attacgment

INTERACTIONS.

babies have important and frequent interactions with their caregiver.

RECIPROCITY.

mothers respond to infant alertness.

from 3 months close attention between mother and infant.

INTERACTIONAL SYNCHRONY.

interactions become co-ordinated.

isabella et al, quality of attachment related to synchroncy.

HARD TO KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING.

observes simple gesture and expression, and assume infant's expressions.

CONTROLLED OBSERVATION

capture fine details of interaction.

PURPOSE OF SYNCHRONCY AND REPROCIRTY.

feldman. just observations, purpose- not entirely understood.

PARENT-INFANT

traditionally mother-child, other attachment figures like the father may also be important

THE ROLE OFTHE FATHER

grossman et al. attachment to father less important but fathers may have a differnet role- play and stimulation

FATHERS AS PRIMARY CARERS.

field. fathers as primary care givers adopt attachment behaviour more typical of mothers.

INCONSISTENT FINDINGS

differnet research questions overall picture unclear

CHILDREN WITHOUT FATHERS ARENT DIFFERENT

suggests the father role is not important

FATHERS NOT PRIMARY ATTACHMENT

may be due to traditional gender roles or biological differences.

EXTRA

socially sensitive research; working mothers

AIMS

to investigate the age of attachment formation and who attachments are formed with

METHOD

mothers of 60 glasgow babies reported monthly on seperation anxiety

FINDINGS

most babies showed attachment to a primary caregiver by 32 weeks and developed multiple attachments soon after this.

GOOD EXTERNAL VALIDITY

observations were in ppts natural environment

LONGITUDINAL DESIGN

same ppts were observed at each age, eliminating individual differences as a confound

LIMITED SAMPLE CHARACTERISTICS

all families were from the same area and over 50 years ago, may lack generalisability

ASOCIAL STAGE

little observable social behaviour

INDISCRIMINATE ATTACHMENT

more observable attachment behaviour, accept cuddles from any adult

SPECIFIC ATTACHMENTS

stranger anxiety and seperation anxiety in regard to one particular adult

MULTIPLE ATTACHMENTS

attachment behaviour directed towards more than one adult (secondary attachments)

ASOCIAL STAGE

social behaviour is hard to observe in the first few weeks but this doesnt mean the baby is 'asocial'

COFLICTING EVIDENCE

van Uzendoorn et al. research in different contexts has found mulitple attachments may appear first

MEASURING MULTIPLE ATTACHMENTS

just because a child protests when an adult leaves does not necessarily mean attachment

EXTRA

schaffer and emerson used limited measures of attachment

RESEARCH

PROCEUDRE

goslings saw lorenz when they hatched

FINDINGS

newly hatched chicks attach to the first moving object they see (imprinting)

SEXUAL IMPRINTING

adult birds try to mate with whatever species or object they imprint on

EVALUATION

GENERALISABILITY

birds and mammals have different attachment systems so lorenz's resukts may not be relevant to humans

SOME OBSERVATIONS QUESTIONED

guiton et al. birds imprinting on rubber gloves did later prefer their own species.

PROCEDURE

baby monkeys given cloth or wire mother with feeding bottle attached

FINDINGS

monkeys clung to cloth surrogate rather than wire one, regardless of which dispensed milk

MATERNALLY DEPRIVED MONKEYS

grew up socially disfunctional

THE CRITICAL PERIOD

after 90 days attachments wouldnt form

THEORETICAL VALUE

demonstrated that attachment depends more on contact comfort than feeding

PRACTICAL VALUE

howe. informs understanding of risk factors for child abuse

ETHICAL ISSUES

suffering of monkeys would be human-like

EXTRA

can they be applied to humans?

MONOTROPY

one particular attachment is different in quality and importance than others.

