Attachment

?

Caregiver-infant interactions

Attachment - an emotional bond between two people. It is a two-way process that endures over time. It leads to certain behaviours such as clinging and proximity-seeking, and serves the function of protecting an infant.

Caregiver - any person who is providing care for a child, such as a parent, grandparent, sibling, other family membe, childminder and so on.

Reciprocity - repsonding to the action of another with a similar action, where the actions of one partner elicit a response from the other partner. 

Interactional synchrony - when two people interact, they tend to mirror what the other is doing in terms of their facial and body movements. This includes imitating emotions as well as behaviours. This is described as a synchrony - when two or more things move in the same pattern.

1 of 33

Meltzoff & Moore (1977)

They selected 4 different stimuli - 3 different faces & a hand gesture and observed the infants' repsonses.

An observer watched videotapes of the infant's behaviour in real time. The video was then watched by independent observers who had no knowledge of what the infant had just done.

They made notes on:

  • Mouth opening - abrupt jaw drop opening the mouth across entire extent of lips.
  • Termination of mouth opening - return of lips to their closed resting position.
  • Tongue protrusion - clear forward that thrust of tongue such that the tongue top crossed the back edge of the lower lip.
  • Termination of tongue protrusion - retraction of tip of tongue behind the back edge of the lower lip.

Each observer scored the tapes twice so that both intra-observer and inter-observer reliability could be calculated. All scores were greater than 92.

They proposed that this imitation is intentional.

2 of 33

Evaluation of caregiver-infant interactions

- Problems with testing infant behaviour - there is reason to have some doubt about the findings of research on the facing page because of the difficulties in reliably testing infant behaviour. It is difficult to distinguish between general activity and specific imitated behaviours. They are unpredictable.

- Failure to replicate - Marian (1996) replicated the study by Murray & Trevarthen and found that infants couldn't distinguish live from videotaped interactions with their mothers. This suggests that the infants are actually not responding to the adult. Marian acknowledged that the problem may lie within procedure rather than ability of infants to imitate their caregivers.

- Individual differences - there is some variation between infants. Isabella (1989) found that more strongly attached infant-caregiver pairs showed greater interactional synchrony.

3 of 33

Stages of attachment

Stage 1: indiscriminate attachments: from birth until about 2 months, infants produce similar responses to all objects, whether they are animate or inanimate. At the end of 2 months, infants begin to show a greater preference for social stimuli and to be more content when they are with people. Reciprocity & interactional synchrony play a role in establishing their relationships.

Stage 2: beginnings of attachments: at 4 months old, infants become more social. They prefer human company to inanimate objects & can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people. Still relatively comforted by anyone, and do not yet show anxiety with strangers. General sociability.

Stage 3: discriminate attachments: 7 months old - begin to show a distinctly different sort of protest when one particular person puts them down (separation anxiety). They show joy at reunion with that person & comforted by them. Formed a specific attachment (primary attachment figure).

Stage 4: multiple attachments: 9 months old - soon after the main attachment is formed, the infant also develops a wider circle of multiple attachments depending on how many consistent relationships they have.

4 of 33

Stages of attachment

Multiple attachments - having more than one attachment figure.

Primary attachment figure - the person who has formed the closest bond with a child, demonstrated by the intensity of the relationship.

Separation anxiety - the distress shown by an infant when separated from the caregiver.

Stranger anxiety - the distress shown by an infant when approached or picked up by soeone who is unfamiliar.

5 of 33

Evaluation of stages of attachment

+ Ecological validity & mundane realism - the infants were monitored in their own homes, making their behaviour more natural than if observations were done in a lab.

- Subjective bias - due to the nature of the data collection by observation and self-report, it is possible that some element of subjective bias affected the data.

- Individual differences - although the data broadly supported the stages of attachment, there were large individual differences in the timing, as some infants developed them earlier than others.

6 of 33

The role of the father

Cultural factors - until recently, men were expected to be breadwinners and not to have direct involvement in their children's care.

Economic factors - it is said that men work more and earn more money than women.

Social policies - in the UK, until recently, fathers were not given any or very little paternal leave so the responsibility for child care was implicitly given to the mothers.

