Attachment

Attachment

1. Evolutionary Perspective

   • Bowlby
     • Born with an innate tendency to develop attachments
       • Innate Programming
         • Infants born programmed to form attachments
           • Lorenz (1952)
             • Imprinting on Non- Humans
             • Geese
       • A Critical Period
         • Within the first 2 1/2 years
       • Continuity Hypothesis
         • A relationship with 1 special figure provides an infant with a Internal Working Model
           • Monotropy
     • Evaluation
       • + A major theory, useful
       • + Generates lots of research
       • + Great impact on how children are cared for
       • - How can some people cope with poor attachment?
       • - Based on post hoc assumption

2. Learning Theory

   • Classical Conditioning
     • Association
   • Operant Conditioning
     • Reinforcement
     • Dollard and Miller (1950)
       • Drive state when hungry
         • Learns that crying brings positive response (Food) (Primary Reinforcement)
           • Mother who supplies food (Secondary Reinforcement)
             • Attachment forms
               • Infant will form attachment with primary care giver
   • Evaluations
     • Harlow and Harlow (1962)
       • Importance of contact comfort
       • Infant Monkeys
       • Challenge
     • Reductionist
       • It more complicated than stimulus-response
   • Nurture

3. Definition and Types

   • A strong emotion tie that develops over time between an infant and their primary caregiver
   • Types of Attachment
     • Ainsworth and Bell (1970)
       • Strange Situation
         • Secure
           • Loved and Positive
         • Insecure - Avoidant
           • Unloved and Rejected
         • Insecure - Resistant
           • Angry and Confused
       • Case Studies
         • + Wartner (1994)
         • + Melhuish (1993)
         • - Lamb (1977)
       • Attachments vary by Culture
         • Takahashi (1990)
           • Cross Cultural Diferences
             • Universal
             • Culture - Bound
             • Culture
             • Subculture
           • Japan
   • Seperation Protest
   • Seperation Anxiety
   • Stranger Anxiety
   • Hypothesis
     • Caregiving Hpothesis
       • Good caregiving = Good attachment
     • Temperament Hypothesis
       • Correlation between early attachment types and later development

4. Disruption of Attachment

   • Deprivation
     • Loss of attachment relationship
       • Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis
         • Bowlby (1953)
           • Focuses on the importance of a continuous relationship between infant and mother
             • Must occur during the critical period
         • Evaluation
           • - Other Deprivation..
           • Rutter
             • Supports but refinements can be made
             • Bowlby confused cause and effect with association
             • Did not Distinguish between other types of deprivation
       • Research Evidence
         • Bowlby (1944)
           • Juvenile Thieves
             • 88 Children
               • 44 were thieves
               • 44 had commited no crimes
       • Seperation
         • Robertson and Robertson (1971)
           • A infant can be separated from mother if substitute emotion care is provided
             • Challenges Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis
           • + Skeels and Dye (1939)
         • Robertson and Bowlby (1952)
           • PDD Model
             • Protest
               • Kicking
             • Dispair
               • Child is calm, shows lack of interest
             • Detachment
               • Interaction with others occurs but no interest in mother when she returns
   • Privation
     • Attachment relationship never developed
       • Studies
         • Czech twins
         • Genie
       • Rutter (2007)
         • Recovery from privation possible
       • Hodges and Tizard (1989)
         • Effects of privation
         • Longitudinal Study
         • Ex-institutional Children

5. Day Care

   • Types of Day Care
     • Day Nurseries
       • Group Based
       • Staff-child ration
       • 26-40 Children
     • Childminders
       • Max 3 Children
       • Home-Based
   • Quality of Day Care
     • Ratio of Staff to Children
     • Staff Turnover
     • Physical Provisions
     • Staff Training/Dedication
     • Type of Children
     • Penelope Leach (1998)
       • Interviewed mothers about child development
       • Those cared for by mothers developed better
     • Social Development
       • Belsky and Rovine (1988)
         • Assessed Strange Situation
         • 20hrs+ per day in day care=more insecurely attached
       • Egeland and Hiester (1995)
         • Day Care =
           • Negative affect on Secure Children
           • Positive affect on Insecure Children
     • Consistency
       • Schaffer
     • Interaction
       • Howes
         • A group received training
         • Six months after
           • Children became more secure
           • Caregivers more sensitive
   • Day Care and Aggression
     • Sammons et al (2003)
       • Children spend 20hrs+ a week in nurseries are more likely to be anti social
         • Group based = more aggression
     • Sylva (2003)
       • EPPE Project (Effective Provision of Pre-School Education)
         • Diverse Sample
         • 6 Main types of Pre-School
         • Children Assessed Individually
           • And again when entered Primary School
         • Analysed Progress
         • Findings
           • Disadvantaged children wont have good social skills
             • Did better in a mixture of social backgrounds
           • Type of Pre-school affects development
         • Evaluation
           • + Made good contribution, been used at national and local scales
           • Not been applied widely enough
         • Implications
   • Day Care and Peer Relations
     • Clarke-Stewart (1994)
       • Positive effects of day care
         • Procedure
           • Strange Situation
           • Observed
             • Peer Relations
             • Strength of Attachment
         • Results
           • 2-3 year olds, good in social situations
           • High intensity day care children had same distress when mother left as low
         • Evaluation
           • + Controlled, easily replicated
           • - Artificial situation, lacks ecological validity
     • Main Conclusions
       • More time in day care=more friends
       • Age Child enters is vital for shaping social skills
   • Implications
     • Hospital Admissions
       • + Robertson
     • Adoption
       • + Singer
     • Theater of Attachment
       • Theurputic
         • Child Victim to Hero
     • Field
       • Sure Start Programme
         • More time in day care = more fiends and activities
         • Targets children that live in poverty
           • Under age of 4
           • Over 500 geographical areas
         • Less disadvantaged families benefit more than really disadvantaged
           • Teen Mothers
         • Less likely to be physically punished