attachment

attachment

1. caregiver infant interactions in humans

   • reciprocity
     • turn taking - both infant + mother respond to each others signals + each elicits a response from the other
       • Condon + sander
         • conversation occurs between mother + infant. Babies co-ordinate actions in time with adult speech. both parties elicit a response from each other even though only 1 can speek
   • attachment
     • emotional bond between 2 people
     • 2 way process that endures over time + serves the function of protecting an infant
   • reflect the actions + emotions of each other in a co-ordinated (synchronised way)
     • interactional synchrony
       • distinctive language pattern - motherese/ parentese. Draws the child into communication, establishing + cementing the relationship. slow, high pitched, repetitive + simple sentences. Sing-songy nature of communication
         • snow + ferguson
       • melzoff + moore
         • significant association with the models behaviour (facial expressions + hand movement) and the childs, with the child being able to imitate specific behaviour/ hand movements. - spontaneously
   • imitation may be be intentional - role of imitation on a childs development is unclear
     • behaviours (crying, imitation) may lead the adult to feel closer to the child, but this may not be intentional
   • stages in the development of infant attachment - Schaffer + Emerson
     • pre- attachment phase - 0-3
       • asocial - gradually show preference for social stimuli + content when with people
     • indiscriminate attachment phase - 3-7
       • enjoy company + distinguish between familiar + unfamiliar faces, not anxiety with strangers
     • discriminate attachement phase
       • develop attachment + distress from seperation, stranger anxiety
     • multiple attachment phase 9+
       • increasingly independant+ forms other bonds dependant on number of consistent relationships
     • suggests a fixed pattern of development - only approximate
     • physical development is changing - becoming more mobile
   • parent infant attachments - Schaffer + Emerson
     • babies become attached to mother first (around 7 months)
     • formed secondary attachments within a few weeks/ months
     • 75% of infants attachment to father within 18 months + 31% had 5+ attachments
     • 39% of cases, person who fed, changed + bathed was not primary attachment figure - attachment not related to fulfilling physical needs
     • data recorded by mothers, all p's from same social class + city
     • longitudinal -> internal validity + high ecological validity
   • role of the father
     • bowlby
       • father no emotional significance to infant - only economic + emotional support to mother
     • Grossman
       • quality of infant attachment to mother was related to childs attachment in adolescence - quality of fathers play related to quality of adolescent attachment
     • degree of sensitivity
       • Hardy
         • less able to detect low levels of infant distress
       • Lamb -when main caregiver, more sensitive to childs needs + became a safe base
     • sociology stats + mother caregiver + stays at home
     • types of attachment with own parents
       • Bernier et al - single parent fathers attachment was similar to attachment with own parents - no effect in married fathers
     • Marital intimacy
       • Belsky- high levels related to secure father- infant attachments + low levels = insecure
     • supportive co parenting
       • brown - high levels of supportive co -parenting lined to secure attachment between father + child, but not mother + infant
     • Lamb - children prefer interacting with fathers when in a positive emotional state
     • children go on to have better relationships with peers, do better in school + give mother much needed time away from children

2. animal studies of attachment

   • harlow
     • all monkeys spent most time with cloth monkey, regardless of whether it had the feeding bottle
     • monkeys fed from wire mother then went to the cloth
     • when frightened + playing with new objects stayed close to the cloth
     • infants do not develop an attachment to those who feed them, but to those who provide contact support
     • all developed abnormally, socially (froze/fled when approached), sexually (abnormal mating behaviour + did not cradles babies)
     • spent time with peers before 3 moths seemed to recover. 6 moths with a wire monkey something they did not recover from
     • ethical issues/ cant generalise/ practical value
   • lorenz
     • chicks that saw him first treated him like their mother + performed mating displays to him + ignored other geese
     • chicks that saw mother first followed her + performed mating displays to other geese
     • critical period of a few hours to form an attachment - if they didn't imprint in this time, they never would
     • may not generalise to humans
       • research support - chicks shown yellow rubber gloves, imprinted on them

3. explanations of attachment

   • learning theory - behaviour is learnt rather than inborn
     • clasical conditioning
       • attached to those who feed them + look after physical needs. humans have drives which we are motivated to reduce- cargiver who feeds infant becomes associated with pleasure + learn to appreach them to have their needs satisfied
         • UCS (food) -> UCR (comfort) NS (Mother) + UCS (food) -> UCR (comfort) mother then becomes CS CS (mother) -> CR (comfort)
     • operant conditioning
       • once made association, engage in behaviour that encourage the caregiver to remain present. reinforcing - repeat behaviour to get same response/ reward. unplesant response = not likely to be repeated
       • food = primary reinforcer - pleasure
         • mother is secondary reinforcer - food helps to reduce unplesant feelings
           • babies attach to mother as she is seen as a source of reward
     • Scaffer + emerson - lots of children not attached to those who feed them
     • Harlow - contact comfort
     • reductionist
     • replicable + standardised e.g. pavlov + skinner
   • bowlby's monotpropic theory