attachment

attachment

1. animal studies

   • harlow's monkeys
     • ao1
       • two wire monkeys with different heads were placed in the enclosures of eight infant rhesus monkeys, one wire monkey had a cloth head and the other had a wire head, in four of the monkey cages the wire head monkey had the milk and in the other four the cloth head monkey had the milk. harlow found that the infant monkeys spent more time with the cloth covered monkey as it provided more comfort than the wire headed monkey even if the wire headed monkey had the milk.
     • ao3
       • negative
         • this study has serious ethical issues, the infants were in extreme distress which was clear in the way that when the infants were placed with a normal monkey, they huddled in the corner in persistent fear and depression.
           • counterpoint
             • however, it could be argued that the pros of the research outweigh the cons of the research (the suffering of animals), harlow's research was influenced the theoretical work of john bowlby (the most important psychologist in attachment theory), it could also be seen as vital in convincing people of the importance of emotional care in childrens homes, hospitals and daycare,
         • furthermore, harlow created a state of such great anxiety for female monkeys that when they became parents some became so neurotic that they smashed their infants faces into the ground and rubbed it back and forth
         • confounding variable; the wire heads of the monkeys varied largely and therefore that became a confounding variable with the independent variable of whether the monkey was clothed or not
         • this study lacks internal validity due to the varied heads of the monkeys, this could then suggest that the infants choose one monkey over the other because they preferred the physical appearance of the monkey over the other
         • generalisability; this study was conducted on monkeys and therefore the question can be raised, can it be generalised to human behaviour? humans behaviour differs largely from other species as we have conscious thought and decisions
           • emerson and schaffer found in their research that infants were largely more attached to the person that responded most sensitively to their needs rather than the person that fed them, this then suggests that harlow's monkey research cannot be generalised to humans due to the cognitive level of the two different species
       • positive
         • harlow's research provided valuable insight into attachment and development as at the time tere was a strong belief that it was linked to physical (i.e. food) rather than emotional care
   • lorenz (1935)
     • ao1
       • separated a clutch of gosling eggs, one half were incubated and then they saw lorenz as the first moving thing, lorenz later placed the ducklings together and he found that the goslings followed the first moving things that they saw during a 12-17 hours critical period after hatching, this process is known as imprinting and suggests that attachment is programmed genetically and innate
     • ao3
       • positive
         • guiton (1966) researched imprinting in chicks and found that when they were only fed with a yellow rubber glove, they imprinted on the yellow rubber glove and were later found trying to mate with the yellow rubber glove, suggests that young animals imprint on any moving thing that is present during the critical period of development
         • hoffman (1976) suggested that this is not irreversible, this is further supported by guiton as, after spending time with their own species, the chicks were able to engage in regular sexual behaviours, this suggests that imprinting is at least partially reversible
       • negative
         • this research has ethical issues in the same way that harlow's study does, as it has irreversible effects on the social and sexual behaviours of the animals known as sexual imprinting,
         • lorenz's study suggests that within this context the object leads to an irreversible situation on the nervous system

