Attachment

Attachment

1. Introduction

   • Reciprocity - mother-infant interaction is reciprocal in that both mother and infant respond to each other's signals. From around three months, this interaction tends to be increasingly frequent and involves close attention to each other's verbal signals and facial expressions. Mothers typically pick up on and respond to infant's alertness around two-thirds of the time (Feldman and Eidelman, 2007)
   • Interactional synchrony - mother and infant reflect both the actions and emotions of the other in a co-ordinated way. Meltzoff and Moore (1977) observed the beginning of interactional synchrony as young as two weeks old. An association was found between different expressions and gestures adults had displayed and the actions of the babies.
     • Interactional synchrony is important for the development of mother-infant attachment. Isabella et al. (1989) observed 30 mothers and infants together and assessed the degree of synchrony alongside the quality of attachment. They found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality attachments.
   • Attachment figures
     • Parent-infant attachment - Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found that the majority of babies become attached to their mother first (7 months) and within a few months formed secondary attachments to other family members. In 75% of infants, an attachment was formed with their fathers within the first 18 months.
     • The role of the father - Grossman (2002) looked at both parents behaviour and it's relationship to the quality of attachment into their teens. Quality of infant's relationship with mothers but not fathers was related to attachment in adolescents suggesting the fathers role was less important. However, fathers have been found to have a different role in attachment, to do with play and stimulation instead of nurturing.
     • Fathers as primary carers - when fathers take on the role of main caregiver, they adopt behaviours more typical of mothers. Field (1978) filmed 4-month old babies in face-to-face interaction with primary caregiver mothers and both primary and secondary care giver fathers. Primary caregiver fathers spent more time smiling and holding infants than secondary caregiver fathers. They key to the attachment relationship is the level of responsiveness not the gender of the parent.
     • Research into the role of fathers in attachment is often confusing as different researchers are asking different questions. Some psychologists are interested in in understanding the role fathers have as primary attachments figures, whereas some are interested in fathers as secondary attachment figures. Therefore, psychologists cannot give a simple answer to the role of the father.
     • Studies have found that children growing up in female headed same-sex or single families don't develop differently than those with both parents. Therefore suggesting, the fathers role as a secondary caregiver is not important.
   • What is being observed is merely hand movements or changes and expression so its difficult to be certain what is taking place from the infants perspective and whether they are conscious behaviours.
   • Fine details of behaviour can be recorded and analysed later as the infant and parent are usually being recorded from many angles. Babies also don't know that they are being watched and therefore don't deliberately alter their behaviours.
   • Observations don't tell us the purpose of reciprocity and synchrony, they just describe behaviours that are happening at the same time.

