then removed and baby was filmed
  • clear association between babies behaviour and the adults actions
• Murray and Trevarthen

  • 2 month infant interacted with mother on video call
  • then the mother stayed in a static image
  • infant tried to gain mothers attention to elicit response(reciprocity) but when she didn't respond they looked away
  • shows the infant is active intentional partner in infant-mother interations
• drawbacks of research into infant-caregiver interaction

  • Piaget argues that the interaction was seen was not true non-verbal communication, it is a pseudo-imitation, proposed that true imitation could only develop after 1 year of life. reduces the plausibility
  • Does not consider individual differences, babies may have different temperaments and capabilities, may have difficulty communicating meaning strategies to improve interactional synchrony may not work, make the parent distressed-> waste time and effort trying to improve this. may be socially sensitive -> reduces value
• advantage of infant-caregiver interaction

  • Murray and Trev contradicts Piagets pseudo-imitaion, study shoes baby stops communicating after not receiving response-> true interaction, increase plausibility
  • Positive real world applications, highlights development of reciprocity and interactional synchrony is important in developing secure attachment have long-lasting effects on social/emotional well-being, increase value to society
• Schaffer

  • conducted natural experiment,60 babies
  • visited the home every month up until 1 year
  • asked questions about Childs behaviour in daily separations
  • between 25-32 weeks 50% shows signs of stranger anxiety
  • attachment to one person who was most sensitive and interactive
• stages of attachment - Schaffer and Emerson

  • Asocial Stage= 0-6 weeks, no recap of individual people
  • Indiscriminate attachment= 6 weeks-7 months, attention wanted from diff people
  • specific attachments= 7-11 months, strong attachment to one individual
  • multiple attachments= 9 months on, strong emotional ties from other caregivers and non-cargivers
• methological eval of Schaffer and Emerson

  • 😃 carried out longitudinal study
  • 😔 inaccuracy due to mothers forgetting, decrease internal validity
  • 😔 sample of 60, from same social class and are of city, cannot generalise findings to other cultures with confidence
  • 😃 carried out in own homes and most observations done by parents themselves, babies acting naturally while observed, high validity
• eval of stages of attachment Schaffer snd Emerson

  • 😔 don't take individual diff into accounts.g some gain attachments much later on, distress parents if child not meeting expectations , socially sensitive
  • 😔 culturally specific one individualistic upbringing
• Bowlby suggest that the role of the father...

  • fathers can fill the role resembling the mother
  • father figure is one a babies multiple attachments and so the mother is the primary cargiver
  • fathers role tends to be diff in families. fathers more the Childs companion in physical activity and novel play becoming their preferred play companion
• Grossman- role of father

  • longitude study
  • investigated parents behaviour when child is an infant
  • later investigated the quality of attachments in their teens
  • found the quality of attachments with mother was related to infant attachment however not the father(less important)
  • conclude role of father in a Childs social and emotional development is different than the mother
• Field- role of father

  • filmed 4 month babies in face-face interaction with pcg mothers scg fathers and pcg fathers
  • pcg's spent more time smiling, imitating and holding the infant
  • concluded fathers are able to become the nurturing primary attachment figure depending on level of responsiveness rather than the gender
• Brown et al- role of the father

  • investigated father involvement, paternal sensitivity and father-child attachment security at 13 months and 3 yrs
  • found the involvement and sensitive influence father-child attachment bond at 3yrs
  • brown and fields research indicated that the gender of the caregiver is not critical in predicting the attachment type rather the extent of the caregivers involvement.
• Evaluation of role of father

  • 😔 inconsistent findings, psychologists asking diff questions, produced mixed messages to the lay audience larger for info, lowers value
  • 😔 role of the m and f are irrelevant if child has one pcg for nurturing and a second for play. alternate research state Childs in same-sex fam do not develop any differently. should turn focus away from role of mother and father and more to role of pcg and scg
  • 😃real world applications, help fathers deal with scenarios e.g. rejected by upset chid cause fam tension. educate fathers/build resilience for emotional blows
• loren and harlow- animal studies

  • investigate whether food or contact comfort are important for attachment formation
  • 16 monkeys operated from mothers after birth
  • placed in cage with one mother made of wire and the other covers in a towel material
  • 8 get milk from cloth mother other 8 couldnt
  • both groups spent more time with cloth mother. infants would explore more when the cloth mother was present
• eval of Harlow animal studies

  😃 practical applications- improvement Ito childcare and emphasise importance of early experiences

  😃 humans and monkeys are similar- green states that on a bio test all mammals have the same brain structure of humans.
• Lorenz animal studies

  • attachment formation in birds
  • divides group of geese eggs. half hatched in natural environment( first moving object was mother). Others hatched in an incubator nd first moving object was lorenz
  • for those in the incubator Lorenz was their 'mother' as he was the first moving object and therefore formed an attachment
• eval of Lorenz animal studies

  😃 finding are reliable

  😔 not generalisable to humans- investigated birds which are believed to form diff attachments to mammals- more emotional attachment
• learning theory explanation

  • all behaviour bar reflexes are learnt
  • both propose feeding is the central attachment
  • classical and operant conditioning
• classical conditioning ( behavioural explanation)

  -food= unconditioned stimulus for pleasure. feeder is paired with food

  -feeder=neural stimulus

  -repeated pairing causes the mother to become associated with the food and becomes conditioned stimulus for pleasure

  baby demonstrates attachment such as joy upon reunion
• operant conditioning (behavioural explanation)


