Attachment

Attachment

1. Definition and phases

   • A two way enduring emotional tie to a specific other person
   • Pre attachment phase: attachment to people shown by smiling
   • Indiscriminate attachment phase: babies discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar people/ they will allow strangers to handle them
   • Discriminate attachment phase: specific attachments formed and distress when away from prime attacher
   • Multiple attachment: babies form strong emotional ties with other care givers. Fear of strangers weaken.

2. Explanations of attachment

   • Learning theory- attachments through conditioning processes
     • Explains all behaviour as acquired through experience via association.
     • Classical conditioning occurs when a stimulus becomes associated with a response.
       • Babies associate care givers with food( unconditioned or primary reinforcer) due to the pleasure of food.
       • Caregivers are the conditioned or secondary reinforcer
       • This is known as the cupboard love theory
     • Operant conditioning is where care givers become associated with reducing the feeling of hunger and thus become a positive reinforcement.
     • Harlow
       • Tested the learning theory by comparing attachment behaviour in monkeys
       • PRO: Two types of surrogate mothers(wire and soft) were placed with 16 monkeys.
       • Condition 1: wire mother producing milk and towel monkey producing NO milk
       • condition 2: wire monkey with no milk, towel monkey with milk
       • condition 3: wire producing milk
       • Condition 4: Towel monkey with milk
       • Time spent by each money was recorded
       • Loud noise tested stress
       • Findings: Monkeys preferred to cling to towel mother regardless of milk
       • Monkeys with the wire monkey showed signs of stress
       • CONC: monkeys have an innate need for comfort
       • Attachment concerns emotional security
       • Contact lowers stress and exploration.
   • Bowlby theory
     • Imprinting is a form of attachment where offspring follow the first large moving object encountered during the critical period
     • social releases are infant social behaviours stimulating adult interaction and care-giving
     • Social releases: crying which attach attention/looking smiling and vocalising/ following or clinging which gain emotional closeness
     • Gain security and increase survival
     • Bowlby believes in the critical period
     • Babies display monotropy and innate tendancy to become attached to one adult
     • LORENZ
       • Imprinted new goslings on himself to form a stiimuli
       • They are drawn to the stimuli and will follow instincts
       • Innate pre programming provides an evolutionary advantage by staying close to parents and siblings

3. Types of attachment

   • Mary ainsworth "Strange situation"
     • To see how young infants between 9 and 18, behave to test stranger and separation anxiety and secure base concept.
     • lab experiment with observational technique
     • Category of behaviour scored between 1 and 7
     • 15% insecure avoidant who ignored their mother. Play was not affected and experience of low stress
       • 70% were securely attached became upset when the mother had left/play disrupted/when mother returned they wanted immediate comfort
       • 15% Insecure resistant, distressed when mother was there and was not.
   • Securely attached(B)- willing to explore, high stranger anxiety, easy to soothe, enthusiastic on return
   • Insecure avoidant(A)- Willing to explore, low stranger anxiety/ avoided contact on return
   • Insecure avoidant(C)- Unwilling to explore/high stranger anxiety/ distressed at separation and rejected contact on return.

4. Cultural variations in attachment

   • groups of people bound by attitudes, values goals and customs
   • Meta analysis
   • Van izendoorn and kroonenberg
     • Meta analysis
     • 32 ss studies
     • 8 countries
       • 2000 children