Attachment

Precocial Animals: E.g. horses, born fairly advanced in terms of development so are able to walk and run soon after birth.

Atricial Animals: E.g. humans, born at an early stage of development so need to form attachment bonds with adults who will protect and nurture them.

Babies have meaninful social interactions from an early age with their carers.

These interactions ha e important functions for the child's social development, in particular for the development of caregiver-infant interaction.

From when they are born, babies and their mothers (or other carers) spend a large amount of time in intense and pleasurable interaction.

Babies have periodic 'alert phases' and signal that they are ready for interaction.

From around 3 months, this interaction tends to be fairly frequent and involves close attention to each other's verbal signals and facial expressions.

A key element of this interaction is reciprocity.

An interaction is reciprical when each person responds to the other and elicits a response from them.

Two people are said to be 'synchronised' when they carry out the same action simultaneously.

It takes place when a mother and infant interact in such a way that their actions and emotions mirror each other.

It is believed that interactional synchrony is important for the development of mother-infant interaction.

During interactional synchrony the carer and infant tend to mirror what the other is doing in terms of their facial and body movements.

However, in reciprocity, one person responds to the action of the other person with a similar action but these responses are not necessarily similar as they are in interactional synchrony

A limitation is that it is hard to know what is happening when observing infants

many studies into mother-infant interactions have shown the same patterns of behaviour.

However, what is being observed is merely hand movements or changes in expression.

It is difficult to be sure, based on these observations, what is taking place from the infant's perspective.

For example, is the infant's imitation of an adults signals conscious and deliberate?

This means that we cannot be certain that behaviours seen in mother-infant interactions have a special meaning.

The research uses well-controlled procedures

Mother-infant interactions are usually filmed, often from multiple angles.

Very fine details of behaviour can be recorded and analysed later.

In addition, babies do not know that they are being observed, so their behaviour does not change in response to observation.

This is a strength of this line of research because it means the studies have good validity.

Observations do not tell us the purpose of synchrony and reciprocity

Feldman (2012) points out that synchrony (and reciprocity) simply describe behaviours that occur at the same time.

These are robust phenomena in the snese that they can be reliably obseved, but this may not be particulary useful as it does not tell us their purpose.

However, there is some evidence that reciprocity and synchrony are helpful in the development of mother-infant attachment, stress responses, empathy, language and moral development.

Research into mother-infant interactions are socially sensitive

This is because it suggests that children may be disadvantaged by particular child-rearing practices.

Specifically, mothers who return to work shortly after a child is born restrict the opportunities for achieving interactional synchrony.

This suggests that mothers should not return to work so soon- this has obvious socially sensitive implications.

Attachment asks the important question of who infants become attached to.

Parent-infant attachment:

Traditionally we have thought in terms of mother-infant attachment.

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found that the majority of babies did become atatched to their mother first (around 7 months) and within a few weeks or months formed secondary attachments to other family members, including the father.

In only 3% of cases, the father was the first sole object of attachment.

In 27% of cases, the father was the joint first object of attachment with the mother.

In 75% of infants studied, an attachment was formed with the father by the age of 18 months

Grossman (2002) carried out a longitudinal study looking at both parents' behaviour and its relationship to the quality of children's attachments into their teens.

Quality of infant attachment with mothers but not fathers was related to children's attachments in adolescence, suggesting that father attachment was less important.

However, the quality of fathers play with infants was related to the quality of adolescent attachments.

This suggests that fathers have a different role in attachment- one that is more to do with play and stimulation, and less to do with nurturing.

There is some evidence is some evidence to suggest that when fathers do take on the role of being the main caregiver they adopt behaviours more typical of mothers.

Field (1978) filmed 4-month old babies and found that primary caregiver fathers, like mothers, spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than secondary caregiver fathers.

The key to attachment is therefore the level of responsiveness not the gender of the parent.

Evidence undermines the idea of fathers having distinct roles

Grossman (2002) found that fathers as secondary attachment figures had an important and distinct role in their children's development, involving play and stimulation.

Other studies found that children growing up in single or same sex parent families do not develop differently fom those in two-parent families.

This suggests that the father's role as a secondary attachment figure is not important.

Research fails to provide a clear answer about fathers and primary attachment

The answer could be related to traditional gender roles, in which women are expected to be more caring and nurturing than men.

Therefore, fathers simply do not feel like they should act in a nurturing way.

Alternatively, it could be that female hormones create higher levels of nurturing and therefore women are biologically predisposed to be primary attachment figures.

