Attachment

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  • 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
      • Bowlby's evolutionary 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
      • 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
    • 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
      • 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
      • 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
          • 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
            • C; Effects of institutionalisation can be reversed to an extent
    • 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
        • 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
    • 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
      • 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

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