What rights do fathers have? Choosing the name; paternity leave; parental responsibility if married to the mother and/or on the birth certificate; give consent to medical treatment; choosing their education; choosing their religion.

Biological factors - men seem to lackthe emotional sensitivity to infant cues that women offer spontaneously.

7 of 33

Evaluation of the role of the father

+ Geiger (1996) - suggests that fatehrs serve a different purpose in the development of the child than mothers do, suggesting that fathers are more likely to be playmates and engage in stimulating activity.

- Lack of father - has been shown to lead to negative outcomes such as higher risk-taking behaviour and aggression.

8 of 33

Animal study: Lorenz (1935)

Procedure: took a clutch of gosling eggs and divided them into two groups. One group was left with their natural mother while the other eggs were placed in an incubator. When the incubator eggs hatched, the first living thing seen wasLorenz and they soon started following him round. To test this effect of imprinting, Lorenz marked the two groups to distinguish them and placed them together; they he become imprinted on him. Both Lorenz and mother were present.

Findings: the goslings quickly divided themselves up, one following their natural mother and the other group following Lorenz. Lorenz's group showed no recognition of their natural mother. Imprinting is restricted to a very definite period of the young animal's life - critical period. If a young animal is not exposed, they do not imprint. Animals imprint when persistently moving objects.

Conclusions: long-lasting effects - The process is irreversible and long lasting.

9 of 33

Evaluation of Lorenz

+ Evidence - the study provides evidence of pre-programming in animals needed for survival.

- Jumping to humans - from geese to humans is a big jump so it is more complex.

10 of 33

Animal study: Harlow (1959)

Procedure: created two wire mothers, each with a different 'head's. One wire mother additionally was wrapped in soft cloth. 8 infant rhesus monkeys were studied fora period of 165 days. For 4 of the monkeys, the milk bottle was on the cloth-covered mother and on the plain wire 'mother' for the other 4 monkeys. During that time, measurements were made of the amount of time each infant spent with the 2 different 'mothers'. Observations were also made of the monkey infant's responses when frightened by, for example, a mechanical teddy bear.

Findings: all 8 spent most of their time with the cloth-covered monkey. The 4 who were fed soon returned to the cloth-covered mother. When frightened, clung to the cloth-covered monkey and when playing 1 foot on the cloth-covered mother for reassurance.

Conclusions: infants do not develop an attachment to the person whofeeds them, but to the personoffering contact comfort.

11 of 33

Evaluation of Harlow

+ Human studies - found that attachments is based on comfort and care, not on feeding and this is mirrored in human studies.

- Ethics - deliberately frightening the monkeys is unethical.

- Ethics - they were motherless so they abnormally grew up which caused sexual abnormalities.

12 of 33

Learning theory of attachment

The learning theory argues that we are orn as a blank slate. Therefore, the theory states that attachments are no more than a set of learned behaviours.

Classical conditioning - learning through association.

Operant conditioning - learning through consequences.

Positive reinforcement - when a behaviour results in the addition of something pleasant.

Negative reinforcement - when a behaviour results in the subtraction of something unpleasant.

Punishment - receiving something unpleaant after a behaviour or having something pleasant taken off you.

13 of 33

Evaluation of the learning theory

+ Support - operant conditioning has strong theoretical support as it has been demonstrated many times experimentally on animals, e.g. Pavlov.

- Schaffer and Emerson - show infants have multiple attachments where they form attachments to people who do not feed them, casting doubt on the theory.

- Reductionist - the theories offer simple explanations for complex behaviour. This makes them reductionist as they ignore many aspects of attachment such as the existence of different types.

14 of 33

Social learning theory

Suggests that children learn by copying role models.

Bandura: group of children. Adult either strokes the bobo doll and some beat it as the children are in the room. Taken to a 2nd room, by a stranger, and it has new toys but they can't play with them. They then o to a 3rd room with the same bobo doll. They are left alone with it and they repeat what hey saw in the1st room.

15 of 33

Darwin's theory of evolution

How does it explain attachment?