2. Schaffer's stages of attachment

   • Schaffer and Emerson (1964) studied 60 working-class babies from Glasgow. The babies and their mothers were visited at home at home every month for the first year and again at 18 months. The researchers asked the mothers questions about the kind of protest their babies showed during everyday separations. They also assessed stranger anxiety - the infants response to unfamiliar adults.
     • Between 25 and 32 weeks, around 50% of babies showed signs of separation anxiety towards a particular adult, usually their mother. Attachment seemed to be the caregiver who was most interactive and sensitive to infant's signals and facial expressions, not who they spent the most time with. By 40 weeks, 80% of babies had a specific attachment and almost 30% displayed multiple.
     • Limited sample - the sample is not generalisable as they were all from the same background.
   • Based on the information they found, Schaffer and Emerson proposed that attachments develop in four stages.
     • Stage 1 : Asocial stage. The babies behaviours towards non-human objects and humans is quite similar. Babies show some preference for familiar adults in that those individuals find it easier to calm them. They are also happier in the presence of other humans.
       • Stage 2 : Indiscriminate attachment. From 2-7 months, babies display more observable social behaviour. They recognise and prefer familiar adults. Babies accept cuddles and comfort from any adult and don't usually show separation or stranger anxiety. Their attachment is indiscriminate as it isn't different towards any one person.
         • Stage 3 : Specific attachment. From around 7 months, the majority of babies start to display stranger anxiety and separation anxiety from one particular adult (65% of cases, it is the biological mother). At this point, the baby is said to have formed a specific attachment - the one who interacts the most to babies signals.
           • Stage 4 : Multiple attachments. Shortly after stage 3, babies usually extend their attachment behaviour to multiple attachments with other adults who they spend time with (secondary attachments). 29% of the children had secondary attachments within a month of forming a primary one.
             • It is not clear when children become capable of multiple attachments. Some research seems to indicate that most, if not all, babies form attachments to a main carer before they develop multiple attachments. Others believe babies form multiple attachments from the offset, particularly in cultural contexts where multiple caregivers is the norm.
             • Just because a baby gets distressed when an individual leaves the room doesn't necessarily mean that the individual is a 'true' attachment figure. Bowlby (1969) found that children have playmates as well and get distressed when they leave yet this doesn't signify attachment.
       • There is a problem studying the asocial stage because babies are young and so have poor coordination and are immobile. Therefore, it is difficult to make any judgements based on observations of their behaviour.
   • The study has good external validity - the study was carried out in the families homes and most observations were carried out by the parents and reported to researchers later. This means the babies behaviour was unlikely to be affected by the presence of researchers.
   • Longitudinal studies have better internal validity than cross-sectional ones because they don't have participant variables.

3. Animal studies

   • Lorenz - imprinting
     • Lorenz set up an experiment in which he randomly divided goose eggs. Half the eggs were hatched with the mother goose and the other half hatched in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was Lorenz.
       • The incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere whereas the control group followed their mother everywhere. When the two groups were brought together, the control group continued to follow the mother. This is called imprinting - bird species that are mobile from birds attach to and follow the first moving object they see. Lorenz identified a critical period, in which imprinting has to take place. Depending on the species, this can be as short as a few hours after hatching.
     • Although some of his findings have influenced our understanding of human development, there is a problem with generalising from findings on birds to humans.
   • Harlow's research
     • Harlow tested the idea that a soft object serves some of the functions of a mother. In one experiment he raised 16 monkeys with two wire model 'mothers'. In one condition, milk was dispensed by the wire monkey and in the other, the cloth monkey.
       • It was found that baby monkeys cuddled the soft object in preference to the wire one and got comfort from the soft monkey when frightened regardless of the milk. Contact comfort was of more importance than food when it came to the monkey's attachments.
         • Harlow also concluded that there was a critical period - a mother figure had to be introduced to an infant monkey within 90 days for an attachment to form.
     • Harlow's research has had important applications in a range of practical contexts. It has helped social workers understand risk factors in child abuse and neglect and so can intervene to prevent it.
     • Harlow faced critisism for the ethics of his research. The monkeys suffered as a result of the procedure and as the findings can be generalised to humans, the pain was almost human-like.
       • CA : Harlow's research was sufficiently important to justify the effects.

4. Learning theory and attachment

   • Dollard and Miller (1950) proposed that caregiver-infant attachment can be explained by learning theory - children learn to love those that feed them.
     • Classical conditioning involves learning to associate two stimuli together so we respond to one in the way we do to another.
     • Operant conditioning can explain why babies cry for comfort. As long as the caregiver provides the best response (feeding them), crying is reinforced. This reinforcement is a two way process - the carer also receives negative reinforcement as the crying has stopped.
     • In both animal studies, it shows that actually young animals don't necessarily attach to who feeds them. The same must be true for humans as learning theorists believe that non-human animals and humans were equivalent.
     • Research with human infants also shows that feeding doesn't appear to be an important factor for humans. For example, Schaffer and Emerson found that many of the babies developed an attachment to their biological mothers despite other carers doing most of the feeding.
   • As well as conditioning, leaning theory includes the concept of drive reduction. Sears et al. (1957) suggested that, as caregivers provide food, the primary drive of hunger becomes generalised to them. Attachment is therefore a secondary drive learned by association between the caregiver and satisfaction of a primary drive.
   • Research into early infant-caregiver interaction suggests the quality of attachment is accosted with factors like developing reciprocity and good levels of interactional synchrony. And other studies have shown the best quality attachments are with sensitive carers that pick up infant signals and respond appropriately. It is hard to reconcile these findings with the idea of learning theory.

