Attachment

Attachment

1. Caregiver-infant interactions

   • Reciprocity
     • taking turns as in conversation
   • Brazelton
     • mother anticipates infant signals, basis of attachment
   • Interactional synchrony
     • coordinated behavior
   • Meltzoff and Moore
     • 3 day old babies imitate mothers
   • Murray and Trevarthen
     • infant distress if no response, supports innateness

2. The development of attachment

   • Schaffer and Emerson - Stages of Attachment
     • Studied 60 infants and mothers from Glasgow
     • Stage 1
       • Indiscriminate attachment
     • Stage 2
       • beginnings of attachment
     • Stage 3
       • Specific attachment
     • Stage 4
       • multiple attachments
     • The role of the father
       • changing social practices: increased exposure might lead to primary attachments
     • Biological factors
       • women have hormones which encourage caringness
     • Men are primary attachment figures or share this role
     • Secondary attachment
       • fathers more playful

3. Animal studies on attachment

   • Lorenz
     • Procedure
       • goose eggs incubated so first living thing they saw was their natural mother or Lorenz
     • Findings
       • goslings imprinted in Lorenz and followed him
     • Critical period
       • imprinting doesn't happen later
     • Long-lasting effects
       • irreversible and related to mate choice - sexual imprinting
   • Harlow
     • Procedure
       • wire and cloth mothers, feeding bottle attached to one or the other
     • Findings
       • monkeys spent most time with cloth-covered mother, whether or not feeding bottle was attached
     • Critical period
       • attachment must be formed before six months
     • Long-lasting effects
       • all motherless monkeys were abnormal socially and sexually

4. Explanations of attachment

   • Leanring Theory
     • All behaviors are learned rather than inherited
     • Classical conditioning
       • new conditioned response learned through association between a neutral stimulus (mother) and an unconditioned stimulus (food)
     • Operant conditioning
       • the reduction of discomfort created by hunger is rewarding so food becomes a primary reinforcer, associated with mother who becomes secondary reinforcer
     • Social learning
       • children model parents' attachment behaviors
   • Bowlby's Monotropic Theory
     • Bowlby's attachment theory (1969)
       • critical period - attachments form around 3-6 months, afterwards this becomes increasingly difficult
     • Primary attachment figure
       • determined by caregiver sensitivity
     • Social releasers elicit caregiving and ensure attachment from parent to infant
     • Monotropy
       • primary attachment has special emotional role, secondary attachment provide safety net
     • Internal working model
       • acts as template for future relationships, creating continuity

5. Ainsworths strange situation

   • Ainsworth et al
     • a systematic test of attachment to one caregiver, situation of mild stress and novelty
   • Procedure
     • observations every 15 seconds of behaviors, e.g. contact-seeking or contact-avoidance
   • Behaviors assessed
     • separation anxiety, reunion behavior, stranger anxiety, secure base
   • Findings
     • types of attachment: secure (65% type B), insecure-avoidant (22% type A), insecure-resistant (12% type C)

6. Cultural variations

   • Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg
     • meta-analysis of 32 studies using the strange situation, from 8 countries
   • Findings
     • secure attachment was the norm in all countries, greater variation within countries than between them
   • Cultural similarities
     • Efe infants
   • Cultural differences
     • more insecure attachment in German sample
     • no avoidant attachment in Japan sample

7. Bowlby's theory of maternal derivation

   • Value of maternal care
     • children need a warm, intimate and continuous relationship with a mother or mother-substitute
   • Critical period
     • frequent and or prolonged separations from another will have negative effects if they occur before the age of 2 and a half (critical period) or up to the age of 5 (sensitive period) if there is no mother-substitute
   • Long-term consequence
     • include emotional maladjustments or mental disorder such as depression
   • Key study
     • Findings
       • 86% of affectionless thieves had frequent separations before 2 compared with 17% of other thieves and just 2% of the control group
     • 44 juvenile thieves

8. Romanian orphan studies

   • Key study
     • Findings
       • at age 11 those children adopted before 6 months showed good recovery, older adoptions associated with disinhibited attachment
     • Rutter et al (ERA)
       • 165 Romanian orphans, physical, cognitive and social development tested at regular intervals
   • Canadian study
     • Romanian orphans physically smaller at adoption but recovered by age 10
   • Romanian Study
     • institutionalised Romanian orphans compared to control group more likely to display dishibitecd attachment
   • Effects of institutionalization
     • physical underdevelopment, intellectual under functioning, disinhibited attachment, poor parenting

9. influence of early attachment

   • internal working model
   • key study
     • findings
   • Behaviors influenced by internal working model