SOCIAL RELEASERS AND THE CRITICAL PERIOD

innate cute behaviours in the first two years

INTERNAL WORKING MODEL

mental representations of the primary attachment relatinships are templates for future relationships

MIXED EVIDENCE FOR MONOTROPY

some babies form multiple attachments without a primary attachment

suess et al. other attachments may contribute as much as primary one

SUPPORT FOR SOCIAL RELEASERs

brazleton et al. when social releasers ignored babies were upset

SUPPORT FOR INTERNAL WORKING MODEL

baiely et al. quality of attachment is passed on through generations in families

EXTRA

monotropy is socially sensitive idea

temperament may be as important as attachment

PROCEDURE

7

FINDINGS

TYPE OF ATTACHMENT 

PROCEDURE

7-stage controlled observation

assessed proximity seeking, exploration and secure base, stranger and separation anxiety, reponse to reunion

FINDINGS

infants showed consistent patterns of attachment behaviour

TYPE OF ATTACHMENT 

secure: enthusiastic greeting, generally content

avoidant: avoids reunion, generally reduced responses

resistant: resists reunion, generally more distressed

KEY STUDY: VAN LJZENDOORN

compared rates of attachment type in 8 countries

found more variation wthin than between countries

OTHER STUDIES

simonella et al. italian attachment rates have changed, may be due to changing practices

jin et al. korean attachment rates similar to japan, could be due to similar child-rearing styles

CONCLUSIONS

it appears that attachment is innate and universal and secure attachment is the norm.

however cultural practices affect rates of attachment types.

LARGE SAMPLES

reduce the impact of anomalous results so improve internal validity

SAMPLES UNREPRESENTATIVE OF CULTURE

countries do not equate to cultures nor to culturally specific methods of child rearing so cant make generalisations

METHOD OF A**E**MENT IS BIASED

research using the strange situation imposes a USA test on other cultures (imposed etic)

EXTRA

alternative explanation for similarity

the ** lacks validity

SEPERATION VS DEPRIVATION

physical seperation only leads to deprivation when the child loses emoitional care

CRITIAL PERIOD

the first 30 months are critical and deprivation in that time causes damage

EFFECTS ON DEVELOPMENT

goldfarb. deprivation causes low IQ

bowlby. emotional development, e.g the affectionless psychopathy

44 THEIVES STUDY (BOWLBY)

many more affectionless psychopaths than controls hada a prolonged seperation

EVIDENCE MAY BE POOR

orphans may have experienced other traumas.

bowlby may have been a biased observer

COUNTER-EVIDENCE

lewis. sample of 500,no link between early seperation and later criminality

A SENSITIVE PERIOD

bowlby exaggerated the impotance of the critical period

EXTRA

animal studies show effects of maternal deprivation on social development

failure to distinguish deprivation from privation

RUTTERS ERA STUDY

165 orphans adopted in britain

some of those adopted later show low IQ and disinhibited attachment.

BUCHAREST EARLY INTERVENTION PROJECT

ranodm allocation to institional care or fostering 

secure attachment in 19% of institutional group versus 74% of controls

EFFECTS OF INSTITUTIONALISATION

disinhibited attachment and delay in intellectual development id institutionalism is prolonged

REAL-LIFE APPLICATION

both institutional care and adoption practice have been improved using lessons from Romanian orphanages

FEWER EXTRANIOUS VARIABLES

Romanian orphans had fewer negative influences before institutionalisation than e.g. war orphans

ROMANIAN ORPHANAGES NOT TYPICAL

conditions were so bad that results may not generalise to better institutions

EXTRA

ethical issues, especially Bucharest early intervention project

practical applications to adoption and institutional care practice

INTERNAL WORKING MODEL

bowlbys idea that the primary attachment relationship provides a template for later relationships

RELATIONSHIPS IN LATER CHILDHOOD

kerns. securley attached children have better friendships

myron-wilson and smith. securely attached children less like to be involved in bullying

RELATIONSHIPS WITH ROMANTIC PARTNERS

mccarthy. securley attached adults have better relationships with friends and partners 

hazan and shaver. secure responders had better and longer relationships, avoidant responsers had fear of intamacy

PARENTAL RELATIONSHIPS

bailey et al. mothers attachment type matched that of their childs

EVIDENCE IS MIXED

zimmerman et al. found little relationship between quality of attachment and later attachment

LOW VALIDITY

most studies assess infant attachment by retrospective self report which lacks validity

ASSOCIATION DOES NOT MEAN CAUSALITY

a third factor like temperment might affect both infant attachment and later relationships

EXTRA

the influence of attachment is probablistic

self report is concious but working models are not