Attachment

Recipocity - responding with a similar action

Jaffe et al - coordination of actions in a conversation

Brazelton - important for future communications and attachments

Meltzoof and Moore - 3 behaviours showed associations

Piaget suggested imitation was due to encouragement

Evaluations

• Problems with testing infants
• Questions into whether the behaviour is intentional (inanimate objects)
• Individual differences

Schaffer and Emerson - 60 infants in Glassgow (65% to mother 25% to father)

Stages - Indiscriminate Attachments, Beginnings of Attachments, Discriminate Attachments and Multiple Attachments

Role of the Father - secondary attachmet

Secondary Attachment Roles - playful etc

Evaluation

• Stages are inflexible
• Are multiple attachments equal?
• Biased study

Lorenzo -gosling eggs showing imprinting is long lasting and irreversible

Evaluation

• Research is study by chicks
• Imprinting may be reversible

Harlow - wire monkey mothers suggesting it is more to do with contact and comfort

Evaluation

• Two stimuli mothers differed in multiple ways
• Ethical problems
• Cannot be generalised

Behaviours are down to learning rather than an innate drive

Operant conditioning - learning through reinforcement

Classical conditioning - learning through association

Social Learning Theory - learning through imitation

Evaluation

• Based on studies with animals (mental activity)
• Suggests the main attachment is down to food
• Doesn't provide a complete explanation (responsiveness)

Monotropy - one bond

Critical Period and Social Realesers - 3- 6 months and having a baby face

Internal Working Model - template for future relationships

Continuity Hypothesis- infants more securely attached are more trusting adults

Evaluation

• Attachments are less important for survival
• Critical period may be too harsh
• Multiple attachments do serve some function

8 Episodes and 4 behaviours were measured

66% were secure

22% were avoidant

12% were resistant

Evaluation

• May be a fourth attachment type
• Low internal validity (quality)
• Real world applications (intervention)

Van IJenzendoorn & Kroonenburg - analysed 32 attachment studies

Found a secure attachment was the most common

Cultural differences - Japan and Germany

Similarities - African Tribes

Evaluation

• Universal similarities
• Compared countries not cultures
• Issue with the tool used

Value of Maternal Care - need intimate and continuous care to ensure normal mental health

Critical Period - frequent separation here could lead to them being emotionally disturbed

Long-term Consequences - was emotional maladjustment or mental health problems

44 Juvenile Thieves

Evaluation

• Not only down to physical separations
• Maternal deprivation doesn't always have negative consequences
• Real world applications in hospitals

Rutter et al - 165 Romanian Orphans (111 adopted before 2 and 54 before 4)

Found they caught up after 4 years  but those adopted after 6 months showed disinhibited attachments

Canada study - recovered by the age of 10 1/2

Effects - physically underdeveloped, disinhibited attachments, poor parenting (Quinton)

Evaluation

• Not true that individuals have to form an attachment in the critical period (given some form of attachment in a institution)
• Real world applications (adoption)
• Importance of longitudinal studies

Hazen and Shaver - Love Quiz (620 responses)

Found 56% secure

Found 25% avoidant

Found 19% resistant

Behaviour influenced by the Internal Working Model - Childhood relationships, poor parenting, romantic relationships and mental health

Evaluation

• Links together the internal working model and childhood attachment types
• Relies on retrospective classification
• Suggests early experiences have a fixed effect on later life (not always true)