Attachment

Caregiver infant interaction-Reciprocity

from birth babies+mothers spend a lot of time in intense+pleasurable interaction.babies have alert phases+signal that ready for interaction-mothers respond around 2/3 of time.

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Reciprocity-what happens at around 3 months

interaction more frequent+involves close attention to each others verbal signals+facial expressions.key element-reprocity-both ways-respon. baby takes active role,both M+child can initiate interaction+take turns Brazelton described this as 'dance'

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Caregiver Infant Interaction-Interactional synchrony

as early as 2 weeks-when M+infant interaction actions+emotions mirror each other-such as face expressions.important for development M-infant attachment-Isabellaetal found high levels synchrony -associated better quality attachment

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Caregiver Infant Intercation-Evaluation-hard know what happening when observing infants

many studies involving observation of interaction shown same patterns-it is difficult to be certain what is taking place from infants perspective -means cant really if behaviours seen in M-Infant interacton have special meaning

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Caregiver Infant Intercation-Evaluation-Controlled observations capture fine detail

observations of m-infant interaction are well controled procedures,m+infant often filmed diff angles-ensures details can be recorded+analysed +babies dont know observed-cant respond demand characterisitcs-means research has good validity

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Caregiver Infant Interaction-evaluation-observations dont tell purpose of synchrony+reciprocity

Feldman points out synchrony simply describe behaviours that occur at same time-can be reliably observed but not useful as doesnt tell us the purpose

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Attachment figures- Parent-Infant attachment

Schaffer+Emerson found majority babies become attached mothers first(around7months)+within few weeks or months formed secondary attach to other fam members.75% infant studies attach formed father by 18months-protested when father walked away

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Attachment figures-The role of the father

Grossman carried out study looking at both parents behaviour+relationship to quality childs attach in teens.Quality fathers play with infants was related to quality of adolescent attachments-suggest father diff role-more to do with play thannurturing

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Attatchment figures-Fathers as primary carers-evidence suggest when Fathers take on role of being main caregiver adopt behaviours more typical of mothers

Field filmed 4month babies in FTF interaction with primary caregivers M,secondary F+primary F.Primary F like M spent more time smiling,imitating+holding infants than secondary F-shows F can be more nurturing figure.the key is -level of responsivenes

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Attachment figures-evaluation-Inconsistent findings on fathers

some psychologist interested understanding role of F have as secondary attach figures whereas others more concerned ith F as primary attach figure-problem cus psychologists cant easily answer Q 'what is role of the father?'

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Attachment figures-evaluation-if fathers have distinct role why arent children without fathers diff?

Grossman studies show F have important role in child development -however other studies found children growing up with single parent or same sex dont develop any diff from hetersexual-suggest F role as secondary figure isnt important

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Attachment figures-evaluation-why dont fathers generally become primary attachments?

could be simply because of result traditional gender roles, women expected more caring-therefore father doesnt feel should act like that.or could be female hormones create higher levels of nurturing+therefore biologically pre-disposed be primary

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Key study-Schaffer+Emerson-aimed investigate formation of early attachments.Method

60 babies-31M,29F-all from Glasgow+majority skilled working class fams.Babies+Mothers visited at home every month for first year+again at 18m.Researchers asked Mothers Qs about kind protests babies showed in 7 everyday seperations(seperation anxiety)

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what was that designed for+what also did the researchers assess

designed to measure infants attachment+also assessed stranger anxiety-infants anxiety response to unfamiliar adults

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Schaffer+ Emerson - findings

25-32 weeks 50% babies showed signs seperation anxiety usually towards M(specific attach)attach tend to most who was reciprocity.By 40 weeks 80%specific attach+ 30% displayed mutiple attachment

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Schaffer + Emerson- evaluation-Good external validity

carried out in families homes+most observation done by parents during ordinary activites-unlikely affected by presence of observors-can say study good external validity

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Schaffer+Emerson-evaluation-Longitudinal design

strengh-same children followed up+observed reguarly- good internal validity as dont have confounding variables of individuals diffs between participants

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Schaffer+Emerson-evaluation-Limited sample characteristics

all families were from same district+social class in same city +at a time over 50 years ago-limitation.results dont generalise to other social and historical contexts

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Stages of attachment- 1- Asocial stage(first few weeks)

baby forming and recognising bonds with carers.behaviour to objects+humans is similar.show some preference for familiar adults. happier when in presence of other humans

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Stages of attachment-2-Indiscriminate stage(2-7 months)

show preference for people rather than objects+recognise+prefer familiar adults+dont show seperation or stranger anxiety.

