Attachment

Attachment

1. Attachment: A reciprocal emotional bond between two people, it is a two way process that endures over time.

2. Early interactions

   • Reciprocity - A two way interaction. Both infant and caregiver are active contributors in the interaction and are responding to each other eg. a conversation.
   • Interactional synchrony - A simultaneous action or occurance. It relates to the timing/pattern of the interaction shown in rhythm and mirroring each other or similar moves eg. clapping.
   • Klaus and Kennel
     • Procedure - 2 groups of young mothers on an American maternity ward. One was a control group that received normal skin to skin contact. The other was the experimental group that received more skin to skin contact. They visited the groups after a month and then after a year to see how the attachments were forming.
       • Findings - The mothers that spent more time with their children (more skin to skin contact) had a greater bond of attachment later in life (year later)
         • Conclusion - They stated there is a 'sensitive period' in which bonding appears and the mother showed soothing behaviours as she'd spent more skin to skin contact with her child.
           • Strengths - High ecological validity - field experiment. High reliability - The experiment was replicated 10 years later with 42 middle class Swedish mothers with the same result.
           • Weaknesses - Ungeneralisable sample - young, unmarried, from a socio-economically deprived background. Low internal validity - investigated extra attention mothers gave in hospitals rather than skin to skin contact.

3. The role of the father

   • Grossman - Looked at relationships between infant and parent up until teenage years. The quality of the attachment with mothers was related to the attachments during teenage years - suggesting the fathers role was less important.
     • However, the quality of the father's play time was related to teenage attachment quality - suggesting that fathers have a differnt role in attachment (more to do with play/stimulation than nurturing)
   • Tiffany Field - Filmed 4 one-month old babies interacting with the primary and secondary caregivers. Fathers as a primary caregiver spent more time smiling, reciprocating and holding the babies.
     • Suggests the key to attachment is not the gender but the level of responsiveness given to the child.
   • Conclusions
     • If the father spends more time with the infant then the attachment will be stronger.
     • If the father isn't as close with the mother then the attachment will be weaker.
     • If the father is more sensitive then the attachment will be stronger
     • Children with secure attachments with their fathers go onto having better relationships with peers, less problem behaviours and more able to regulate their emotions.
     • Children who grow up without fathers are moe likely to do less well at school and have higher levels of aggression and risk-taking/impulsiveness (Must take these conclusions with caution)

4. Scaffer and Emerson

   • Aim - To see if there was a pattern of attachment formation that was common in all babies. To identify and descirbe the distinct stages by which attachments form.
   • Procedure - 60 newborn babies and their mothers in a working class area of Glasgow were observed every 4 weeks from birth up until 18 months. They were also interviewed and asked who the infants smiled at, who they responded to and who caused them distress.
     • They measured attachment in 2 ways - Separation protest - assessed through everyday situations ie.being left alone in a room. And stranger anxiety - at every home visit the researcher approached the infant.
   • Findings
     • Most infants showed separation anxiety between 6 to 8 months. Stranger anxiety shown a month later
     • Strongly attached infants had mothers who responded quickly and gave more opportunities for interaction.
     • Most infants went on to develop multiple attachments - at 18 months 87% infants had at least 2 attachments.
     • About 20 of the infacts had no attachment with their mother or had a stronger attachment to another caregiver, even though the mother was the main carer.
   • Conclusion - Attachment is innate. It is formed between 6 to 8 months and it stronger if the mother had a high emotional response.
   • Pre attachment stage - birth to 3 months: Infants become attracted to other humans, preferring them to objects ie. smiling at people's faces.
     • Indiscriminate attachment - 3 months to 6/7 months: Infants begin to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar people. Smiling at those they know but they will allow strangers to handle and look after them.
       • Discriminate attachment - 6/7 months onwards - Infants begin to develop specific attachments, staying close to specific people and becoming distressed when separated from them. They avoid unfamiliar people and protest if strangers try to handle them.
         • Multiple attachment stage - 9 months onwards: Infants form strong emotional bonds to major caregivers ie .grandma. Fears of strangers weakens and attachment to the mother stays the stronger.
   • Strengths
     • More than one research method used - interviews and observations. This made it more reliable.
     • High ecological validity - Observations were carried out in the home environment.
   • Weaknesses
     • Not a representative sample - working glass mothers in Glasgow
     • Biased sample - mothers with bad attachmetns may have dropped out of the study (subject sttrition)
     • Social desirability may have affected results - Mothers may have lied in interviews and change their behaviour when observed in oder to look better.

5. Formation of attachment

   • The learning theory suggests that we have to learn to attach, learnt response (not biological or innate)
   • Classical conditioning
     • Classical conditioning is about learning association. The baby associates the mother with food and therefore forms a conditioned response to the mother
     • Before conditioning - Mum (NS) = No response (NR)
       • During conditioning - Food (UCS) + Mum (NS) = Happy (UCR)
         • After conditioning - Mum (CR) = Happy (CR)
   • Operant conditioning
     • Baby cries = Baby gets fed. Food is the primary reinforcer (used as a reward). The person giving the food is the secondary reinforcer (the mother therefore indirectly becomes a reward too)
   • The learning theory can be referred to as the 'cupboard love theory' as we attach to the one who feeds us.
   • Strengths
     • Face validity - it makes sense as when we're young food is the main thing they need to survive so they'll likely attach to the person who gives it to them.
   • Weaknesses
     • Research is based on animals - Pavlov's dogs, skinner's rats, may not be generalisable to humans are we're more complex.
     • Variation of Harlow's original study - monkeys still attahced to the 'iron maidan mother' even when it was blasted with air (punished) - suggests attachment is innate not learnt.