Attachment

Attachment

1. An emotional two- way bond between two people that endures over time and can lead to behaviours such as clinging and proximity-seeking.

2. Explanations of Attachment

   • Learning Theory
     • All behaviour is learned
     • Classical conditioning
       • Learning through association
         • Associating food with the attachment figure
     • Operant Conditioning
       • Learning through reinforcement
         • Negative - Increasing behaviour to avoid punishment
           • Positive - increasing behaviour to get a reward
             • Punishment - Stopping the behaviour
     • STRENGTHS
       • We do learn through conditioning
     • WEAKNESSES
       • Harlow showed that food is less important than contact comfort
       • Supported by Schaffer & Emerson who found infants not necessarily attached to the adult who fed them
   • Bowlby's Theory
     • Attachment is innate and adaptive, related to imprinting (for survival)
       • Sensitive period for development of attachment, as with all biological systems
         • Caregiving is also innate and adaptive, aided by social releasers
           • Secure base provided for exploration
             • Primary attachment most important (monotropy) but secondary attachments are also important
               • Internal working model develops based on primary attachment relationship
                 • Continuity hypothesis - link between early attachment and later social/emotional development
     • STRENGTHS
       • Imprinting in animals, e.g. Lorenz
       • Sensitive period, e.g. Hodges and Tizard
       • Universality of attachment, e.g. Tronick et al.
       • Monotropy (primary attachments), e.g. Schaffer and Emerson
       • Caregiver sensitivity, e.g. Harlow
       • Continuity Hypothesis, e.g. Sroufe et al
     • WEAKNESSES
       • Other attachments important, e.g. fathers and siblings, but still may be primary and secondary attachment
       • Temperament hypothesis offers an alternative explanation, supported by Belsky and Rovine
     • INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
       • Different types of attachment - secure and insecure
     • CULTURAL VARIATIONS
       • Attachment may lead to dependence rather than independence in some cultures
     • APPLICATIONS
       • Parenting programmes, dealing with separation and day care

3. Deprivation

4. Privation

5. Daycare

6. Differences in Attachment

   • Types of Attachment
     • STRANGE SITUATION
       • Assessed response to mild stress, separation and stranger anxiety
         • Procedure consists of eight episodes, each designed to highlight a certain behaviour
           • From Van Ijzendoorn et al's meta analysis: - Secure attachment (62%) - Insecure-avoidant (155) - Insecure-resistant (9%)
             • Disorganised (15%) (Main and Solomon)
               • Also 'disinhibited' as a type
     • VALIDITY
       • Measures a particular relationship not an individual - e.g. Main and Weston evidence with fathers
       • But primary attachment creates attachment type - Bowlby
       • Construct validity demonstrated by research support for 4 types
       • Predictive validity demonstrated, e.g. Hazan and Shaver ('love quiz')
     • RELIABILTY
       • High inter-rater reliability(.94) in the Strange Situation
     • EFFECTS
       • Longitudinal studies show continuities, e.g. secure attachment = positive outcomes
       • Love quiz (Hazan and Shaver) looked at adult romantic styles
     • FACTORS INFLUENCING ATTACHMENT TYPE
       • Sensitivity
       • Maternal reflective functioning
       • Temperament
     • APPLICATIONS
       • 'Circle of Security', increases maternal sensitivty
   • Cultural Variation
     • Similarities - Ainsworth (Uganda), Tronick et al (the Efe), Fox (israeli kibbutzim