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Stages of attachment-3-specific attachment(7+months)

start display stranger anxiety+anxious when separated from 1 particular adult(65% biological M) at this stage formed specific attach-primary attach figure-one who offers most interaction +respons to baby signals with most skill

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Stages of attachment-4-Multiple attachment

shortly after specific attach usually extend to mutiple with other adults who regularly spend time with-secondary attachments. In schaffer study 29% formed secondary attach 1 month after forming primary attach

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Stages of attachment-evaluation-problem studying the asocial stage

Babies that are young have poor co-ordination+inmobile-difficult make judgments on them based on observations of their behaviour-evidence cant be relied on

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Stages of attachment-evaluation-conflicting evidene on multiple attachments

Not clear when form.Bowlby indicates most form attach to single main carer before capable of developing multiple attach-psychologists who work in collectivist cultures believe form multiple attach from beginning

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Stages of attachment-evaluation-measuring multiple attachment

Problem with how assessed.Bowlby pointed out children have playmates and may get distressed when they leave room but this doesnt signify attach-problem as cant distiniguish between behaviour secondary attach+playmates

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Lorenz research-Imprinting-procedure

classical experiment.randomly divided goose eggs.1/2 hatched with M in natural environment+1/2 in incubator where first moving object saw was Lorenz

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Lorenz Imprinting research-findings

control group(hatched with M) followed M + Incubator group followed Lorenz even when mixed up+identified critical period in which imprinting needs take place-few hrs after birth-if doesnt ocurr found chicks dont attach to M figure

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Lorenz research-sexual imprinting

observed birds that imprinited on humans would later display courtship behaviour towards human.case study,peacock reared in reptile zoo-first moving object-tortoise.as adult coutrship towards-lorenz concluded-undergone sexual imprinting

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Lorenz research-evaluation-Generalisability to humans

Problems in generalising from findings on birds to humans. attach diff-not appropiate try generalise any of Lorenz ideas to humans

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Lorenz research-evaluation-some of Lorenz observations have been questioned

Lorenz idea that imprinting had permanent effect on mating behaviour.Guiton et al found chickens imprinited on gloves would try mate with them as adults but then would learn prefer other chickens-suggest impact imprinting not as pernament as Lorenz

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Harlows research-the importance of contact comfort-Procedure

in 1 experiment he reared 16 baby monkeys with 2 wire model 'mothers'.in 1 condition milk was dispensed by plain wire mother , in 2nd condition milk dispensed by cloth covered mother

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Harlows research-the importance of contact comfort-findings

found babys cuddled soft object in preference to wire+sought comfort from cloth M when frightened regardless which dispensed milk.shows contact comfort more important to monkeys than food

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Harlows research-maternally deprived monkeys as adults

follow up of previous study.found monkeys reared with wire M only were most dysfunctional-+those reared with cloth didnt develop normal behaviour-more aggressive+less sociable+bred less often than other monkeys

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Harlows research-the critical period for normal development

Mother figure had to be introduced to an infant monkey within 90 days for attachment to form-after 90 days attachment was impossible+damage done by early deprivation became irreversible

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Harlows research-evaluation-Thereotical value

findings have profound effect on psychologists understand of human-mother-infant attach.showed attach doesnt develop from result of being fed but contact comfort.

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Harlows research-evaluation-practical value

importan applications in practical contexts-social workers understand risk factors in child neglect+abuse to intervene to prevent it+findings important for for baby monkeys in zoos+breeding programmes in the wild

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Harlows researcg-evaluation-ethical issues

monkeys suffered as a result of procedures+species considered similar to humans so suffering was presumably human like.

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Learning theory-classical conditioning

food is unconditioned stimulus-being fed gives pleasure+dont have learn that-unconditioned response.caregiver-neautral stimulus-when same person provides food over time they become associated with food-neautral-now conditioned stimulus

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what does the sight of the caregiver produce

conditioned reponse of pleasure

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Learning theory-operant conditioning

can explain why babies cry for comfort.crying leads to response from caregiver,if carer provides correct response-crying is reinforced

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why is the reinforcement a 2 way process

at same time baby is reinforced for crying,care giver gives negative reinforcement because crying stops-escaping from something unpleasant.interplay of mutual reinforcement stengthens attachment

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Leorning theory-attachment as a secondary drive

concept of drive reduction-hunger can be thought of as a primary drive-innate,biological motivator.motivated eat to reduce hunger.Sears et al suggest caregivers provide food-primary drive of hunger becomes generalised to them.attach is 2ndory drive

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what is it learned by

association between caregiver+the satisfaction of a primary drive

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Learning theory-evaluation-counter evidence from animal research

lorenz geese imprinited before they were fed+maintained attach regardless who fed+harlows attach to cloth instead wire who dispensed milk-clear that attach doesnt develop as result of feeding.same must be true for humans-food doesnt create attach

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Leorning theory-evaluation-counter evidence from human research

shaffer+emerson study many babies developed primary attach to biological Mother even though carers did most feeding-problems for theory as show feeding isnt key element to attachment so no uncondtioned stimulus or primary drive involved

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Learning theory-evaluation-ignores other factors associated with forming attachments

studies shown best quality attachments are with sensitive carers that pick up infant signals+respons appropiately.if attach purely developed as result of feeding-no need for complex interactions+wouldnt expect find relationship between them+quality

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What did Bowlby do?

