Attachment

Attachment

1. Operant Conditioning

   • Rewards/reinforcements

2. Attachment = Emotional link between child and caregiver

3. Bond = A set of feelings that tie one person to another

4. Classical Conditioning

   • Stimulus/Response/Association

5. Harlow (1959)

   • 1) 8 Monkeys could get milk from the wire mother
   • 2) 8 Monkeys could get milk from the cloth mother
     • Both groups of monkeys spent more time with the cloth mother, even if she had no food, the group of monkey from the 2nd group would only visit the wire mother when hungry, but soon returned to the cloth mother
       • infants took refuge with the cloth mother when frightened, and explore more when the cloth mother was present

6. Bowlby's Theory

   • Adaptive/Innate
     • Infants form attachments because it is adaptive = survival
   • Secure base
     • The child's primary caregiver acts as a secure base for the child to return to if they feel threatened from exploring
   • Monotropy
     • Child has an innate need to attach themselves to one main attachment figure = Primary caregiver
   • Sensitive Period
     • The time for which an attachment should form (0-2.5 years) , if a attachment dose not form then it may not form at all
   • Internal Working Model
     • Provides mental representations of emotional and social behaviour for future relationships
   • Continuity Hypothesis
     • Early relationships will reflect later relationship
   • Temperament Hypothesis
     • Children who form attachments form them due to having a good temperament
   • Attachment is important for a childs survival, attachment behaviours between child and caregiver evolve through natural selection, takes place during the critical period and children are innately programmed to form attachments
   • Evaluation
     • Strengths
       • Lots of supporting research, attachment is universal as all children make them, Schaffer and Emerson (1964) supports the idea of monotropy and Hierachy western babies made more than one attachment
     • Weaknesses
       • Bowlby stressed the importance of primary attachment figure at the expense of other important attachment figures such as father. Some people argue the attachment type is influenced by the babies personality Rutter (1995) said multiple attachment figures provide a child with an internal working model

7. Ainsworth Strange situation

   • Child experiencing 8 episodes for 3 minutes each
     • Observers noted the child's reunion behaviour, separation anxiety, stranger anxiety and secure base (willingness to explore)
       • Insecure - Avoidant
         • Avoid social interactions, happy to explore, show little response to separation
       • Insecure - resistant
         • distressed when separated, seek and reject social interactions, conflicting desires on reunion
       • secure
         • more independent, comfortable with social interactions, not likely to cry when separated

8. Privation Hodges and Tizard (1989) - at 4 years none of the institutionalised children has formed attachments, but by age 8 those who were adopted formed attachments and good social and intellectual development. All who spent early years in institutional care were attention seeking and suffered socially Those restored to originally family suffer from social problems