Attachment
- Created by: darcie_cl
- Created on: 22-02-14 09:39
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- Attachment
- INTRODUCTION
- Definition; An emotional bond between 2 people. A 2 way process which endures overtime
- 4 characteristics; clinging, proximity, service seeking and protecting and infant
- SHAFFER AND EMERSON
- Investigate age, who and multiple attachments
- P: longitudinal study of 60 Glaswegian infants, up to 18months old
- Visit in monthly intervals and observed interactions with the caregiver
- Evidence of an attachment is that the baby showed separation anxiety when the carer left
- R Attachment forms between 6-8 months, mother was 65% main attachment figure, by 18 months 31% had made other attachments
- sensitive responsiveness
- EXPLANATIONS
- The Learning theory
- P; classical conditioning; association
- Food = unconditioned stimulus that produces an undoncitioned response
- The caregiver who gives food become associated with the unconditioned stimulus
- Eventually the caregiver alone becomes the source of pleasure
- P: operant conditioning: reinforcement
- A hungry infant feels uncomfortable and this creates a urge to reduce discomfort
- Any behaviour resulting in rewards is reinforced
- Food is a primary reinforcer as it directly satisfies hunger
- The caregiver is the secondary reinforcer
- So attachment occurs because the child seeks the person who can supply the reward
- Supporting studie
- Harry Harlow - monkeys
- Infant monkeys placed in a cage - 1 wire mother (lactating), 1 mother wrapped in soft cloth but offered no food
- Monkey spent most time with the cloth covered mother and would especially cling to it when frightened
- Greatest attachment to the one who was most responsive to their needs
- P; classical conditioning; association
- Bowlby's evolutionary theory
- The Learning theory
- INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
- The Strange Situation
- P; Controlled observation - 12-18 month babies and mothers observed in a laboratory
- Measured; secure base, separation anxiety, reunion behaviour and stranger anxiety
- 8 episodes e.g. parent sits while child plays, stranger enters, mother leaves, mother returns
- 66% securely attached, 22% insecure-avoidant, 12% insecure-resistant (ambivalent)
- Secure attachment
- Hermione; distressed when mother leaves, avoidant of stranger when alone but friendly when mother present, greets mother warmly and is happy on mothers return
- Insecure avoidant
- No/low distress when mother leaves, infant plays normally when stranger is present, infant shows little interest on mothers return
- Insecure resistant
- Intense distress when mother leaves, high stranger anxiety-shows fear of stranger, resists mother on her return
- Secure attachment
- Alternatives
- Caregiver sensitivity
- Ainsworth and Bell
- Securely attached children have responsive and engaging caregivers
- Temperament hypothesis
- Thompson and Lamb
- Behaviour of infants is dependant on the infants inborn/genetic temperament not their mother
- Caregiver sensitivity
- The Strange Situation
- CULTURAL VARIATIONS
- Individualistic = personal independence and achievement at the expense of group goals, resulting in strong competition
- Collectivist = family and work goals above individual needs and desires, high interdependence between people
- Van & Kroonenberg
- P; meta-analysis of 32 studies using the Strange Situation, 2000 babies used
- Israeli children high insecure resistant - used to being separated from the caregiver
- German children high insecure avoidant - 'independent non-clingy infants'
- Japanese children high insecure resistant - very rarely left by the mother
- Cultures/countries have different perceptions on how to raise children and the parent/infant relationship = affecting attachment types
- Children may appear insecurely attached but it is due to different child rearing
- Studied attachment types both between and within the culture/country
- P; meta-analysis of 32 studies using the Strange Situation, 2000 babies used
- Culture = the rules, customs, morals and ways of interacting that bind together members of a society or collections of people
- DISRUPTION
- Short term separation - distruption
- The PDD model - Robertson & Robertson
- Completed in 1940s when parents weren't allowed to visit infants in hospital
- P: observed children in hospital - time sampling video technique (John / Jane, Lucy, Thomas and Kate)
- R; during separation children were extremely distressed, on return they were less attached to caregivers