5. Bowlby's monotropic theory

   • Bowlby looked at the work of Harlow and Lorenz and proposed an evolutionary explanation : that attachment was an innate system that gave a survival advantage. Imprinting and attachment evolved because they ensure young animals stay close to their caregivers and protects them from hazards.
   • Bowlby believed that the more time a baby spent with the primary attachment figure, the better. He put forward two principles to clarify this : The law of continuity - the more constant and predictable a child's care, the better quality of their attachment. And the law of accumulated separation - the effects of every separation from the mother add up 'and the safest dose is zero'.
   • Bowlby suggested that babies are born with a set of innate, 'cute; behaviours like smiling and cooing. He could these social releasers because their purpose is to activate the adult attachment system. Bowlby proposed that there was a sensitive period around 2 years where the infant attachement system is active. A child is maximally sensitive at the age 2, if an attachment is not formed in this time, they will find it harder to form one in later life.
   • He proposed that a child forms a mental representation of their relationship with their primary caregiver - internal working model. The internal working model affects the child's later ability to be a parent. A child whose first experience is of loving relationships with a reliable caregiver will tend to have the expectation that all relationships are loving and reliable, and will bring these qualities to future relationships.
   • Monotropy is a controversial idea because it has major implications for the lifestyle choices mothers make when they're young. Feminists such as Erica Burman (1994) say this places a burden of responsibility on mothers, setting them up to take blame when anything goes wrong in the child's life.
   • Bailey et al. (1975) assessed 99 mothers with 1-year old children on the quality of their attachments to their own mothers using an interview. Research strongly supported the idea that well-attached parents tended to have children also with good attachments. This means that attachment quality was being transmitted from one generation to the next.

6. Ainsworth's strange situation

   • 7. The caregiver returns and is reunited with the child - tests reunion behaviour.
     • 6. The stranger returns - tests stranger anxiety.
       • 5. The caregiver leaves the child alone - tests separation anxiety.
         • 4. The caregiver returns and the stranger leaves - tests reunion behaviour and exploration/secure base.
           • 3. The caregiver leaves the child and stranger together - this tests separation and stranger anxiety.
             • 2. A stranger comes in and tries to interact with the child.
               • 1. The child is encouraged to explore - tests exploration and secure base behaviour.
   • The strange situation is a controlled observation designed to measure the security of attachment a child displays towards their caregiver. It takes place in a room with controlled conditions with a two-way mirror through which psychologists can observe the infant's behaviour.
   • Findings: Ainsworth identified three main times of attachment. Secure attachment - 60-75% of British toddlers. These children explore happily but regularly go back to their caregiver. They usually show moderate separation distress and stranger anxiety. Securely attached children require and accept comfort from the caregiver at reunion.
     • Insecure-avoidant - 20-25% of British toddlers. These children explore freely but don't seek proximity. They show little or no reaction when their caregiver leaves or when they are reunited again.
       • Insecure-resistant - 3% of British toddlers. These children seek greater proximity than others and so explore less. They show huge stranger and separation anxiety but they resist comfort when reunited with their carer.
   • Bick et al. (2012) looked at inter-rater reliability in a team of Strange Situation observers and found agreement on attachment type for 94% of babies.This means we can be confident that attachment type does not just depend on the observer.
   • Kagan (1982) has suggested that temperament, the genetically influenced personality of the child, is a more important influence on behaviour than attachment.
   • There is some doubt about whether the strange situation has the same meaning in countries outside Western Europe and the USA. One reason for this might be cultural differences in childhood experiences are likely to mean that children respond differently. Takahshi (1990) noted that Japanese mothers are rarely seperated from their babies so they have veery high levels of separation anxiety.

