Attachment

Attachment

1. What is Attachment?

   • a two-way enduring / emotional tie to a specific person
     • Interactional Synchrony
       • imitating / copying care giver
         • Metlzoff & Moore (1977)
     • Reciprocity
       • recognising and responding to signals (mutual behaviour patterns)
         • Brazelton (1979)

2. Stages of Attachment

   • Schaffer & Emerson (1964)
   • 1. Asocial / Pre-Attachment
     • preference for human attention, increased role of reciprocity / interactional synchrony
   • 2. Indiscriminate
     • recognition of human faces / voices, no separation anxiety
   • 3. Specific / Discriminate
     • display stranger / separation anxiety, primary attachment figure is recognised
   • 4. Multiple Attachments
     • attachment with extended family members, weakened fear of strangers

3. Learning Theory

   • born as blank slates (behaviour is learnt from environment)
   • attachments are learnt from / based on rewards
   • importance on primary caregiver's role as a provider of food (cupboard love)
   • Classical / Operant Conditioning

4. Bowlby's Monotropic Attachment Theory

   • Adaptive
     • advantage (ensures survival of infant if secure attachment is formed)
   • Social Releasers
     • tendency to show innate behaviours of wanting contact with their primary caregiver e.g. reaching arms up, crying
   • Critical Period
     • importance of forming an attachment during this time, no attachment = damaged life (socially, physically, intellectually & emotioionally)
   • Monoptropy
     • importance of primary caregiver attachment
   • Internal Working Model
     • primary caregiver provides a set of instructions / expectations that the infant will use in the future

5. Harlow's Monkeys (1959)

   • studies performed on rhesus monkeys (to demonstrate the need for an early secure attachment)
   • Isolated Monkeys
     • failure forming relationships, aggressive, unable to communicate/ socialise with other monkeys, permantley damaging for offspring
   • Monkeys with Surrogate Mothers
     • cloth vs. wire, comfort over food, difficulty mating, poor parenting
   • Evaluation (AO3)
     • + closest answer to human behaviour / helped social workers (without testing on humans)
     • - no right to withdraw
     • - unnecessary emotional discomfort, lasting psychological harm
     • - difficult to generalise animal research with humans

6. Ainsworth (1970) Strange Situation

   • controlled observations to study different types of attachment
   • Secure
     • most desirable, signs of distress (when caregiver leaves), seeks caregiver for comfort
   • Insecure-Avoidant
     • emotionally unresponsive to caregiver
   • Insecure-Resistant
     • aware of strangers, stays distressed when caregiver leaves / returns
   • Evaluation (AO3)
     • + real world application / high reliability
     • - low internal validity, child temperament varies

7. Cultural variations

   • Van Ijzeldoorn & Krooenberg (1988)
     • investigated the proportions of each attachment type across a range of countries
       • secure - 50% China, 75% Britain
       • insecure resistant - least common
   • Evaluation (AO3)
     • + large sample, high internal validity, reduces anomalies
     • - unrepresentative of many cultures within a single county

8. Maternal Deprivation

   • disruption in formation of attachment during critical period (serious consequences)
     • Bowlby's 44 thieves case study
       • boys committing crimes due to lack of maternal care during infancy (explanation for unacceptable behaviour)

9. Effects of Institutionalisation

   • Romanian Orphanages
   • Poor Parenting
     • lack of internal working model
   • Physical Underdevelopment
     • speech inpaired, deprivation dwarfism (stunted growth)
   • Disinhibited Attachment
     • over-friendly towards strangers (multiple attachments), highly unusual behaviour
   • Interllectual Underfunctioning
     • stunted brain growth, poor cognitive development

10. Influence of Early Attachment on Adult Relationships

    • Hazen & Shaver (1987)
      • love quiz in local newspaper (questions about childhood relationships, present romantic relationships etc.)
      • adult attachment types are similar to infancy (stronger the attachment during infancy, the easier the formation of relationships in adulthood)
    • Behaviours Influenced by Internal Working Model
      • Childhood Friendships
        • securely attached during infancy = less isolated, more popular, empathetic
      • Mental Heath
        • insecure attachment during infancy = struggle to interact / relate to others
      • Poor Parenting
        • lack of internal working model = struggle to form attachment with own offspring (no set expectations passed down)
      • Romantic Relationships
        • secure attachment during infancy = longer lasting / successful romantic relationships
    • Evaluation (AO3)
      • + no gender bias (mixed sex studies)
      • - recalled info. may be flawed due to repressed unpleasant memories
      • - overly determinist (other counteracting research)