Looked at work of Lorenz and Harlow for ideas and proposed an evolutionary explanation:that attach was an innate system that gave a survival advantage

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Bowlbys monotropic theory-Monotropy

emphasis on a childs attachment to 1 particular caregiver.believed the more time bby spent with attachment figure-the better. 2 principles-law of continuity stated that the more constant+predictable a childs car,the better quality of attach

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What is the second principle

The law of accumulated seperation stated that the effects of every seperation from the mother add up + the safest dose is therefore a zero dose

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Bowlbys monotropic theory-social releases + the critical period

He suggested babies r born with a set of innate behaviours like smiling,gripping that encourage attention from adults-these r called social releases.these trigger reciprocal process.interplay builds relationship in early weeks of life.

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Critical period

Bowlby proposed that there is a critical period around 2 years when the infant attachment system is active-bowlby viewed more as senstive period.+child will find hard form attach after 2 years if not formed

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Bowlby Monotropic theory- Internal Working model

child forms mentalrepresentation of their relationship with their primary caregiver cus it serves as model for what relationships r like-has effect on future relationships.child experience loving-tend form expectations all relationships r loving

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Internal working Model

+ will bring these qualities to future relationships.+ the model affects childs later ability to be a parent themselves-explains y children from functional families tend have similar families themselves

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Bowlby Montropic Theory-evaluation-mixed evidence for monotropy

believed babies formed 1 attach.not supported shaffer+emerson-multiple attachments+its also unclear whether there is somett unique about first attach.

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Bowlby Monotropic Theory evaluation-social releases

Clear evidence.Brazleton observed Mothers+babies during their interactions reporting existance interactional synchrony+then extended it experiment- Primary attach were instructed ignore babies social releases-babies showed distress

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What happened when they continued to ignore?

some babies responded by curling up +lying motionless.the fact that responded so strongly supports Bowlbys ideas about significance of infant social behaviour in eliciting caregiving

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Bowlbys Monotropic theory evaluation- support for internal working model

predicts patterns of attach will be passed on from 1 generation to next.Bailey et al assessed 99 Mothers with 1year old on quality of attach to Mother using interview+also by observation

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What was found by Bailey et al

mothers who reported poor attachments to own parents in interviews were more likely have children classified as poor accoring to observations-supports Bowlby idea Internal Working model of attach passed on in families

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The Strange Situation-Mary Ainsworth-Procedure

Controlled observation to measure security of attach child display towards care giver.takes place lab with 2 way mirror for observation.

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what behaviours are used to judge attachment

proxmity seeking:infant w good attach will stay close to care giver. Exploration +secure base behaviour-good attach enables explore but using caregiver as secure base.Stranger anxiety-display of anxiety when stranger approaches.

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Behaviours used to judge attachment

Seperation anxiety-protest at seperation from caregiver.Response to Reunion-with caregiver after separation for short period of time under controlled conditions

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Procedure has 7 episodes- each lasts 3 mins

1.child encouraged explore-tests exploration+secure base.2.Stranger comes+tries interact with child-tests stranger anxiety.3caregiver leaves chid+stranger together-tests seperation+stranger anxiety

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7 episodes- 4-7

4.Caregiver returns+stranger leaves-tests reunion behaviour+secure base.5.caregiver leaves child alone-tests separation.6.stranger returns-tests stranger anxiety.7.caregiver returns+reunited with child-tests reunion behaviour

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The Strange situation-findings-secure attachment

Secure attachment(Type B)-children explore happily but regularly go back to caregiver+usually show moderate separation distress+stranger anxiety+accept comfort from caregiver in reunion

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The Strange Situation-findings-Insecure-avoidant attachment

Type A.explore freely but dont seek proximity or show secure base.show little or no reaction when caregiver leaves+make little effort to make contact when caregiver returns+show little stranger anxiety.+dont require comfort at reunion stage

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The Strange Situation-findings-Insecure-resistant attachment