7. Cultural variations

   • Van Ijzendoorn
     • Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) meta-analysed 32 studies of the strange situation. An interesting finding was that variations between results of studies within the same country were 150% greater than between countries. In the USA, one study found only 46% securely attached, whereas one sample was as high as 90%.
       • Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg claimed to study differences between cultures but in fact, they were between cultures. Within any counter, there are different cultures with different child-rearing practices. The particular cultural characteristics of the sample need to be specified.
   • Simonella et al. (2014) conducted a study in Italy to see whether the proportions of babies of different attachment types still match those found in previous studies. The researchers assessed 76 12-month olds using the strange situation. They found 50% were secure, with 36% insecure-avoidant. This is a lower rate of secure attachment than previously found, perhaps because an increasing number of mothers work long hours and use childcare. Cultural changes can make a difference to patterns of secure and insecure attachment.
     • There is the basic issue with using the strange situation in research as Kagan et al. (1986) suggested that attachment type is more related to temperament rather than to the caregiver relationship.
   • Jin et al. (2012) conducted a study to compare the proportion of attachment types in Korea to other studies. The Strange situation was used to assess 87 children. The overall proportions were similar than in most studies, with most being secure. However, more of those classified as insecurely attached were resistant and only one was avoidant. This distribution is similar to that of Japan, perhaps because of their similar child rearing practices.
     • Simonella and Jin had a total of 2000 babies and their primary care-givers. A strength of combining the results of attachment studies mean they can end up with a large sample.

8. Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation

   • The emotional and intellectual consequences of separation between a child and their 'mother' figure. Bowlby proposed that continuous care from the mother is essential for psychological development and prolonged separation from this adult causes severe to emotional and intellectual development.
   • Seperation vs deprivation. Separation simply means the child not being in the presence of the primary attachment figure. This only becomes an issue for development if the child is deprived of any elements of care.
   • If a child is separated from their mother and deprived of emotional care for an extended amount of times in the first 30 months of life, Bowlby believed psychological was inevitable.
   • Maternal deprivation affects a child's intellectual development. Bowlby believed that if children were deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period, they would suffer an abnormally low IQ. This has been demonstrated in Goldfarb's study (1947) found a lower IQ of those who had remained in an institution compared to those who were fostered and therefore had a higher standard of care. It also affects their emotional development - Bowlby identified emotionless psychopathy as the inability to experience guilt or string emotion towards others. This prevents the development of relationships and is often associated with being a criminal. They cannot appreciate the feelings of the victims so lack remorse.
   • Bowlby's 44 thieves - 44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy characterised by lack of affection, guilt and empathy. Their families were also interviewed to find out whether the 'thieves' had experienced any periods of prolonged separation from their mother. A control group of non-criminal but emotionally disturbed young people was set up to see how often maternal deprivation occurred in those who weren't criminal.
     • Bowlby found that 14/44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths and 12/14 had experienced prolonged separation within the first two years of their lives. In contrast, only 5/remaining 30 had experienced separation. Control group - 2/44 experienced long separation. It was concluded that prolonged early separation caused affectionless psychopathy.
       • Lewis (1954) replicated the 44 thieves study on a larger scale, looking at 500 young people. In her sample, a history of prolonged separation from the mother did not predicted criminality. This suggests that other factor may affect the outcome of early maternal deprivation.
   • Rutter (1981) claimed that Bowlby was mixing up 'deprivation' and 'privation' . The severe long-term damage Bowlby associated with deprivation is actually more likely to be the result of privation.