- C; All effects classed as short term effects of bond disruption --> developed PDD model
- Protest, Despair, Detachment
- Hugely influential
- Ethical issues
- The PDD model - Robertson & Robertson
- Privation
- Lack of having any attachments due to the failure to develop such attachments in early life
- The absense of attachments
- Case studies
- Rutter et al - Romanian Orphanages
- Lacked medicines, wash facilities and children were physically abused
- P; 111 Romanian orphans were adopted by British families
- Good care improved attachments
- BUT those adopted after the age of 2 = greater dis-inhibited attachment
- Only half recovered dis-inhibited behaviour
- Good care improved attachments
- Genie
- Physically and mentally abused - tied to a potty most of her life and was never spoken to and severely punished for making a noise
- Found at age 14 but physically looked 6/7 years old
- unsocialised, primitive, couldn't talk or walk - hardly human
- Tested and researched
- Even after good care after found Genie never acquired full language and walking skills and failed to adjust socially
- Hodges and Tizard Institutionalisation
- P; natural experiment, 65 American children below the age of 4 - suffered from privation
- P; By 4 years old, 24 adopted, 15 restored and the rest stayed in the institution
- R; At age 4 no children had any attachments
- R; At age 8 and 16 adopted children had strong attachments like 'normal children'
- At age 8/16 adopted and restored children had difficulties at school - attention seeking and problems forming relationships
- R; At age 8/16 children restored had poorer attachments
- R; More than 2/3 children remaining in institutions were 4 years and 'not cared deeply about anyone'
- R; At age 8/16 majority were attention seeking and had serious problems at school
- P; Groups interviews at age 4,8 and 18 - and compared with 'normal' children raised in their own homes
- P; By 4 years old, 24 adopted, 15 restored and the rest stayed in the institution
- C; Effects of institutionalisation can be reversed to an extent
- P; natural experiment, 65 American children below the age of 4 - suffered from privation
- Rutter et al - Romanian Orphanages
- Lack of having any attachments due to the failure to develop such attachments in early life
- Short term separation - distruption
- DAY CARE AND SOCIAL ATTACHMENT
- Day care = a form of temporary care that is not provided by parents and takes place outside the home
- Peer relationships = relationships with others of a similar age
- Studies
- NICHD
- P; 1000 children from diverse families - 10 different locations - parent/infant relationship observed at regular intervals
- R;Children in full-time daycare 3x more likely to have behaviour problems than those cared by the mother
- C; There is a link between daycare and aggressive behaviour
- P; 1000 children from diverse families - 10 different locations - parent/infant relationship observed at regular intervals
- EPPE
- P; 3000 children - collected background characteristics - ranging from private/authority daycare and home care
- R; Longer in daycare = more anti-social behaviour in school (rated by teachers)
- R; Good quality care reduces anti-social behaviour
- C; Higher quality provision in daycare can reduce but not eliminate negative impacts of seperation
- NICHD
- IMPLICATIONS OF RESEARCH FOR CHILDCARE PRACTICES
- Attachment research implications
- Quality of daycare
- Soho Family centre - programme based on attachment theory --> each child is ensured close emotional relationships
- Hospitals
- Longer / more frequent visiting hours
- Reduce effects from physical separation from the primary caregiver
- Adoption
- Babies are adopted within the first few weeks of birth
- Allows adoptive mother/infant secure attachment
- Parenting
- Encourages parents to respond sensitively to young children
- Encourages reduced separation and privation
- Quality of daycare
- Daycare research implications
- High quality
- Field - offer sensitive care to maximise positive peer relations and minimise negative behaviour
- Child-Staff ratio
- NICHD - low as 1;3 --> consistent high quality care to ALL children
- Minimal staff turnover
- Schaffer - care consistency
- Would cause anxiety associated with disruption when staff leave
- Qualified and experienced staff
- EPPE - The higher the qualifications of staff (particularly the manager) the better outcomes of child social development
- High quality
- Attachment research implications
- INTRODUCTION
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