Social biases prevent objective observation

Preconceptions about how fatehrs behave are created by common discussions about mothers' and fathers' parenting behaviour.

These stereotyped may cause unintentional observer bias whereby observers 'see' what they expect rather than recording reality.

As such, conclusions on the role of the father in attachment are hard to disentangle from social biases about their role.

Research has important economic implications

Mothers feel pressured to stay at home because of research that says mothers are vital for healthy emotional development.

In some families, this may not be economically the best solution-for them or our society in general.

This research may be of comfort to mothers who feel they have to make hard choices about not returning to work.

Reciprocity- a description of how two people interact. Mother-infant interaction is reciprical in that both infant and mother respond to each other's signals and each elicts a response from the other.

Interactional Synchrony- mother and infant reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a coordinated/ synchronised way.

Various theorists have identified stages in the development of the attachemtns.

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) aimed to investigate the formation of early attachments, in particular the age at which they developed, their emotional intensity and to whom they were directed.

Method:

60 babies from Glasgow, most from working-class families.

Babies and their mothers were vivisted at home every month for a year and at 18 months.

The researchers asked the mothers questions about the kind of protest their babies showed in seven everyday separations, e.g. adult leaving the room (a measure of separation anxiety)

This was designed to measure the infant's attachment.
The researchers also assessed stranger anxiety- the infant's anxiety response to unfamiliar adults.

50% of babies showed separation anxiety towards a particular adult between 25 and 32 weeks of age.

This specific (primary) attachment was usually with the mother.

Attachments tended to be to the caregiver who was most interactive and sensitive to infant signals and facial expressions (i.e. reciprocity)

This was not necessarily the person the infant spent most time with.

Based on the information they gathered, Schaffer and Emerson proposed that attachments develop in four stages.

Asocial stage- occurs in the first few weeks
- baby's behaviour towards an inanimate objects and humans is quite similar
-some preference for familiar adults
-babies are also happier in the presence of other adults

Indiscriminate attachment- occurs between 2-7 months
- babies now display more observable social behaviour, with a preference for people rather than inanimate objects
- they recognise and prefer familiar adults
babies do not show stranger or separation anxiety
-attachment is indiscriminate becuase it's the same to all

Specific Attachment- from 7 months onwards
- stranger anxiety and separation anxiety when separated from one particular adult. Baby is said to have formed a specific attachment with the primary attachment figure
this is usually the person who offers the most interactions and who responds to the baby's 'signals' with the most skill (biological mother in 65% of cases)

Multiple attachments- by one year
-secondary attachments with other adults form
-29% of babies had secondary (multiple) attachments within a month of forming a primary (specific) attachment.
- by the age of one year the majority of infants had multiple secondary attachments

Schaffer and Emerson's study has external validity

Most of the observations (not stranger anxiety) were made by the parents during ordinary activities and reported to researchers.

Therefore, the behaviour of the babies was unlikely to be affected by the presence of observers.

It is highly likely that the participants behaved naturally while being observed.

The study was carried out longitudinally

This means that the same children were followed-up and observed regularly.

The quicker alternative would have been to observe different children at each age.

However, longitudinal studies have better internal validity because they do not have the confounding variable of individual differences between participants.

There may be a problem with how multiple attachments are assessed

Just because a baby gets distressed when an individual leave the room does not necessarily mean that the individual is a 'true' attachment figure.

Bowlby (1969) pointed out that children may be distressed when a playmate leaves the room, but this does not signify attachment to them.

So Schaffer and Emerson's view of stages does not distinguish between behaviour shown towards secondary attachment figures and towards playmates.

There is a problem in studying the asocial year

Schaffer and Emerson describe the first few weeks as the 'asocial' stage, although important interactions take place.

However, young babies have poor coordination and are fairly immobile, making it difficult to make judgements based on observations of their behaviour.

It may be the babies are actually quite social but because of flawed methods, they appear to be asocial.

At the same tiem as early attachment research was underway a number of important animal studies took place which had a profound effect on the developmet of our understanding of human attachment.

Such studies were often conducted on the basis that there was a biological similarity between humans and animals, so what was true for animals would also be true for humans.

These studies were also regarded as being more ethical than if performed on humans.

Procedure:
Lorenz (1952) randomly divided 12 goose eggs, half hatched with the mother goose in their natural environment and the other half hatched in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was Lorenz. 
He then mixed the groups together to see who they would follow.

Findings:
The incubator group followed Lorenz wheras the control group followed the mother goose.
This phenomenon is called imprinting- whereby bird species that are mobile from birth attach to and follow the first moving objectthat they see.
Lorenz identified a critical period in which imprinting need to take place.
Depending on the species this can be as breif as a few hours after hatching.
If imprinting does not occur within that time, Lorenz found that chicks did not attach themselves to a mother figure.