2. explanations of attachment

   • learning theory
     • ao1
       • dollard and miller (1950) state that attachment is a learned behaviour acquired through both classical and operant conditioning, it is a nurture theory
         • they used the term secondary drive hypothesis to describe the process of learning attachment through operant and classical conditioning, the secondary drive hypothesis describes how primary drives that are needed for survival such as eating when hungry, become associated with secondary drives such as emotional closeness, they extended the theory to say that attachment is a two-way process that the caregiver must also learn, they do this through negative reinforcement as the caregiver feels relief when the infant is no longer distressed or hungry
       • learning theory proposes that there is no behaviour that is innate, as children are born as blank slates and all behaviour is learnt through social interactions
       • according to classical conditioning, food (unconditioned stimulus) produces pleasure (unconditioned response), as the mother feeds the child, the child forms an association between the mother and the pleasure that the food brings, the mother becomes a conditioned stimulus, happiness becomes a conditioned response to the mother and an attachment has formed
         • attachment can also be maintained/learned through operant conditioning, the presence of the caregiver is reinforcing for the child, the child gains happiness/reward as they are being fed, the caregiver gains reward in the form of the infants reaction to them or to the food (e.g. smiles), this reinforcement process is therefore reciprocal (two ways) and the attachment between the two is strengthened through this
     • ao3
       • negative
         • schaffer and emerson found that less than half of infants had a primary attachment to the person that fed them
         • harlow's rhesus monkey research shows that the monkeys formed an attachment to the cloth monkey that provided touch comfort rather than the wire monkey that provided food, this goes against the learning theory of attachment
         • lorenz's monkeys imprinted on the first moving thing that they saw, which suggests that attachment is innate not learnt
         • based on research with animals and therefore may not be reliable when attempting to generalise to human beings
         • drive reduction theory only explains a few behaviours that root or stem from biological needs, however fail to explain anything further than primary drives
       • positive
         • the structure of stimulus-response behavioural traits are similar in humans and animals, making it legitimate to generalise the findings of research into stimulus-response behavioural traits done on animals to humans, and these behaviours can be explained through conditioned behaviour, though not all can, such as attachment
         • learning theory does arguably provide useful insight into how children form initial attachments through association and reinforcement, it provides a good framework for further research into later attachments and how conscious thoughts and decisions may impact those attachments
   • bowlby's monotropic theory
     • ao1
       • bowlby's monotropic theory suggests that children have an innate need for one main attachment (this is called monotropy) and if this attachment is not developed by the end of the critical period (roughly between the ages of 0-2.5 years old) then they may well never form an attachment at all
       • this theory does not rule out or diminish the importance of other attachments for children, bowlby mainly states that there should be one primary bond that is more important than the others (usually the mother), all other attachments are formed in a hierarchy below this main attachment, an infant may therefore have a primary attachment to their mother and below her fall a hierarchy of attachments to people such as their father, grandparents, siblings, etc.
       • the childs relationship with a primary caregiver provides an internal woking model which then influences late relationships in the child's life, essentially a cognitive framework for how the person understands the world, themself and others, a persons interactions with others are guided by their memories and expectations from their internal working model which influence and help them evaluate their contact with others
         • three main features of an internal working model
           • (1) a model of others as being trustworthy (2) a model of the self as being valuable (3) a model of the self as effective when interacting with others, at roughly the age of 3 these become a part of the child's personality and therefore affects their understanding of the world and how they interact with others
             • this essentially means that through your primary attachment, you develop a unique understanding of whether or not you are valuable, others are trustworthy, and you are effective when communicating with others.
         • the theory that a child's internal working model influences their future relationships and how they parent is called the continuity hypothesis
     • ao3
       • negative
         • the importance of monotropy is overemphasised, thomas questions the benefits of monotropy and both thomas and van ijzendoorn suggest that having a network of support is far better than a singular attachment when raising a child, the theory lacks value and may require adjustment
         • the implications (including economic) of monotropy theory in relation to the role of the father, mothers returning to work after maternity leave, the use of daycare and/or nannies
       • positive
         • lorenz's gosling study supports this theory as it proves that a singular, monotropic attachment is formed during a critical period, and that the attachment to that person or thing affects how the individual reacts to the rest of their species when grown up
           • guiton's research of a similar nature into chicks also proves that the attachment that is formed during the critical period affects how the individual reacts to their species and how they behave in later life
           • counterpoint
             • rutter's romanian orphanage research showed that attachments can be formed after the critical period
         • the idea of monotropy and attachment hierarchy if supported by research into the efe tribe of congo, efe women share the caregiving role and take turns breastfeeding children however, the infant is always returned to their mother at night and forms a secure attachment to their mother regardless
         • strange situation provides evidence for the internal working model, children with secure attachments form positive internal working models as they have been provided with a sensitive and attentive primary caregiver, whereas insecure-avoidant children will see themselves as unworthy due to their primary caregiver reacting negatively to their needs during their critical developmental period, and an insecure-resistantly attached child will see others as untrustworthy as their caregiver has been unstable and fluctuated too much during their critical period, this results in them crying when the caregiver leaves and not trusting the stranger however also not greeting their parent positively as they do not trust their parent either

