ATTACHMENT

ATTACHMENT

1. animal evidence

   • Lorenz: imprinting
     • birds: treat 1st moving stimulus as mothers
     • = instinctual & adaptive early attachment
   • Harlow: monkeys
     • wire mother: food
     • cloth mother: comfort

2. = strong, enduring, emotional bond

   • 1st social relationship: primary caregiver
     • provide: psychological comfort
   • separation anxiety
     • 6 - 8 months
     • upset

3. John Bowlby

   • attachment behaviours
     • proximity maintenance
     • secure base (safe & protected)
     • joint visual attention
     • safe haven seeking
     • separation anxiety
   • roots: evolution
   • internal working model
     • cognitive element
     • beliefs & expectations
       • about: 1. one's own and other people's behaviour 2. lovability, worthiness, acceptability of the self 3. guidelines for interpreting other's actions: emotional availability and interests of others + their availability to provide protection
     • = template for future relationships
     • develops within early relationships
   • phases
     • 1. Pre-attachment (0-2 months)
     • 2. Attachment in the making (3-6 months)
       • - responding differently to different people - will accept mother substitute
     • 3. Clear cut attachment (7-9 months)
       • - active proximity seeking - separation anxiety - stranger fear
     • 4. Goal-corrected partnership (3 yrs + )
   • parents
     • fathers
       • 2nd year
       • 18 months: separation distress
       • vigorous + physical play
       • exploration companion
     • mothers
       • support
       • secure base
   • postive impacts
     • - understanding neglect on young children - improved child care institutions

4. Mary Ainsworth

   • the strange situation
     • = experimental procedure for assessing attachment: child alone with a stranger when mother leaves the room
   • 4 categories
     • securely attached: minor distress => enthusiasm
       • later in life: - more attractive to peers as playmates - more obedient & independent - more concern and helping for peers - more likely to have close friends when teenagers - less anxiety disorders, criminal record
     • insecure attachment
       • anxious/resistant: upset =>ambivalent (crying, slapping)
       • anxious/avoidant: distant, aloof => ignore
       • disorganised: inconsistent behaviours

5. confounding factors

   • temperament
     • = the core of a child's developing personality
     • - individual differences in emotional reactivity - + and - emotionality, sociability, attentional persistence - predicts some childhood outcomes, not attachment security
     • influence: genetics
       • identical twins => similar temperaments
   • birth complications
   • culture
     • secure attachment = cross-cultural
     • China: low & UK: high secure attachment
   • parental behaviour
     • responsiveness to needs
     • warmth & closeness
     • supportive involvement
     • extent to provide a secure base

6. over the life course

   • => to their parents => friendship => romantic => marital => to their child => grandparental
   • romantic relationships
     • same features as childhood attachment
     • anxiety: rejection & abandonment
     • avoidance: closeness & intimacy