Psychology - Attachment

Psychology - Attachment

1. Care giver - infant ineraction

   • Reciprocity
     • Responding to each other
   • Interactional synchrony
     • Micro level cordination of behaviour

2. Attachment figures

   • Fathers - secondary attachment figures, 75% of infants develop this by 18months
   • Father's role is that of play and stimulation
     • Poor relationships effects future relationships in adolensence

3. Shaffer & Emerson - Stages of attachment

   • Study included 60 babies in Glasgow, W/C families
   • At 6 months babies had 1 primary care giver and 50% had seperation anxiety
   • 1. A-social stage - first few weeks
     • Behaviour the same towards animate and non animate objects, preference for known adults
   • 2. Indiscriminate Attachment - 2-7 months
     • Prefer people over objects, prefer familiar adults, will accept comfort from anybody
   • 3. Specific attachment - 7 moths
     • Stranger anxiety, seperation anxiety from best care giver
   • 4. Multiple attachments - 14 months
     • Form attachments to all those close

4. Animal Studies

   • Lorenz
     • Imprinting
       • Raised a flock of gece, 1/2 eggs raised by the mother, 1/2 raised by lorenz
         • Lorenz was the first thing they saw, spoke to the eggs in incubation
         • Followed him everywhere
         • Critical period - vital period in which attachments must be formed was as little as a few hours
         • Sexual Imprinting - those who had been imprinted were mate preference
           • Chicken and the yellow glove & female gece that tried to court Lorenz
   • Harlow
     • Iron Maiden - 16 rehsus baby monkies placed in a cage with a wire mother that dispensed milk and another that didnt but was made from cloth
       • The babies spent nearly 23 hours of the day with the cloth mother and only 1 hour with the wire mother
         • Comfort was the key component in attachment not food
           • Maternally deprived monkies grew to be agressive and anti-social
         • Even in repeats of the experiemnt where baby monkies were frightened on purpose, they went straight to the cloth mother
           • No comfort from wire mother
       • Critical period was 90 days

5. Learning Theory

   • Conditioning - Classical
     • Unconditioned stimulus
       • Food
       • Unconditioned response
         • Pleasure
         • Neutral Stimulus
           • Mother
           • No response
             • UnC + NS
               • Food + Mother
               • UnR
                 • Pleasure
                 • CS
                   • CR
                     • Pleasure
                   • Mother
   • Secondary drive
     • Food is primary drive, care giver become associated with food, attachment is a secondary drive composed of satisfaction and meeting the primary drive

6. Meternal Deprivation - Bowlby

   • Extended seperation causes deprivation
   • Critical period - psychological damage may occur after the first 30 months if deprived of mother's emotions and care
   • Maternally deprived children suffer with low IQ
   • Deprivation of emotion may cause emotionless psychopathy, the inability to feel guilt or empathy towards others
   • 44 Theieves - teenage criminals, family history researched to find out sepertion history
     • Control of non criminals
     • 14/44 had AP, 12/44 had maternal deprivation. Only 2/44 non criminals had seperation

7. Cultural Variations

   • Van Uzendoorn
     • 8 coutries, 32 strange situation studies, 15 US, 1990 children total
       • Secure attachment was most common
         • 75% GB - 50% CH
       • Insecure Resistant was least common
         • 3% GB - 30% Israel
       • Germany had high inscure avoidant compared to Japan
       • State variation within the US
   • JIn et al - Korean study of 87 children, more IR than IA

8. Bowlby Monotrophy

   • Law of continuity - consistant and predictable care is better
     • Law of accumulated seperation - less time away the better
       • Babies have innate social releasers which attract adult attention e.g. smiling
         • Sensitive period/Critical - 2 years old
           • Internal working model
             • Mental representation of a parent/infant relationship the child forms
             • A child's first experience of a loving relationship, they will expect this of all relationships

9. Ainsworth Strange Situation

   • Attachment judged on 5 behaviours
     • Exploration & secure base
     • Proximity seeking
     • Stranger anxiety
       • Procedure
         • 1. CG + Infant enter room
         • 2. Child explores
         • 3. Stranger tries to interact
         • 4. CG leaves
         • 5. CG returns + stranger leaves
         • 6. CG leaves child alone
           • Findings
             • Secure attachment - 75%
               • Explore, secure base, moderate seperation/stranger anxiety, happiness on return of CG
             • Insecure avoidant - 20-25%
               • Explore frrely, no anxiety, seeks no comfort when CG returns
             • Insecure resistant - 3%
               • Greater proximity, explore less, seperation/stranger anxiety, distrust in CG on return
         • 7. Stranger returns
         • CG returns
     • Seperation anxiety
     • Reunion behaviour

10. Institutionalisation - Romanian Orphans

    • Rutter adoption study
      • 165 orphans to GB, emotional, physical and cognitive devopment measured at 4, 6, 11, 15
        • 1/2 showed signs of mental retardation and malnourishment
          • IQ was dependent on adoption age, 6m (102), 2y (86), 2y+ (77)
        • Many had disinhibited and disorganised attachment
          • Disinhibited - friendly to everybody

11. Influence of Attachment

    • Internal Working Model
      • Relationship in later childhood
        • Secure children are less likely to be bullies, incesurely attached children have difficulties forming relationships
          • Romantic partners
            • MaCarthy
              • Secure had healthy friendships and love life
              • IR - problems maintaining relationships
              • IA - struggles to form intimate relationships