Attachment

Attachment

1. caregiver - infant interactions

   • attachment is an emotional tie or bond between two people and is reciprocal
     • reciprocity
       • when an infant responds to the actions of another person in the form of turn taking
         • actions of one person (ie. the primary caregiver) directly influence the actions of the other (ie. the infant)
           • interaction flows back and forth
             • from 3 months old, reciprocity increases in frequency as the infant and caregiver pay increasing attention to each others communication
               • showing this sensitive responsiveness whereby the caregiver pays attention sensitively towards the infants behaviour will lay a strong foundation for later attachment
                 • evaluation
                   • questionable reliability of testing children as infants move around randomly constantly so false positives may be given
                   • possibility of observer bias where researchers consciously or unconsciously interpret behaviour in such a way as to support their findings
                     • to address this more than one observer should be used to examine the inter observer reliabilty
                   • recent research has found that only securely attached infants engage in interactional synchrony suggesting meltzoff and moore may have overlooked personal differences
     • interactional synchrony
       • takes place when an infant mirrors the actions or emotions of another person e.g their facial expressions
         • also referred to as imitation
           • child will move their body or carry out the same act as their caregiver simultaneously and the two are said to be synchronised
             • this interaction serves to sustain communication between the two individuals
               • meltzoff and moore
                 • using controlled observation an adult model displayed one of three facial expressions or a hand gesture
                   • to start a dummy was placed in the babies mouth to prevent facial expression
                     • following adult models action the dummy was removed and the childs expressions were filmed
                       • clear association between infant behaviour and adult models behaviour
                         • findings suggest interactional synchrony is innate and reduces the claim thta imitative behaviour is learned
     • role of the father
       • used to be father stays at home whilst mother takes care of infant
         • recent times this has changed
           • psychologists disagree over the exact role of the father
             • some argue fathers are not biologically equipped to form an attachment due to their lack of oestrogen which underlies caring behaviour in women
               • others argue fathers don't take on a caregiver role but instead a playmate role
                 • finally some argue that fathers can demonstrate sensitive responsiveness and respond to the needs of their child therefore allowing for a strong personal bond
                   • research suggests that fathers can form secure attachments with their children if they are in an intimate marriage as fathers that report higher levels of marital intimacy displayed secure father-infant attachments
                 • research evidence that provides support for the role of the father as a playmate rather than a primary caregiver found that fathers play is more exciting to a child than mothers
               • research evidence to suggest this found fathers are less able to detect low levels of infant distress in comparison to mothers biologically so therefore the role of the father is biologically determined
     • evaluation
     • stages of attachment
       • asocial: birth - 2 months = shows similar responses to objects as they do to humans
         • indiscriminate attachment: 2 - 6 months = shows preference for human company over non-human company, can distinguish between people but are comforted indiscriminately without stranger anxiety
           • discriminate attachments: 7-12 months = shows preference for one caregiver displaying seperation and stranger anxiety, looks for protection from specific person and shows joy upon reunion
             • multiple attachments: one year onwards = shows attachment towards several different people such as siblings, grandparents etc. and typically form a month after primary attachment is formed
       • key study: Schaffer and Emerson
         • 60 babies 31 male and 29 female from working class families in Glasgow between 5 and 23 weeks at the start of the investigation
           • researchers visited the babies in their homes every month for the first 12 months and then once again at 18 months
             • researchers interviewed the mothers and observed the children in relation to seperation and stranger anxiety throughout everyday activities
               • results provided some support for the different stages of attachment for at 25-32 weeks 50% showed seperation anxiety towards mothers, expected of the discriminate attachment stage
                 • by 40 weeks 80% had a specific attachment and 30% had begun to form multiple attachments
                   • these results provide some support for Schaffers stages of attachment
         • evaluation
           • high external validity as it was conducted in the family home meaning they were more likely to act naturally
           • lacks population validity as only consisted of 60 working class mothers and babies discriminating against foreign and wealthy or poor families
           • social desirability bias as interview answers may have been adjusted to make the mother appear better than she was

2. animal studies

   • early research was done on non-human animals as they shared a biological similarity to humans and it stands to reason their behaviour would be egregious with our own
     • good because they have shorter life spans so longitudinal studies take less time to acquire and they breed faster
       • lorenz (geese)
         • to examine the phenomenon of imprinting in non-human animals where they form an attachment with the first large moving object they see
           • randomly divided goose eggs into a control and experimental group, control was born with mother goose and experimental was born with lorenz who then marked the hatchlings in his group to allow for differentiation
             • found that control would follow goose and experimental would follow lorenz whilst showing no attachment to their actual birth mother
               • lorenz noted this only occured within the critical period of 4-25 hours after hatching and the relationship was irreversible
       • harlows (monkeys)
         • examine extent to which food and comfort influence attachment in baby monkeys