Attachment

Attachment

1. Key Concepts

   • Attachment known as bonding.
     • Separation protest: Upset when left by primary caregiver.
       • Separation anxiety: How much a child is upset in the present of a stranger.

2. Core Study: Bowlby's Theory

   • Criticisms
     • Bowlby believed in monotropy but: Children can develop more than one attachment, with mother, father, grandparent or career.
       • Bowlby believed in the critical period but critics say it was too extreme and that children can develop an attachment after the age of 3.
         • Bowlby believed that deprivation was irreversible although this is not true.
   • One special attachment is called a Monotropy.
     • The attachment between an infant and its caregiver had to happen in the first 3 years - described as the critical period.
       • When a child does not form any attachment with any significant figure it is known as privation.
         • Children can also experience deprivation. This occurs when an attachment is formed but broken at a later date. - Bowlby called this Maternal Deprivation.

3. Core Study: Hazen & Shaver

   • Limitations
     • The sampling method may have given an unrepresentative sample: People who had poor relationships may not want to do the 'love quiz'
       • Questionnaires rely on participants giving honest answers: People may not have accurate memories of childhood.
         • The questionnaire used closed questions which may not have gone into enough depth: People may have wanted to elaborate to questions.
   • Questionaire carried out in the USA.
     • Securely attached 56%, Insecure avoidant 25%, Insecure Ambivalent 19%
       • Clear relationship between the type of attachments that people have developed in infancy and the type of intimate relationships they had in adult hood.

4. Application: Care of children

   • 50 years ago babies were taken away from mothers at birth. But now it is encouraged that the longer the baby is with the parent, the better the attachment
     • Care of children in the family: There are organizations that can help, e.g: social services

5. Alternative Theory: Behaviourist Theory

   • Attachment is not instinctive. Infants learn through the process of reinforcement. If the behaviour is positive, the child gets a sticker. If the behaviour is negative, the child will not get chocolate.