Sexual Imprinting:
Lorenz also investigated the relationship between imprinting and adult mate prefereces.
He found that birds that had imprinted on a human would later display courtship behaviour towards humans.

Harlow (1958) carried out the most important animal research in terms of informing our understanding of attachment. He studied rhesus monkeys, which are more similar to humans than Lorenz's birds.

The Importance of Contact Comfort

Harlow observed that newborns kept alone in a bare cage usually died but that they usually survived if given something soft like a cloth to cuddle.

1) Newborn Rhesus monkeys were separated from their mothers and raised in isolation cages.

2) Two types of surrogate mother were constructed- a harsh 'wire mother' and a soft 'towelling mother'. 16 baby monkeys were used, four in each of the following four conditions:

• a cage containing a wire mother producing milk and a towelling mother producing no milk.
• a cage containing a wire mother producing no milk and a towelling mother producing milk
• a cage containing a wire mother producing milk
• a cage containing a towelling mother producing milk

3) The amount of time spent with each mother, as well as feeding time was recorded

4) The monkeys were frightened with a loud noise to test for mother preference during stress

5) A larger cage was also used to test the monkeys' degree of exploration

• Monkeys preferred contact with the towelling mother when given a choice of surrogate mothers, regardless of whetehr she produced milk; they even stretched across to the wrire mother to feed while still clinging to the towelling mother.
• Monkeys with only a wire surrogate had diarrhoea, a sign of stress.
• When frightened by a loud noise, monkeys clung to the towelling mother in conditions where she was available.
• In the large cage conditions, monkey with towelling mothers explored more and visited their surrogate mother more often.

Rhesus monekys have an innnate, unlearned need for contact comfort, suggesting that attachment concerns emotional security more than food.

Contact comfort is associated with lower levels of stress and a willingness to explore, indicating emotional security.

Generalising findings and conclusions from animals to humans

The mammalian attachment system is quite different from that in birds. For example. mammalian mothers show more emotional atatchment to their young.

This means that it is not appropriate to generalise Lorez's ideas to humans.

Although monkey's are more similar to humans than Lorenz's geese, they are not humans.

Human babies develop speech-like communication ('babbling') which may influence the formation of attachments.

Psychologists disagree on the extent to which studies of non-human primates can be generalised to humans.

There is support for the concept of imprinting

GUiton (1966) found that chickens that imprinted on yellow washing-up gloves then tried to mate with them as adults.

This suggests that young animals are born with an innate mechanism to imprint on a moving object present in the critical window of development.

Some of Lorenz's observations and conclusions have been questioned

Guiton (1966) found that chickens that imprinted on yellow washing-up gloves tried to mate with them as adults but, with experience they learned to mate with their own kind.

This suggests that the effects of imprinting may not be as long lasting as Lorenz believed.

Harlow's research has important practical applications

It helped social workers understand risk factors in child abuse and so intervene to prevent it.

We also now understand the importance of atatchment figures for baby monkeys in zoos and breeding programmes in the wild.

The usefulness of Harlow's research increases its value.

Harlow face severe criticism for the ethics of his research

Rhesus monkeys are similar enough to humans for us to generalise the findings, which also means their suffering was presumably human-like.

Harlow himself was aware of the suffereing caused and he referred to the wire mothers as 'iron maidens', named after a medieval torture device.

The counter-argument is that Harlow's research was sufficiently important to justify the procedures.

Learning theory proposes that all behaviour, including attachment, is learned rather than being innate so that all behaviour is learned either through classical or operant conditioning.

Classical Conditioning:

In the case of attachment, food serves as an unconditioned stimulus. Being fed gives us pleasure- we do not have to learn that, it is just an unconditioned response.

A caregiver starts as a neutral stimulus- causing no response. When the same person provides the food overtime they become associated woth food so that when thebaby sees this person there is an expectation of food.

The neutral stimulus has become a conditioned stimulus.

Once conditioning has taken place, the caregiver produces a conditioned response of pleasure.

Operant conditioning:

Operant conditioning can explain why babies cry for comfort- an important behaviour in building attachment.

Crying leads to a response from the caregiver, for example, feeding. As long as the caregiver provides the correct response, crying is reinforced.

The reinforcement is a two-way process. At the same time as the baby is reinforced for crying, the caregiver receives negative reinforcement because the crying stops- escaping from something unpleasant is reinforcing.