Type C.These children seek greater proximity than others so explore less.show huge stranger+separation distress but resist comfort when reunited with carer

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The Strange Situation-evaluation-support for validity

Attachment definied by strange situation is strongly predictive of later development.babies assessed as secure typically go on to have better outcomes in success at school+insecure resistant-associated with bullying in later childhood

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what does that show

validity of the concept because it can explain subsequent outcomes

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The Strange Situation evaluation-Good Reliability

shows good inter rater reliability-takes place under controlled conditions+cus behavioural categories easy to observe +in a team of trained strange situation observers+found agreement on attach type for 94% of testes babies-doesnt depend on observer

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The Strange Situation evaluation-the test may be culture bound

doesnt have same meaning in countries outside western europe+USA-cultural diff-child respond diff+caregivers diff cultures behave diff in strange situation-

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Studies of cultural varitations-Van Ijzendoor to look at secure,insecure avoidant+insecure resistant across countrie.Procedure

located 32 studies of attach where Strange situation used-conducted in 8 countries,15 were in USA-results 1,990children. Data was meta analysed-results being combined+weighted for sample size

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Van Ijzendoor findings

in all secure attach was most common-however 75%Britain to 50% china.Insecure resistant least common although 3% Britain to 30%Israel.Insecure avoidant mostly common Germany+least Japan

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Other studies of cultural variations-Italian study -Simonella et al

assessed 76 12month olds using strange situation.found 50% secure,36%insecure-avoidant-lower rate secure than found in many countries-may be cus increasing numbers mothers of young children work long hours+use professional child care.

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Other studies of cultural variations-Korean study-Jin et al

Strange situation used assess 87 children.most infants secure.more of secure resistant than avoidant-1 -similar Japan-have similar child rearing styles might have influence

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Other studies of cultural variations- conclusions

Secure attach seem norm in most cultures-supporting Bowlbys idea that attach is innate+universal +this type is universal norm.However the research also shows cultural practises have influence on attach type

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Studies of cultural variations-evaluation-Large Samples

for example Van Ijzendoor-2000 babies+their primary attach figure+Simonella et al+Jin et al had large groups-large sample increase validity as reduces impact anomolous results

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Studies of cultural varitations-evaluation-Samples Tend to be Unrepresentive of Culture

meta analysis by Ijzendoor claimed cultural varitaions-but its countries comparison-within any country there are diff cultures-one sample may over repesent people living in povert-might affect caregiving.means comparison may have little meaning

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Studies of cultural variations-evaluation-Method of assessment is biased

Strange situation designed by American researcher based on British theory(bowlby)-Q whether anglo-american theories can applied other cultures-imposed etic-diff behaviour may be seen diff in other countries

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Theory of maternal deprivation-Bowlby being seperated from mother in early childhood has serious consequences.Seperations Vs deprivation

Seperation-not present-only becomes issue for development if child is deprived-lose element of care.brief ones-not significant but extended can lead deprivation-causes harm

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Theory of Maternal Deprivation-The Critical Period

Bowlby saw 30month of life as critical period for development.if seperated from M in absence suitable care+so deprived of emotional care for extended period during this critical period then psychological damage inevitable

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Theory of Maternal Deprivation-Effects on development-Intellectual development

if deprived maternal care too long during critical period would suffer delayed intellectual development-low IQ.Goldfarb found lower IQ children who remained institutions compared fostered as had higher standard emotional care

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Effects on development-emotional development

Bowlby identified affectionless psychopathy as inability experience guilt or strong emotions for others-prevents developing normal relationships+associated with criminality-lack remorse for their actions

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Theory of Maternal deprivation-Bowlbys 44 thieves study-link between affectionless psychopathy+maternal deprivation.Procedure

sample 44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing. all interviewed for sign affectionless psychopathy-lack affection,quilt,lack empthy for victims.families also interviewed establish if was any seperation from M

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who did the control group consist of

non criminal but emotionally disturbed to see how often maternal deprivation occured in children who not thieves

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Bowlbys 44 thieves study-findings

found 14/44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopathy-of the 14,12 expierenced prolonged separation from M in 2 years living.control group-2 of 44 had long seperations

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Theory of Maternal deprivation-evaluation-the evidence may be poor

evidence of maternal deprivation-eg studies children orphaned during ww2-flawed-war orphans traumatised+often poor after care-may been cause development not seperation.