3. ainsworth's 'strange situation'

   • ao1
     • findings
     • procedure
       • ainsworth and bell (1971) placed a mother and infant in a strange room full of toys, the infants behaviour was recorded during a set of predetermined activities, the experiment was conducted on about 100 middle-class american infants, the children did not know that they were being observed as ainsworth and bell observed from the other side of a one-way mirror
       • the strange situation involved the child experiencing 8 'episodes' of 3 minute duration each
       • the researchers noted the child's behaviour in three categories: exploration, separation anxiety, stranger anxiety and reunion behaviour.
     • types of attachments
       • secure
         • (i) infants are upset when left alone by mother (ii) infants are happy when mother returns and seek contact with the mother (iii) infants avoid the stranger when alone but are friendly when the mother is present (iv) infants use the mother as a safe base to explore, and return to her periodically when exploring
         • this attachment type occurs because the mother meets the emotional needs of the infant
       • insecure-avoidant
         • (i) infants are unconcerned with the mothers absence when she leaves (ii) infants show little interest in the mother when she returns (iii) infants are strongly avoidant of both the mother and the stranger, the stranger is treated the same way as the mother (i.e. the infant does not seek contact with either)
         • this attachment type occurs because the mother does not meet the emotional needs of the infant
       • insecure-resistant
         • (i) infants are clingy to their mother in a new situation and are not willing to explore - suggesting that they do not have trust in their mother (ii) they are extremely distressed when the mother leaves the room (iii) they cannot be comforted by the stranger and they will not interact with them at all - the mother and the stranger are treated very differently (iv) when the mother returns the infants are pleased to see her and go to her for comfort, however they cannot be comforted by her and may show signs of anger towards her
         • this attachment type occurs when the mother sometimes does and sometimes doesn't meet the emotional needs of the child i.e. the mothers behaviour is inconsistent
   • ao3
     • negative
       • lacks population validity - the study was conducted on a group of american infants, this study tells us about how that group behaves but cannot be generalised to different countries and cultures
       • lacks ecological validity - the study was conducted in a lab, and may not be generalised to outside of said lab as the situation was very controlled and would be unlikely to occur in real life
     • positive
       • replicable - follows a highly standardised procedure of the eight episodes of the mother and stranger entering and leaving the room

4. cultural variations in attachment

   • ao1
     • van ijzendoorn & kroonenberg (1988) conducted a meta analysis of data from 32 studies using the strange situation procedure in 8 different countries, using a meta analysis they calculated the average percentage of different attachment styles in each country
     • the majority of infants in each country showed a secure attachment style, with the lowest being germany, western countries that value independence such as germany showed a higher percentage of insecure avoidant infants whereas eastern countries that are more culturally close such as japan, showed a higher percentage of insecure resistant infants, the exception being china, which had an equal percentage of each insecure attachment types.
   • ao3
     • each of the studies analysed used biased samples that cannot be generalised to the entire culture, e.g. the chinese study only used 36 participants, which is an incredibly small sample for such a populated country
     • most of the studies analysed were from western countries
     • the strange situation was created and tested in the USA which means that it may be ethnocentric in it's testing, as it will reflect norms and values of american culture, this is a problem as it assumes that attachment behaviours are the same in every country and culture and they're not
     • Van Ijzendoorn looked at multiple studies in each country, and found that every study produced different levels of each attachment classification. This intra-cultural variation suggests that it is an over simplification to assume all children are brought up in the same way in particular country.