This interplay of mutual reinforcement strengthens an attachment.

Animal studies provide evidence against food as the basis of attachement

Lorenz's imprinted geese maintained atatchments regardless of who fed them.

Harlow's monkeys attached to soft surrogate in preference to a wire one with milk,

In both these animal studies, attachment did not develop as a result of feeding.

The same must be true for humans (that food does not create the attachment bond) as learning theorists believe that non-human animals and humans are equivalent.

Human research also shows that feeding is not an important factor

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) showed that for many babies a primary attachment was not to the person who fed them.

This shows that feeding is not the key element to attachment and so there is no unconditioned stimulus involved.

The evidence siggests that other factors are more important than food in the formation of attachment.

The learning theory ignores other factors linked with attachment

Research shows that quality of attachment is associated with developing reciprocity and good levels of interactional synchrony.

Studies also showbthat the best quality attcahments are with sensitive carers who pick up on infant signals and respond appropriately,

It is very hard to reconcile these finding with the idea that attachment develops primarily through feeding.

Some elements of conditioning could still be involved

The main problem is the idea that feeding provides the unconditional stimulus or reinforcement.

However, many aspects of human development are affected by conditioning so it seems plausible that it could still play a role in attachment.

For example, associations between the primary caregiver and provision of comfort and social interaction could be part of what builds attachment.

Bowlby was heavily influenced by animal studies, including Harlow's research with monkeys and Lorenz's study of imprinting in goslings, which led him to reject the learning theory and propose an evolutionary explanation.

Attachment was an innate system that gave a survival advantage/imprinting and attachment evolved because they ensure that young animals stay close to their caregivers and this protects them from hazards.

Millions of years ago this might have been wild animals, today it is traffic and electricity.

Bowlby's theory is described as monotropic because he placed great emphasis on a child's attachment to one particular caregiver and he believed that the child's atatchment to this one caregiver is different and more important than others.

Bowlby believed that the more time the baby spent with this primary attachment figure the better.

He put forwards two principles to clarify this:

The Law of Continuity- states that the more constant and predictable a child's care, the better the quality of their attachment.

The Law of Accumulated Separation- states that the effects of every separation from the attachment figure add up 'and the safest dose is therefore a zero dose'

Bowlby suggeted that babies are born with a set of innate 'cute' behaviours (e.g. smiling, cooing, gripping) that encourage attention from adults.

He called these behaviours 'social releasers' because they were responsible for activating the adults atatchment system (i.e. making an adult feel love towards the baby)

The interplay between infant and adult attachment systems gradually builds the relationship between infant and caregiver, beginning in the early weeks of life.

Bowlby proposed that there is a critical period around two years when the infant attachment system is active.

He viewed it as more of a sensitive period whereby if an atatchment is not formed by the time the infant is two years old they will find it much harder to form one later.

Bowlby argued that the child forms a mental representation (internal working model) of the relationship with their primary attachment figure.

This internal working model serves as a 'template' for what relationships are like.

A child whose first experience is a loving relationship with a reliable caregiver will tend to form an expectation that all relationships are loving and reliable.

However, a child whose first relationship involves poor treatment may expect such treatment from others.

The internal working model may also affect the child's later ability to be a parent themselves.

Evidence for monotropy is mixed

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found that most babies did attach to one person at first, but a significant minority formed multiple attachments at the same time.

This contradicts Bowlby's assertion that babies form one attachment to a primary caregiver and that this attachment is unique.

There is clear evidence to support the existance and value of social releasers

Brazleton et al. (1975) instructed primary attachment figures to ignore their babies' social releasers.

Babies initially showed some distress, but eventually curled up and lay motionless.

This supports Bowlby's ideas about the significance of infant social behaviour eliciting caregiving from adults and role of releasers in initiating social interaction.

There is support for the internal working model

The idea of the internal working model predicts that patterns of attachment will be passed from one generation to the next.

Bailey (2007) studied 99 mothers; those with poor attachment to own parent were more likely to have one-year-olds who were poorly attached.

This supports Bowlby's idea of an internal working model of attachment as it is being passed through families.

Monotropy is socially sensitive because of implications for mother's lifestyle

The law of accumulated separtion states that having substantial time apart from primary attachment figure risks a poor quality attachment that will disadvantage the child in a range of ways.

Feminists argue that mothers are blamed for anything that goes wrong in a child's life and pushes mothers into making lifestyle choices, e.g. not returning to work when a child is born.

However, this was not Bowlby's intention, he saw himself as boosting the status of mothers by emphasising the importance of their role.