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Theory of Maternal Deprivation-evaluation-counter evidence

Hilda Lewis replicated 44 thieves study-in her sample prolonged seperation from mother idnt predict criminality or difficulty forming relationships-suggests other factors may affect outcome maternal deprivation

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Theory of Maternal Deprivation-evaluation-Criticl Period is more of a senitive period

research shown damage isnt inevitable-Jarmila Koluchova reported case 2 boys who isolated from 18months until 7y-after looked after 2 loving adults+recovered fully-more sensitive than critical

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Romanian Orphan studies-studying effects of deprivation.Rutters ERA study procedure

Rutter followed group 165 Romanian orphans adopted in Britain to test extent good care could make up for poor early experience in institutions physical,cognitive+emotional development assessed at 4,6,11+15.Control group-52 britichildadopted same time

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Rutters ERA study findings

when first arrived in UK 1/2 adoptees showed sign delayed intellectual development+majority undernourished.At 11 showed differential rates of recovery that related to age adoption.IQ higher when adopted at earlier age+diffs remained at 16

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findings- attachment

children adopted after 6 months showed signs of disinhibited attachment-symptoms-attention seeking,clinginess. Children adopted before 6m rarely displayed disinhibited attachment

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Romanian Orphan studies-The Bucharest Early Intervention project procedure- Zeanah et al

assessed attach in 95 children aged 12-31 who spent most lives in in institutional care.compard with control group-never lived in institution.Attach type measured using Stranfe situation

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Romanian Orphan studies-The Bucharest Early Intervention project-findings

74% control group securely attached. only 19% institutional group securely attached,65% disorganised attach, disinhibited attachment 44%+less than 20% control

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Romanian Orphan studies-Effects of institutionalisation-Disinhibited attachment

Typical effect spending time in institution.equally friendly +affectionated to people know well+just met strangers-highly unusual as most children in 2nd year show stranger anxiety

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Romanian Orphan studies-effects of institutionalisation-Mental Retardation

can be recovered provided adoption takes place before age of 6 month-age at whats attachment form

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Romanian Orphan studies-evaluation-Real Life application

romanian studies-led improvements in way children treated+cared for in institutions.avoid having large numbers care givers for each child+ensure have key worker-means have chance develop normal attach-research useful in pratical terms

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Romanian Orphan Studies-evaluation-Fewer extrenous variables than other orphan studies

In Romanian Orphan study it has been possible study institutionalisation without confounding variables-means findings have increased validity

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Romanian Orphan studies-evaluation-The Romanian Orphanages were not typical

Its possible that conditons were so bad that results may not be applied to institutional care or deprivation as were-had poor standards of care+especially when forming relationships with children-unusual situational variables-may lack generalisbility

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Attachment+later relationships-Internal working model

acts as a template for future relationships.child whos first experience is of loving relationship with reliable caregiver will tend assume this is how relationships r meant to be.child with bad experiences of 1st attachment -same

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Attachment+later relationships-Relationships in later childhood

attach type associated with quality of peer relationships in childhood.securely attach-tend form best quality.Myron-wilson+smith study found insecure avoidant most likely be vicitims bullying+insecure resistant-bullys+secure unlikely involved

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Attachment+later relationships-relationships in adulthood with romantic partners. McCarthy

studied 40 adult women who been assessed when were infants to establish their early attach type.those who secure attach-best adult friendships+romantic. Insecure resistant-problems maintaining friendships. insecure avoidant-struggled with intimacy

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Attachment+later relationships. Relationships in adulthood.Hazen+Shaver procedure

analysed 620 replies to a love quiz american newspaper.had 3 section.1-respondents current or most important relationships.2 assessed-love experiences.3-assessed attach type by asking choose which best described their feelings

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Hazen+Shaver findings

those reporting secure attach-most likely have good+long lasting romantic relationships. avoidant-tended reveal jealousy+fear intimacy-findings suggest patterns of attach behaviour r reflected in romantic relationships

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Attachment+later relationships-relationships in adulthood as a parent

people tend base parenting style on their internal working model so attach type tends be passed on through generations of fam.Bailey et al-study-majority women had same attach to their babies+mothers

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Attachment+later relationships-evaluation-evidence on continuity of attach type is mixed

Internal working model predict continuity between security of infants attach+later relationships-McCarthy doesnt support continuity so provides evidence support IWM.Zimmerman doesnt support IWM-

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what did Zimmerman find

little relationships between quality of infant +adolescent attachment. This is a problem cus its not what we would expect if IWM were important in development

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Attachment+later relationships-evaluation-most studies have issues of validity

most studies of attach assess by interviews or questionnaires-validity of these is limited cus they depend on respondents being honest

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Attachment+later relationships-evaluation-Association doesnt mean causality

enviornmental factor such as parenting style might have direct effect on both attach+childs ability form relationships w others.childs temperament may influence-limitation as counter to Bowlbys view that IWM caused later outcomes

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