  • Attachment between infant and caregiver is a prime example of a behaviour pattern that is rooted in biology and evolution.
  • Attachment behaviour has become programmed into human beings, and is found to operate similarly in almost all cultures.
  • The  purpose and function of attachment is the same regardless of ethnic or cultural differences: to keep the baby close to the caregiver for safety and protection; to allow the child to explore and learn within a safe context and to develop a loving and reciprocal relationship which can be passed on through generations.
16 of 33

Bowlby's monotropic theory

Principles:

  • Adaptive and innate.
  • Monotropy.
  • Sensitive period.
  • Social releases.
  • Secure base.
  • Internal working model.
  • Continuity hypothesis.
  • Maternal deprivation hypothesis.
17 of 33

Summary of Bowlby's monotropic theory

Critical period: babies have an innate drive to become attached. Innate behaviours have a critical period. Babies who don't have this opportunity, struggle to develop attachments later on.

Bowlby proposed that attachment is determined by sensitivity; influenced by Ainsworth: strongly attached = responsible, cooperative and accessible mothers. 

Social releasers ensure attachments develop from parent to infant. They are innate mechanisms that explain how attachments to infants are formed.

Monotropy: one special bond - primary attachment.

18 of 33

Evaluation of Bowlby's monotropic theory

+ Support - there is Support for the continuity hypothesis from Hazan and Shaver. They found a correlation between type of infant attachment and adult attachments, consistent with the internal working model.

- Schaffer and Emerson - the concept of a monotropic relationship is challenged by studies that show multiple attachments between infants and caregivers.

19 of 33

Ainsworth's strange situation

Separation anxiety - how they react when they are separated with their mother.

Stranger anxiety - how they react when they are with a stranger.

Reunion behaviour - how they react when they are reunited with their mother.

Type B - secure - 66%:

  • Mother present - child feels secure.
  • Mother leaves - easily comforted by stranger.
  • Stranger enters - little stranger anxiety. 
  • Mother returns - seek attention from mother.
20 of 33

Ainsworth's strange situation

Type A - insecure avoidant - 22%:

  • Mother present: no interaction.
  • Mother leaves: no change.
  • Stranger enters: anxious in general.
  • Mother returns: forbids contact from mother.

Type C - insecure resistant - 12%:

  • Mother present: don't explore.
  • Mother leaves: distressed.
  • Stranger enters: distressed.
  • Mother returns: conflicting desires.
21 of 33

Evaluation of Ainsworth's strange situation

+ Reliable - Ainsworth found almost perfect agreement when rating exploratory behaviour. They found .94 agreement between raters.

+ Real-world application - research can be used to improve children's lives.

- Unethical - infant's  were distressed when separated and with a stranger.

22 of 33

Cultural variations in attachments

Cultural variations - the ways that different groups of people vary in terms of their social practices, and the effects these practices have on development and behaviour.

Culture - the rules, customs, morals and ways of interacting that bind together members of a society or some other collection of people.

Individualist culture (western) - value interdependence and the importance of the individual.

Collectivist culture (eastern) - emphasising the importance of the group or collective.

23 of 33

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988)

Procedure: meta-analysis of the findings from 32 studies. 2,000 Strange Situation classifications in 8 countries. Wanted to see whether there would be evidence that inter-cultural differences did exist. They were also interested to find out whether there were intra-cultural differences - differences in the findings from studies conducted within the same culture.

Findings: the differences were small. Secure attachment was the most common in each country. Insecure-avoidant was next in all but Israel & Japan. With reference to variation within cultures, they found that this was 1.5 times greater than the variation between cultures.

Conclusions: the global pattern across cultures appears to be similar to that found in the US. Secure attachment is the most common. Social and emotional are 'best' for healthy development. These cultural similarities support the view that attachment is an innate and biological process.

24 of 33

Evaluation of cultural variations

+ Useful - learn something; supporting studies (Ainsworth).

- Ethics - distress shown by infants when separated/with a stranger.

- Over-generalisation - compared different countries, but over-generalising as one country can have lots of different cultures.

25 of 33

Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation

"Mother love in infancy is just as important for a child's mental health, as vitamins and minerals are for physical health" Bowlby, 1953.