9. Effects of institutionalisation

   • Rutter's English and Romanian Adoptee study
     • Rutter (2011) followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans adopted in Britain to test emotional, physical and cognitive development at ages 4, 6, 11 and 15 years old. There was also a control group of 52 British children adopted around the same time.
       • When they first arrived in the UK, half the adoptees showed signs of delayed intellectual development and were extremely malnourished. At age 11, the adoptees showed different rates of recovery depending on the age they were adopted. The mean IQ of: those adopted: before 6 months - 102, between 6 months and 2 years - 86 and after 2 years - 77. These differences remained at age 16. Children adopted after 6 months usually showed signs of disinhibited attachment (attention seeking, clinginess etc. towards all adults)
         • It is possible that conditions were so bad that results cannot be applied to understanding the impact of better quality of institutional care. This is a limitation of the Romanian orphan studies because the unusual situational variables means the studies cannot be generalised.
         • Results about institutionalisation have led to improvements in the way children are cared for in institutions. For example, orphanages and children's home avoid having large number of caregivers. They have key workers so that children have a chance to develop normal attachments.
   • The Bucharest Early Intervention project
     • Zeanah et al. (2005) assessed attachment in 95 children aged 12-31 months who had spent most of their lives in institutional care (average 90%). They were compared to a control group of 50 children who had never lived in an institution. Their attachment type was measured using the Strange Situation and were also asked about unusual social behaviour including clinginess or inappropriate attention-seeking behaviour.
       • 74% of the control group were securely attached using the Strange Situation. However, only 19% of the institutional group were securely attached,with 65% classified as having disorganised attachment. Disinhibited attachment applies to 44% of institutionalised children as opposed to 20% of the control group.
   • Disinhibited attachment : Rutter (2006) has explained disinhibited attachment as an adaptation for living with multiple caregivers during the sensitive period for forming attachments. In poor institutions, such as in Romania, a child might have 50 carers, none of whom they see enough to form a secure attachment.
   • Mental retardation : Damage to intellectual development as a result of institutionalisation can be recovered providing adoption takes place before six months.
   • There were many orphan studies before the Romanian orphans. But often these studies involved children who had experienced loss or trauma before they were institutionalised. Therefore, they are dealing with multiple factors that become confounding participant variables. In the case of Romanian orphans, it has been possible to study institutionalisation without these confounding variables, increasing the internal validity.
   • It is too soon with these studies to be certain whether children suffered long-term effects. It may be that children who spent longer in the institutions and suffer intellectually , 'catch-up' as adults.

10. Influence of early attachment on later relationships

    • Relationships in later childhood
      • Attachment type is associated with the quality of peer relationships in childhood. Securely attached infants tend to go on to form the best quality childhood friendships. Bullying behaviour can be predicted by attachment type; Myron-Wilson and Smith (1998) assessed attachment type in 196 children 7-11 years old using questionnaires. Secure children were extremely unlikely to be involved in bullying, insecure-avoidant children were the most likely to be victims and insecure resistant were most likely to be bullies.
    • Relationships in adulthood as a parent
      • People tend to base their parenting style on their internal working model so attachment types tend to be passed on through generations.
    • Relationships in adulthood with romantic partners
      • Hazan and Shaver (1987) analysed 620 replies to a 'love quiz' printed in an American newspaper. The first section assessed current or important relationships. The second part assessed general love experiences e.g. number of partners. Finally, the third section assessed attachment type by asking respondents to pick a statement that best described their feelings.
        • 56% of respondents were identified as securely attached, 25% insecure-avoidant and 19% insecure-resistant. Those with secure attachments were more likely to have longer, good romantic experiences. Avoidant responders reveals jealousy and a fear of intimacy.
    • There are alternative explanations for the continuity that exists between infant and later relationships. Parenting style may have a direct effect on both attachment and the child's ability to form relationships with others. This is a limitation as it counters Bowlby's view that the internal working model caused these outcomes.
    • We would not expect to get direct evidencve using self-report techniques (interviews, questionnaires) as people can only report what they're aware of.

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