An attachment
is a long term
emotional bond
which is
reciprocal. There
is a desire for
physical as well
as emotional
closeness
Schaffer saw attachment as "a long
enduring, emotionally meaningful tie
to a particular individual"
Ainsworth saw it as "a relatively long enduring tie in which
the partner is important as a unique individual...and
where there is a desire to maintain closeness to the
partner"
What are the signs of
attachments in an
individual's behavior?
(Maccoby)
Proximity
seeking -
wanting to
maintain
closeness and
spend time
together.
Distress on
separation or
separation protest -
seen in the howling
baby or in
homesickness in an
older child
(SEPARATION
ANXIETY)
Joy on
reunion - seen
in a welcome
of hugs,
smiles and
clinginess
Orientation to the
other person - attention
is directed to the other
and attempts are made
to engage them in
interaction or activity
Secure base effect - the individual's
presence give an infant confidence to
explore an unknown environment
but they check in often
Stranger anxiety - fear of strangers
These behaviors also
reflect the child's
personality, their mood,
their wellbeing and their
previous experiences of
separation. therefore, they
may not be valid or true
measures of attachment.
Caregiver-infant
interaction in humans:
reciprocity and
interactional synchrony
Reciprocity - Infants coordinate their actions
with caregivers in a kind of
conversation. From birth babies
move in a rhythm when
interacting with an adult almost
as if they were taking turns
Interactional synchrony - A
slightly different kind of
interaction between infants and
caregivers is referred to as
interactional synchrony. One of
the first scientific studies on this
area by Meltzoff and Moore
(1977) found that infants as
young as 2-3 weeks old imitated
specific facial and hand gestures.
Schaffer and Emmerson -
Stages of development
60 working class
infants from Glasgow
aged 5 to 23 weeks
until they were one
years old
How? - the children were observed every 4 week and the
mother had to report the child's response to separation.
The children were all studied in their own homes
(naturalistic observation) and a regular pattern was
identified in the development of attachment. The babies
were visited monthly for about a year, their interactions
with their carer's were observed and their carers were
interviewed.
Evidence for the development of an attachment was that the baby
showed separation anxiety after the carer left.
Stage One - Indiscriminate Attachment: (up to three months) Very
young infants are asocial in that many kinds of stimuli (both social
and non social) produce a favorable reaction, such as a smile, very
few produce protest. During this time reciprocity and interactional
synchrony play a role in establishing the infant's relationship with
others.
Stage Two - The Beginnings of Attachment: (around 4 months)
Infants indiscriminately enjoy human company. They get upset
when an individual ceases to interact with them. From three
months smile more at familiar face and comforted easily be it a
regular care giver. Generally they are socialable.
Stage Three - Specific Attachment/ The First True Attachment: (7-9
months) Expresses a protest when separated from one certain
individual. They attempt to stay close to the person, and show
wariness of strangers. They form an attachment to a PRIMARY
ATTACHMENT FIGURE. The quality of the relationship is important, not
the quantity.
Stage Four - Multiple attachment: (10 months onward)
children begin to attach to others. By 18 months the majority
of infants have formed multiple attachments. For example:
grandparents, siblings and other relatives. These are
considered to be secondary attachments.
Evaluation: The data could be seen
as unreliable. The majority of the
data was based on the mothers
own reports. The mothers may
have forgotten to write things
down and tried to remember them
later on or the next day, or they
may have written social desirable
answers. The data could also
subjective. Also, it was conducted
in the 1960s, so the data is out
dated. The sample is biased as we
are unable to generalize it to a
wider population because it was
conducted on a small sample of
Glasweigen families. There are also
cultural variations as some
cultures rear their children
differently. Finally, some children
form multiple attachments earlier
or whilst forming their primary
bond,
Role of the Father
Schaffer found
that fathers were
far less likely to
be a primary
attachment
figure than
mothers. This
could be because
they lack the
emotional
sensitivity that
women offer
(biologically or
socially)
Oestrogen effect: The female
hormone underlies caring
behaviour
Grossman (2002)
Fathers have a different role in
attachments - one that is more to do
with play and stimulation and less to
do with nurturing
Schaffer and Emmerson found that only 3% of
fathers were the primary attachment figures.
This would differ today sa there is an increase in
single parent families and fathers have a larger
role in the household and child's life than in the
60s
Bowlby - The Evolutionary Perspective
The most influential explanation of
attachment was John Bowlby's theory.
This began in the 1940s. He argued that
attachment is an evolved mechanism
that ensures survival of the child. He
presented two key theories -
Attachment theory and maternal
deprivation theory.
1) Attachment is instinctive:
Attachment behaviours in babies
and carers have evolved through
natural selection to ensure the baby
survives to reproduce as an adult.
Babies have SOCIAL RELEASERS to
encourage care taking behaviour.
Parents' especially mothers, have
instincts to protect and nurture. If
they didnt their genes would be lost
from the gene pool
2) Monotropy: There is a single
attachment to one person which is
more important and is at the top of
the hierarchy.
3) Internal Working Model: This
relationship provides the child with
an internal working model or a
template for future relationships.
The child develops a model of
themselves and others in
relationships e.g. Am I lovable? Are
others trustworthy? Emotionally
secure infants become emotionally
secure adults. (the continuity
hypothosis)
4) The sensitive period: Attachments
should take place in the first three
years of life. Bowlby worked with
troubled adolescents suggested their
would be serious consequences if
this period was disrupted.
Bowlby drew on the work
of Lorenz. Lorenz studied
goslings and imprinting.
He discovered their was a
sensitive period of 13-16
hours in which the goslings
attached to the largest
moving object they saw
after hatching. The
tendency to imprint faded
after 32 hours.
Research Support -
the concept of an
internal working
model.