Value of maternal care: infants and children needed a warm, intimate and continuous relationship with a mother figure to ensure continuing normal health. 

Critical period: only applies to a critical period development - separation will only have this effect if this happens before the age of about 2.5 and if there is no substitute mother-person available.

Long-term consequences: emotional maladjustment or even mental health problems such as depression.

26 of 33

Bowlby's maternal deprivation theory (1944)

Procedure: analysed case histories of patients in the Child Guidance Clinic in London where he worked. They were emotionally maladjusted. 88 children - 44 were 'thieves' as they were caught stealing; the other half were a control group. He suggested that some of the 'thieves' were affectionless psychopaths as they lacked normal signs of affection, shame or sense of responsibility. They could steal from others because it didn't matter to them.

Findings: diagnosed as affectionless had frequent separations. 86% of these had frequent separations compared with 17% who hadn't. Almost none of the group had had early separations whereas 39% of the thieves had. Due to foster homes & hospitals and rarely visited by parents/family.

Conclusions: lack of continuous care may will cause emotional maladjustment or even mental disorder.

27 of 33

Evaluation of Bowlby's maternal deprivation theory

+ Useful - changed childcare, changed procedures in hospitals, major social change.

- Generalisation - it's only in London. 

- Psychological - only on those who have experienced physical deprivation; can be psychological.

- Individual differences - not every child acts in the same way.

28 of 33

Effects of institutionalisation

Institution - a place where people live for a period of time, like an orphanage.

Main effects:

  • Physical underdevelopment - physical small. Research - lack of emotional care rather than poor nourishment is the cause of what has been called deprivation dwarfism.
  • Intellectual attachment - cognitive development is also affected by emotional deprivation.
  • Disinhibited attachment - form of insecure attachment where children do not discriminate between people they choose as attachment figures. Treat near strangers with inappropriate familiarity & attention seeking.
  • Poor parenting - Harlow: monkeys raised with surrogate mothers became poor parents. Quinton: compared women from institutions with a control group. They experienced extreme parenting difficulties.
29 of 33

Rutter & Sonuga-Barke (2010)

Procedure: 165 Romanian children who spent their childhood in Romanian institutions. 111 were adopted by 2 and 54 by 4. Tested at regular ntervals to assess their physical, cognitive and social development. Interviews with teachers & parents. Their progress has been compared to a control group of 52 British children adopted in the UK before the age of 6 months.

Findings: at the time of adoption, they were behind on all measures and classed as mentally retarded, smaller & weighed less. Some had caught up by the age of 4. Follow-ups confirm that significant deficits remain behind. They showed disinhibited attachments and had problems with peer relationships.

Conclusions: suggest that long-term consequences may be less severe than was once thought if children have the opportunity to form attachments. However, when children do not form attachments, the consequences are likely to be severe. 

30 of 33

Evaluation of effects of institutionalisation

+ Useful - supports Bowlby'scritical period theory.

+ Longitudinal study - mix of method, planning, qualitative and quantitative data.

- Individual differences - not all children will be affected in the same way.

31 of 33

The love quiz

Hazan & Shaver (1987):

Procedure: 620 people answered a love quiz published in a local newspaper in the USA. The questionnaire was designed to establish the type of attachment people had with their parents and then the types of relationships as adults. The researchers analysed the data to classify past and future relationships into different attachment types. 

Findings: people classed as insecure-avoidant in childhood were most likely to doubt that love would last. Those classed as insecure-resistant were particularly vulnerable to being lonely.

Conclusions: the continuity hypothesis is supported as there was a correlation between early attachment type and adult relationship.

32 of 33

Evaluation of the love quiz

- Lack generalisability - the sample was self-selected and 2/3 female, meaning they may be unrepresentative.

+ Consistent findings - the research is consistent with Harlow's findings that the adult monkeys could not easily form normal relationships, including with their own babies. Human research conducted by Quinton found that mothers who lacked a secure attachment in their childhood also tended to lack one with their own children.

33 of 33

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar Psychology resources:

See all Psychology resources »See all Attachment resources »