Attachment

Attachment

Explanations of Attachment
1. Learning Theory
  1. Classical Conditioning
    1. The mother is associated with the pleasure of being fed (unconditioned response) with the mother (conditioned stimulus). The mother is then able to produce the response even without food.
  2. Operant Conditioning
    1. When the child is feed or attended to, it's needs are satisfied. This acts as a reward. The child is likely to repeat the behaviour. The primary care giver becomes the source of reward.
  3. WEAKNESS: Harlow and Harlow (1962) Did an experiment on infant monkeys and found they preferred a soft "monkey" rather than a food providing "monkey". Therefore attachment is not based on food but responsiveness.
  4. Efe tribe children are breastfed by many women but still are mostly attached to their mothers.
2. Bowlby's Theory
  1. Attachment is an innate response
    1. Lorenz (1937) Imprinting
  2. A care-giver is necessary for the child's survival
  3. Critical Period
    1. The critical period is the time where an attachment must form or it is impossible. There are long-term consequences of child without an attachment. This is period is the time up to 2.5 years
  4. Monotropy
    1. The idea that a chld has one main attachment which is more important than any other attachment she/he may form
  5. Internal working model
    1. Attachment is much like a blueprint for future relationships. This 'blueprint' is the internal working model. Securely attached children will form healthy relationships but insecurely attached children may believe they are not worthy of love or have intimacy issues.
  6. STRENGTH: Hazan and Shaver (1987) used a 'love quiz' and found a link between secure attachments and healthy relationships in later life. Insecurely attached children were jealous adults
  7. WEAKNESS: The critical period is too extreme. Children often develop string bonds with their adoptive parents years after the critical period.
A reciprocated bond between two people (infant and care-giver)
Types of Attachment
1. Ainsworth: The Strange Situation
  1. This was an observation on the behaviour of infants. A stranger enters the room and the parent leaves after having a few moments with the child in the room. Then after some time the parent returns and the stranger leaves quickly
  2. Securely Attached
    1. The child explores the room, and cries when the mother leaves. The stranger is no comfort and the child calms down once the mother returns
  3. Insecure-Avoidantly Attached
    1. The child does not explore and is indifferent to the surroundings and people. The child shows no change when the mother leaves and returns.
  4. Insecure-Resistantly Attached
    1. The child does not explore at all and is very distressed when the mother leaves. When the mother returns the child does not calm down for a long time. The child also may attempt to 'punish' the mother by pushing her away and huging her at the same time.
  5. Findings: 66% secure, 22% avoidant, and 12% resistant.
  6. WEAKNESS: This observation had low population validity as all the participants were middle-class americans. This is a weakness because it cannot be generalised to the whole target population, as they may act differently in this situation.
  7. Is the strange situation unethical? You may argue yes because the infants are under a considerable amount of stress. However Ainsworth argues that it is no more stressful than the child would experience on a regular basis
2. Attachment in different cultures
Disruption of Attachment
1. Deprivation
2. Privation
Day Care

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	Created by olivianwokenna about 10 years ago