5. maternal deprivation theory

   • ao1
     • continual disruption of the relationship between an infant and their primary caregiver (i.e. mother) can result in long term cognitive, social and emotional damage for that infant, bowlby originally believed this to be permanent and irreversible.
     • bowlby argued that the critical period (the first 2.5 years of life) were crucial, and if a child were to be separated from their primary caregiver for extended periods of time during this period, and lacked a sufficient replacement, damage was inevitable
     • TIP: acronym ADDIDDAS to remember the effects of maternal deprivation: Aggression, delinquency, dwarfism, intellectual retardation, depression, dependency, affectionless psychopathy, social maladjustment.
       • affectionless psychopathy is an inability to show affection or concern for others, lack of shame or sense of responsibility. such individuals act on impulse with little regard for the consequences of their actions. for example, showing no guilt for antisocial behaviour.
   • study
     • the 44 juvenile thieves
       • procedure
       • findings
       • procedure
         • bowlby selected an opportunistic sample of 88 children attending his clinic, group one was a group of 31 boys and 13 girls, all thieves, group two was a group of 34 boys and 10 girls referred to him for their emotional problems. he matched the group on iq and age, the children and their parents were interviewed by a psychiatrist (bowlby), a psychologist and a social worker, focusing specifically on their early life experiences
       • findings
         • 14 of the children from the theft group were identified as affectionless psychopaths, 12 of those had experienced separation from their mothers that lasted longer than 6 months in the first 2 years of their lives, whereas 5 of the 30 children not classified as affectionless psychopaths had experienced separation, out of the 44 children in the control group, only 2 had experienced separation and none were classified as affectionless psychopaths
   • ao3
     • positive
       • bowlby's maternal deprivation theory is supported by harlow's monkey research as monkeys that were reared in isolation, therefore were maternally deprived and never formed an attachment (privation), grew up to have severe emotional and social issues, and were very aggressive towards other monkeys
       • real life application: orphanages now have to take emotional needs of children into account and foster children must be kept in one stable home rather than being moved around a lot, in maternity wards mothers are allowed to spend more time with their babies, and in hospitals visiting hours for parents of sick children have been extended and parents can even stay overnight if they wish to
     • negative
       • rutter claims that bowlby fails to properly distinguish between deprivation and privation - deprivation referring to losing an attachment that one once had whereas privation referring to never forming the attachment in the first place, rutter stresses that the quality of the attachment bond is the most important factor rather than just the deprivation during the critical period.
       • bowlby assumed that physical separation on it's own could lead to deprivation but rutter argues that it is the disruption of the attachment bond rather than the physical seperation, this is supported by radke-yarrow (1985) who found that 52% of children with depressed mothers were insecurely attached, this statistic rose to 80% in the context of poverty (lyons-ruth 1988)
       • this shows the influence of social factors - bowlby failed to take into account the quality of the substitute care, if the substitute care is good enough then deprivation can be avoided
   • romanian orphans - the effects of institutionalisation
     • ao1
       • institutionalisation refers to the behaviour patterns of children that were raised in an institution such as an orphanage rather than a family home. NOTE: you need to describe the effects of institutional care, i.e. the findings, rather than the procedure
     • rutter's study
       • ao3
         • positive
           • study provided detailed measurements through interviews and observations of the children's behaviour
         • negative
           • however, it is not easy to find out about the institutional experience of the children and therefore we don't know the extent of early privation experienced by these children
           • once the children were adopted they may not wish to take part in the study anymore and therefore the study may not be representative
       • ao1
         • procedure
           • rutter studied romanian orphans that had been institutionalised from 1-2 weeks old with minimal adult contact. this was a longitudinal study and natural experiment, using a group of roughly 100 romanian orphans, they were assessed at 4, 6 and 11 years old and then again 21 years later, 58 babies were adopted before 6 months old, 54 between the ages of 6-12 months old and 48 babies were adopted between 2-4 years old. these were the 3 conditions rutter used in his study
         • findings
           • those adopted by british families before 6 months old showed 'normal' emotional development compared to british children adopted at the same age, many adopted after 6 months showed disinhibited attachment (e.g. lack of fear of strangers, indiscriminately seeking attention from all adults, inappropriate physical contact, lack of checking back to the parents in stressful situations) and had problems with peers.
         • conclusion
           • this study suggests that long term effects of institutionalisation may be less severe if the children have the chance to form attachments, if the children don't have the chance to form attachments then the effects will be severe
     • the bucharest early intervention project
       • ao1
         • procedure
           • zeanah et al. (2005) assessed the attachment in romanian orphans aged 12-31 months who had spent an average of 90% of their lives in an institution and compared them to a control group who spent their life in a 'normal' family situation, the attachment was measured using the strange situation
         • findings
           • 74% of the control group were found to be securely attached whereas only 19% of the institutionalised group were, 65% of this group were classified as disorganised attachment types (a type of attachment were the child shows inconsistent patterns of behaviour, sometimes being securely attached and other times insecurely), the institutionalised children also showed signs of disinhibited attachment
       • ao3
         • there may be other factors that contributed to the children's attachments, the physical conditions of the children were appalling and they lacked sufficient cognitive stimulation for their age to develop properly, all of these factors would affect they development and therefore this study may be over emphasising the effects of maternal deprivation

