ATTACHMENT THEORY - WEEK 9

What is attachment

a deep and enduring emotional bond that connects one person to another across time and space

why has the relationship between young children and their attachment figures recieved a lot of attention

its percieved power of this relationship to shaoe children’s social and emotional development

what are two theories that attempt to explain why infants attach

cupbaord love (fraud) and learning theory

what is the cupboard love theory

child’s main drive is to feed, mother source of food and this drives reduction

what is the learning theory

mother associated with food

what is the attachment bond based on

psychological and emotional comfort (not food), evidence comes from many sources including ethological research

what did harry harlow do

raised rhesus monkeys without their mothers.

each one lived alone in a cage with two stationary figures: “a wire mother” offering nutrition and a “cloth mother” offering what Harlow called ‘contact comfort’

the infant monkeys consistently preferred the cloth mother and ran to the cloth mother when frightened

what did Lorenz discover

imprinting to humans by studying other species

what did Lorenz argue

imprinting was irreversible after the critical period and is a biological mechanism for attachment in birds

who was john bowlby

a psychoanalysit who broke away from traditional psychoanalytic thinking in his development of attachment theory in 1940s

how was bowlby influenced

by painful experiences in his own childhood, volunteerinf experience at a school for maladjusted children, psychiatric training and research

what suggested a critical period

studying romanian orphanages

what did bowlby do a retrospective study of

childhood experience of boys referred to child guidance centre

what was the maternal deprivation hypothesis proposed by bowlby

a lack of attachment relationship leads to ongoing relationship difficulty, behavioural and emotional problems

what did Skeels and Dye research

orphans raised in ‘normal’ institutions vs womens care home

what did robertson and robertson observe

children separated from mothers faired well if rhey had access to an alternative single substitue carer

what did Bowlby observe

there were no differences from control group in behaviour or social relationships when observinf children hospitalised under age 4 and followd up between 7-14

why did maternal employment cause concern

people thought it could impair mothers’ teaching activites but that there is also concern over the level of emtional deprivation

what did mendolia discover in 2014

children of working mothers are no more likely to smoke, have low self-esteem, feel dissatisfied with life or leave education at 16

what was bowlby’s central conclusion

what is believed to be essential for mental health is that an infant and yourg child should experience a warm, intimate and continuous relationship with his mother (or permanent mother substitute) in which both find satisfaction and enjoyment

what was underlooked to do with bowlby

he emphasised social context, health and economic factors, not the baby and mother in isolation. in his pracice he worked with mothers and their childhood experiences in order to help them to help their children

if society values their children what else must they do

cherish their parents

what did bowlby argue the human critical period was

between 6 months and 3 years

what is required durinf the critical period

AT LEAST one person giving continuous love and care - monotropy

what would happen if there were significant separations between child and primary caregiver

there would be serious detrimental effects on development

who co-developed attachment theory with bowlby

mary Ainsworth

what did ainsworth do

conducted intensive obervational studies of mothers and babies under 2 years old - began in Uganda and continued later in the US

what concept did ainsworth create and what did it mean

concept of secure base - mother allwos child to maintain a balance between closeness and explorationhat w

what was maternal sensitivity linked to

quality of attachment

what was the strange situation

behaviour of infants observed over 20 minutes in 8 stages

1. mother and baby in playroom

2. stranger enters

3. mother leaves

4. mother returbs

5. both adults leave

6. stranger returns

7. mother returns

what did the strange situation result in

categorisation of the quality of attachment as either secure or insecure

how was insecure attachment subcategorised

insecure-avoidant and insecure-ambivalent

what was the third subcategory of insecure attachment added by main and Solomon

disorganised

what was observed for secure attachment

infant plays with the toys and potentially interacts with the stranger while mother is present - may show distress when mother leaves, quite easily comforted by her when she returns - associated with sensitive care giving, responsive to infant’s needs

what is observed in insecure attachment avoidant

infant tends to be distant and aloof in mother’s presence - emotionless or superficial play - on return, infant will ignore mother - associated with impatient, unresponsive or intrusive care giving

what is observed in ambivalent-insecure attachment

adapts poorly to strange enviornment - very distressed when mother leaves - difficult to comfort on return - minimal or no interaction with stranger - associated with inconsistent care giving

what is observed in disorganised insecure attachment

no organised, observable way of dealing with stress, inconsistent behaviours, tendency to be wary of mother and is associated with frightening or fearful caregiving but the origins of disorganised attachment are highly complex

what tends to be stable over time

attchment relationship with parents in infancy

what do children categorised as securely attched in infancy demonstrate

a wide range of positive benefits throughout childhood and adolescence

what are the limitations of attachment research (4)

1. culturally contained and biased - different patterns in German and Japenese babies

2. attchment is a quality of relationships, not an individual trait - common for infants to be securely attached to one parent and insecurely attached to another

3. may actually measure child temperment

4. underestimates the role of resilience

what is the problem with attachment style

it is not always stable over time

which groups show to gain attachment security more so

children who had little maternal support in early childhood but more in adolescence

what is resilience

normal development under difficult conditions

what does maltreatment affect

rates of secure/insecure attachment but does not determine them

what is the evidence of resilience through looking at Harlow’s monkeys

1. isolated monkeys became extremely disturbed, usually terrified of other monkeys, displayed aggressive and withdrawn behaviour

2. if separation from mother continued beyond 3 months effects seemed irreversible

3. by adolescence these monkeys were usually unable to mate, when females did produce offspring, unable to care for them

what was seen in a sample of 6 month old monkeys that had been reared in isolation, withdrawn and depressed

when placed with adult monkeys or peers, they were attacked and didnt respond well to others and when placed with normally reared 3 month old monkeys, after 6 moths isolates had barely any social deficits

what are the new developments in the attachment theory (3)

1. moving away from focus on monotropy towards recognisition of alloparenting (e.g. the grandmother effect)

2. one of the strongest predictors of resilience to trauma is the presence of any supportive adult

3. risk of postpartum depression is lower when a mother is supported by helpful others

4. a small hierarchy of attachments may be best

what did winnicott argue for

the importance of mother’s sensitive response to infant but also for the importance of mother allowing infant to experience tolerable frustrations

what is'n’t an ideal mother

a perfect mother who alleviates all distress immediately

what is a ‘good enough mother’

aim to be appropriately responsive and encourage independence

what was found about maternal employment

working mothers don’t necessarily spend less time with children; may instead spend less time on chores