Attachment

Four stages of attachment

1. ASOCIAL (0-8 weeks)

   • behaviour towards humans and inanimate objects is fairly similar but they show preference towards people.

   • have preference for people they have been comforted by.

2. INDISCRIMINATE (2-7 months)

   • start to display obvious social behaviour and a clear preference towards people especially family ones.

   • usually accept cuddles from anyone as have no separation or stranger anxiety.

3. SPECIFIC (7-12 months)

   • babies start to display classic attachment towards the person who they have the most interaction and responses with (65% of time is mother)

   • have anxiety towards strangers and when the figure is absent

4. MULTIPLE (1 year+)

   • extend attachment to multiple people who they regularly spend time with

   • secondary attachments e.g. grandparents, babysitter, siblings

Schafer and Emerson’s study of attachment

did an observational study on the formation of early infant-caregiver interactions

60 babies (31 male, 29 female) in skilled working class families from Glasgow

visited babies in home every month for a year and again at 18 months, and asked mum questions about baby’s protests in 7 everyday activities e.g. baby left alone in a room

also assessed stranger anxiety, their response to unfamiliar people, by the researcher approaching the child at each home visit

Evaluating Schaffer and Emerson’s study of attachment

Good external validity: most of the observations were made by parents during ordinary activities and reported to the researchers so babies would behave naturally as with the parent.

• mothers being observers will not be objective- they will be biased about what they notice and how accurately they report it.

Practical application for day care

• asocial and indiscriminate: straight forward as babies can be comforted by a skilled adult- should start day care now

• specific: day care with unfamiliar adult (especially beginning it) may be problematic

Study done longitudinally so has good internal validity as no participant variables

Poor evidence for asocial stage- measuring attachment here is hard as young babies have poor coordination and are fairly immobile so anxiety may be shown in subtle unobservable ways which makes it difficult for mothers to observe and report back.

Only used one sample in an individualistic culture (collectivist cultures tend to have multiple attachments from an early age) meaning research is not generalisable

Just because a baby gets distressed when an individual leaves the room does not signify attachment

• Bowlby: children often get distressed when a playmate leaves but this does not signify attachment

• therefore Schaffer and Emerson’s study does not distinguish between secondary attachment and playmates

Reciprocity

when each person responds to the other and elicits a response (turn taking)

e.g. baby smiles, the mum talks back

• alert phases- babies periodically signal that they are ready for interaction and pay close attention to expressions (mums notice 2/3 of time)

• active involvement- infant and caregivers initiate interactions and respond appropriately. Brazelton

Interactional Synchrony

perform actions in unison to mirror each other

• babies will be depressed if there is no synchrony or they are not responded to e.g. still face, Tronick

• Meltzoff and Moore: begins as young as 2 weeks old. an adult displayed one of 3 facial expressions or a gesture and there then was a significant association with how the baby would respond.

• Isabella: observed 30 mother and babies together and their synchrony, assessed their quality of attachment. high levels of synchrony associated with better quality mother- baby attachments.

Attachment and the 3 characteristics

A particular type of emotional bond between the infant and the caregiver shown with reciprocal affection, frequent interaction, proximity and selectivity.

1. Proximity- try to stay physically close to attachment figure

2. separation distress- people show signs of anxiety when attachent figure leaves their presence

3. secure based behaviour- make regular contact even when we are independent of them e.g. baby returning to mum when playing

evaluating caregiver interactions

filmed observations in a lab meaning other distractions can be controlled, observations can be recorded in order to analyse them later, and different researchers can agree on the views of data. babies will not show demand characteristics

research into care-giver interactions has practical applications in parenting skills training.

• Crotwell, after a 10 minute ineraction therapy, interactional synchrony was improved in 20 pairs.

hard to observe and interpret a baby’s behaviour as studying small hand movements or subtle changes in expression which could be a response or may just be a twitch e.g. a smile may be a response or could just be passing wind. you cannot know from the baby’'s perspective

observing a behaviour does not tell us its developmental importance

• Feldman: synchrony and reciprocity give names to patterns in behaviour but are not useful in understanding child development as does not explain the purpose

→ evidence from other researchers that early interactions are important e.g. Isabella- interactional synchrony helped make good quality attachments, relieve stress and improve language skills

Statistics on attachment to the father

sole first attachment- 3%

joint first attachment- 27%

75% of babies formed attachment with their father after 18 months

Grossman’s research on role of the father

did a longitudinal study on babies till teenage years

researchers looked at both parent’s behaviour and relationship with child, and compared it to the quality of baby’s later attachment to other people

• quality of mother attachment was related to attachment in adolescene (not the father)

• quality of the father’s play with baby was related to adolescence attachment

• fathers have different role from mothers- more to do with play and stimulation, less to do with emotional development

Field’s research on role of the father

filmed 4 month old babies in face-to-face interactions with:

primary caregiver mother

primary caregiver father

secondary caregiver fathers

• primary caregivers (mothers and fathers) spent more time smiling, imitating and noticing- part of attachment process in reciprocity and interactional synchrony

• a baby’s relationship with their primary attachment figure forms basis of all later close emotional attachments

• when fathers are primary caregivers they are able to adopt the emotional role typically associated with mothers

• fathers only express emotion focysed and responsiveness when they are primary caregivers

Evaluating the role of the father

Research can offer economical advice to parents

• parents and prospective parents often worry who should be the primary caregiver (may even stop them having kids)

• mothers may feel pressured to stay at home, and fathers at work due to stereotypes

• this research can be reassuring as fathers can be primary caregivers e.g. mother can be breadwinner and dad stay at home if that is best for their family’s income

Lack of clarity over the question ‘what is the role of the father’

• some researchers want to understand role of the father for:

  • secondary attachments: fathers have a distinct role in play

  • primary attachments: they can be nurturing

• therefore hard to answer as a specific role is not being discussed

Findings vary according to the methodology used

longitudinal studies show fathers as secondary attachment figures have distinct roles in play and stimulation

• this suggests, however, that children whose parents are lesbian or whose mother is single, lack something

• McCallum and Golombok: show children from non- nuclear families do not develop differently

• therefore, questions about father’s distinct role remain unanswered

→ however, lines of research may not actually be in conflict as parents in non-nuclear families may adapt to include this role played by fathers so children are not bereft. when present, fathers have distinct role but families can adapt to not having a father.

Preconceptions about how fathers should behave (through media e.g. father’s stricter) may cause unintentional researcher bias so researchers record what they expect to see rather than objective reality