6. the Influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships: including the role of an internal working model

   • childhood relationships
     • ao1
       • according to bowlby's theory, our primary attachment in childhood helps us form a mental representation and expectation of what a healthy relationship looks like, i.e. an internal working model, which we then use as a framework for future relationships, this is called the continuity hypothesis. for example, children with a healthy attachment style should be more confident in interactions with friends
     • ao3
       • positive
         • the minnesota study (2005) followed participants from infancy to adulthood and found continuity between early attachment and their later social/emotional behaviour, securely attached children were rated most highly for social competence late in life, were more popular and less isolated than insecurely attached children
         • hartup et al. (1993) argues that securely attached children tend to be more popular at nursery and interact with the other children more whereas insecurely attached children tend to be more reliant of the teachers for interaction and validation
       • negative
         • temperament hypothesis argues that the child's temperament affects the way their parents react to them and may be a determining factor in attachment types, an infants temperament may explain their issues (good or bad) later on in life.
   • adult relationships
     • parenting style
       • ao1
         • research indicates an intergenerational continuity between adults attachment types and their children's, including children adopting the parenting style of their own parents, people tend to base their parenting style on their internal working model formed by their primary caregiver and therefore attachment styles tend to be passed through generations
       • ao3
         • bailey (2007) found that the majority of women had the same attachment style as their own babies and their own mothers
         • harlow's monkey research found a link between poor attachment and later difficulties with parenting due to a lack of an internal working model
     • romantic relationships
       • ao1
         • there appears to be continuity between early attachment styles and the quality of later romantic relationships, this is because an infants primary attachment forms their internal working model, which essentially acts as a blueprint for their later relationships, determining what they expect them to be like, the iwm thus affects someones later relationships
       • ao3
         • positive
           • hazen and shaver's love quiz experiment found that those who were securely attached as infants tended to have long lasting relationships whereas those that were insecurely attached infants tended to find adult relationships more difficult, were more likely to divorce and believed that love is rare, this supports the theory that childhood experiences have a significant impact on peoples attitudes towards later relationships. the correlation between adults attachment style and their memories of parenting style they received is similar to ainsworths study, which correlated the attachment style of infants and the degree of sensitivity shown by their mothers
         • negative
           • however this theory is reductionist as it makes the assumption that children who are insecurely attached will become insecurely attached adults and that is the only factor, however this is not the case, researchers have found that plenty of insecurely attached children go on to become securely attached adults and have happy, long lasting relationships, therefore this theory may be an oversimplification
           • an alternative explanation for the continuity between childhood attachment and later relationships is the temperament hypthesis, which suggests that infants have an innate temperament, such as easy going or difficult, which impacts their relationships with those around them in childhood and later relationships, this suggests that the attachments form because of a temperament not due to an innate gene for attachment, which goes against bowlby's theory, furthermore, this also suggests that attempts to develop better quality relationships by changing attachment styles would not work

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