Attachment Research

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Caregiver-Infant Interactions

  • Melzoff & Moore (1977) found that infants aged 2-3 weeks tended to minimise adults’ specific facial expressions and hand movements, supporting the idea that infant mimicry is an intimate ability to aid the formation of attachments, especially as it was subsequently seen in infants of less than 3 days old. (Reciprocity)
  • Condon & Sander (1974) analysed frame-by-frame video recordings of infants’ movements to find they co-ordinated their actions in sequence with adults’ speech to form a kind of turn-taking conversation, supporting the idea of interactional synchrony.
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Multiple Attachment

  • Carpenter (1975) presented infants with familiar and unfamiliar voices and faces. Sometimes face and voice would be of the same person and sometimes not. He found that two-week-old babies looked at a face longest when it was the mothers accompanied by her voice and were distressed by the sight of her face accompnaied by a different voice. This suggests that babies can recognise and are attached to their mothers from an early age, contradicting Schaffer and Emerson's belief that initially babies were attracted to any person interacting with them.
  • Schaffer and Emerson 
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Multiple Attachment

  • Carpenter (1975) presented infants with familiar and unfamiliar voices and faces. Sometimes face and voice would be of the same person and sometimes not. He found that two-week-old babies looked at a face longest when it was the mothers accompanied by her voice and were distressed by the sight of her face accompnaied by a different voice. This suggests that babies can recognise and are attached to their mothers from an early age, contradicting Schaffer and Emerson's belief that initially babies were attracted to any person interacting with them.
  • Schaffer and Emerson 
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The Role of the Father

  • Geiger (1996) showed that fathers’ play interactions are more exciting and pleasurable than mothers’, while mothers are more nurturing and affectionate, which supports the idea of fathers being playmates rather than caregivers. 
  • Belsky et al (2009) found that high levels of marital intimacy were related to secure father-infant attachments, and that low levels of marital intimacy were related to insecure father-child attachments. This supports the idea that the closeness of relationships between fathers and partners affects the type of attachment a father has with his children. 
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Learning Theory (Explanations of Attachment)

  • Dollard & Miller (1950) argued that in their first year, babies are fed 2000 times, generally by their main carer, which creates ample opportunity for the carer to become associated with the removal of the unpleasant feeling of hunger, a form of negative reinforcement. This gives support to the idea that attachments are learned through operant conditioning.
  • Schaffer & Emerson (1964) found that in 39% of cases, the mother (usually the main carer) was not the baby’s main attachment figure, suggesting that feeding is not the primary explanation of attachment. This goes against learning theory. 
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Bowlby's Monotropic Theory

  • Rutter (1981) found that mothers are not special in the way Bowlby believed. Infants display a range of attachment behaviours towards attachment figures other than their mothers and there is no particular attachment behaviour used specifically and exclusively towards mothers, which lessens support for Bowlby’s theory. 
  • Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found that multiple attachments are the norm, which goes against Bowlby’s idea of monotropy, as does the fact that 39% of children had their main attachment to someone other than their main carer. 
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Cultural Variations

  • Grossmann & Grossmann (1991) found that German infants tended to be classified as insecurely attached. This may be due to different child-rearing practices, as German culture requires ‘distance’ between parents and children. This indicates that there are cross-cultural variations in attachment. 
  • Simonella et al (2014) conducted a study in Italy to see whether the proportions of babies of different attachment types still matches those found in previous studies. The researchers assessed 76 12-moth olds using the Strange Situation. They found 50% were secure, with 36% insecure-avoidant. This is a lower rate of secure attachment than has been found in many studies. The researchers suggest this is because increasing numbers of mothers of very young children work long hours and use professional childcare. These findings suggest that cultural changes can make a dramatic difference to pattern of secure and insecure attachment. 
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Romanian Orphan Studies

  • Goldfarb (1943) compared fifteen children raised in social isolation in institutions from 6 months of age until 3.5 years of age with fifteen children who went straight from their natural mothers to foster homes. At age 3, the socially isolated children lagged behind the foster children on measures of abstract thinking, social maturity, rule following and sociability. Between the ages of 10 and 14 years, they continued to perform poorly, with an average IQ of 72 compared to the fostered children’s IQ of 95.  
  • O’Connor et al (1999) reported that the most enduring negative effects were difficulties making attachments, with many orphans displaying ‘indiscriminate friendliness’ (when children interact with strangers in the same way they would with a primary caregiver). These effects appear to be positively correlated with the length of time children were institutionalised. 
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Influence of Early Attachment

  • Wood et al (2003) believes that the quality of relationships results from the interaction of two peoples’ attachment styles. Therefore, insecurely attached people can have secure relationships if they are in relationships with securely attached people.
  • Hazan and Shaver (1987) conducted a classic study of the association between attachment and adult relationships. They analysed 620 replies to a ‘love quiz’ printed in an American local newspaper. The quiz had three sections. The first assessed respondents’ current or most important relationship. The second part assessed general love experiences such as number of partners. The third section assessed attachment type by asking respondents to choose which of three statements best descried their feelings. 56% of respondents were identified as securely attached with 25% insecure-avoidant and 19% insecure-resistant. Those reporting secure attachments were the most likely to have good and longer lasting romantic experiences. The avoidant respondents tended to reveal jealousy and fear of intimacy. These findings suggest that patterns of attachment behaviour are reflected in romantic relationships. 
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