  -infant is hungry= demonstrates through crying

  -fed or cuddled by caregiver(primary reinforcer)

  -one providing food= secondary reinforcer

  -infant seeks mother as she is seen as rewarding. learnt to show attachment to be rewarded with food

  -cuddling and feeding are negative reinforcer for mother as the baby stops crying
• eval of learning theory

  😃 makes sense

  😔 contradictory animal studies- geese form attachment via innate imprinting but humans do not suggests humans have inner not learnt.
• bowlbys mono tropic theory

  • attachment is an innate biological process for survival
  • infant born with social releasers- cute features that elicit caregiving action
  • reciprocal process
  • maintain proximity to pcg - the person who responds to social releasers post sensitively
  • sensitive period of 3-9 months for attachment. more difficult to form after this
  • critical period of up to 2.5 years- attachment cannot be formed after this
  • relationship with pcg forms template for future relationships through internal working model
  • pigs behavior is model for future relationships
• eval of bowl by mono tropic theory

  😃 Lorenz geese study- geese imprint supports bowlers they of attachment being an innate biological process

  😔 schaffer and Emerson - infants form multiple attachments at the same time. contradicts bowlby idea of monotropy,if this was a feature of attachment that had evolved, babies would be able to form multiple main attachments

  😔 rutter et al- no attachment formation before 6 months developed attachment disorder. supports sensitive periods 3-6 months
• Ainsworth strange situation

  • developed strange situation to determine attachment type in children and caregivers
  • observation of infant and pcg in a lab 'playroom'
  • first observed during pre-determined activities and behaviour was noted in a behavioural checklist every 15 sec- time sampling
  • mother and infant in room. Childs willingness to explore was assessed
  • stages involved stranger entering to asses stranger anxiety
  • another stage parent leaving the room to assess separation anxiety and reunion behaviour
• Ainsworth - secure 


  willing to explore= high

  parent is safe base

  moderate stranger anxiety

  moderate seperation anxiety

  enthusiastic upon reunion
• Ainsworth - insecure avoidant


  willing to explore=high

  move freely no safe base

  low stranger anxiety

  low separation anxiety

  avoid contact at reunon
• Ainsworth- insecure resistant


  low willingness to explore

  clingy/close to parent

  high stranger anxiety

  high operation anxiety

  seeks but reject contact upon reunion
• influences of attachment- Ainsworth

  • mother of secure attached= more sensitive, cooperative,accessible
  • mother of insecure-avoidant= rejecting, pay less attention
  • mother of insecure= unresponsive to crying and less affectionate
  • mother of insecure resistant= hold child whist occupied with daily acticities
• eval of strange situation

  😃 high internal validity-used a behavioural checklist, reduce e observer bias, more valid results

  😔 low ecological validity- takes place in lab not natural, not true representation of child behaviour

  😃inter-rater reliability- back et al found 94% of observers agreed with each other, reliable measures
• Cultural variations- van ijzendooorn & Kroonenberg

  • meta analysed to study strange situation in 8 countries
  • 75% secure attachment in the UK(highest)
  • 50 % secure attachment in China (lowest)
  • insecure avoidant next post common except in Israel and Japan where insecure-resistant was more common
• cultural variations- Grossman and Grossman

  strange situation in germany

  most children insecure attachment
• cultural variations- takahshi

  -60 middleclass Japanese infants and their mothers- strange situation

  -60% infants were securely attached, no insecure avoidant

  -32% resistant insecure

  -more disturbed when left alone than American, became very distressed

  -first 2 years of Japanese infants experience very little seperation
• eval of cultural variations

  😃 large samples, generalisable, raises internal validity

  😔 van ijzerdoorn and Kroonenberg more than half done in the use,not applicable to other cultures, reduces validity
• Bowlbys- maternal deprivation

  • maternal deprivation= when a child is separated from pcg
  • proposed motherly care is important for mental health
  • critical period requires continuous sensitive emotional care or else psychological damage is inevitable
  • consequences of maternal deprivation

  -emotionless psychopathy, prevent normal relationship, criminal activity

  -mental retardation, low iq

  -increased risk of depression

  
  

  • problems with Childs internal working model- lead to inability to be good parent
  • prolonged separation -> issues with social behaviour in adulthood
• bowlbys- maternal deprivation

  44 thieves:

  • 44 criminal teen thieves
  • interviewed for signs of psychopathy
  • 14/44 emotionless psychopaths
  • 12/14 experienced prolonged separation in first 2 years
  • 5/30 remaining experienced maternal separation
• bowlbys- maternal deprivation


  -studied 250 women who had lost their mothers before 17

  -found this doubled risk of depressive or anxiety disorders in women

  -highest rate those who lost mother b4 6
• eval of maternal deprivation

  😃 positive real world applications- enormous impact on pst-war opinions on child bearing, e.g. foster caring procedures

  😔 no clear explanation of maternal deprivation- at what point is separation maternal deprivation, Rutter et al claims if a bond has not been formed the result of the situation is different
• Romanian orphans- effects of institutionalisation 


  effects:

  -Mental retardation= low iq, those adopted b4 6 months can reach average iq eventually

  Disinhibited attachment disorder= over friendly to strangers, suggests the result from being cared for by multiple carers, none of whom provide emotional care, no secure attachment formed. e.g. being clingy, attention seeking