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includes the topics of carer-infant interactions,
What is the meaning of attachment?
Attachment is an emotional bond between an infant and their primary caregiver, characterized by a desire for proximity and a sense of security.
what is the meaning of reciprocity?
is when each person responds to another answer elicits a response from them eg. smiling, cooing
What is active involvement?
traditionally, babies were seen as the passive role but now caregiver or babies can take on the active role and initiate a response.
What is the alert phase?
It is when babies signal that they’re ready for interaction.
How much of the time do caregivers respond the alert phase?
2/3
What is interactional synchrony?
when the caregiver and the baby become synchronised and carry out the same action simultaneously.
what was the Meltzoff and Moore (1977) - A01
Observed the beginnings of international synchrony in babies as young as 2 weeks old.
Adult displayed one of 3 facial expressions or one of 3 gestures, and the babies' responses were recorded to show they mimicked these actions.
This study demonstrated that infants are capable of imitating adult behaviors, indicating an early form of social interaction and attachment.
Isabella et al
Assessed degreeof synchrony between mothers and their infants, finding higher levels of synchrony were associated with better attachment outcomes. This suggests that responsive interactions contribute to secure attachment.
One strength of Caregiver and infant interactions
Filmed in a lab setting - Other activities that could distract the baby can be controlled.
Observations can be recorded and analysed later researchers will not miss key behaviours.
More than one observer will record data and establish inter rater reliability.
One weakness of caregiver and infant interactions
Difficult to observe babies- Lack coordination, immobility observations are subtle have to rely on fetal movements
Another weakness of caregiver and infant interaction.
Synchrony does not tell us its developmental importance.
They exist but observing doesn’t tell us the purpose of their behaviours.
what is stage one of the Schafers attachment study?
Asocial stage : (First few weeks) babies recognise and start to form bonds; behave towards objects and humans similarly-some preference to familiar adults ; happier in the presence of other humans.
what is stage two of the Schafers attachment study?
Indiscriminate attachment: 2-7 months more social behaviour preference for people and recognise familiar people accept comfort from any adult.
what is stage three of the Schafers attachment study?
Specific attachment : 7 months - stranger + separation anxiety specific attachment for primary caregiver.
what is stage four of the Schaffers attachment study?
Attachment behaviour is expanded to familiar adults formation of secondary attachments by 1st year most of the infants had formed secondary attachment by then.
What method did Schaffer use?
60 babies 31 male and 29 female
the majority of families being from working class - skilled families
babies and mothers were visited at home 1p/m for a year then again at 18 months.
Asked mothers about protest in 7 separate situations.
E.g mother leaving the room -seperation anxiety
stranger anxiety.
Findings of Schaffer’s study
Between 25-32 weeks of age 50% of infants showed separation anxiety towards a particular adult.
The attachment was mainly towards an adult who were the most responsive.
By 40 weeks most infants had developed specific attachments and some had developed multiple.
One strength of Schafers study?
It is high in external validity - most of the observations were made by parents during everyday activities and reported to researchers through the dairy they kept.
If the researchers were present may make the baby more anxious.
Second strength of Schaffer study?
Has real world application- In the asocial and indiscriminate attachment stages have practical application in daycare.
In the asocial and indiscriminate attachment stages day care is likely to be straightforward as babies can be comforted by any skilled adult
parents can plan daycare using the methods of Schaffer.
A weakness of Schaffer’s study
Problems studying the asocial stage.
Young babies lack coordination and are fairly immobile.If babies less than 2 months old felt anxiety in everyday situations they might have displayed this quite subtle/hard to observe.
when do babies attach to their fathers?
Schaffer did find that infants usually attach to their mothers first.
In following weeks infants had usually formed attachments to others family members including fathers.
What percentage of fathers did babies attach to first ?
3%
Do fathers have a distinctive role?
Grossmann research found out that a father's quality of attachment was less important for adolescent attachment into their teens.
This shows fathers have a different role in attachment one to do with play and stimulation rather than emotional care.
Fathers as primary caregivers?
Field et al : Observed face to face interactions between infants + primary caregiver mother, fathers and secondary fathers.
Primary caregiver fathers spent more time like mothers smiling, imitating that of a secondary caregiver father.
One weakness of role of a father.
Confusion over the research question : Grossmann et al focuses on the role of the father as a secondary attachment while others focus on their role being the primary showing how their is no distinctive question.
Strength of role of the father
Real world application- agonising decisions over role can cause a lot of pressured confusion to the point where prospective parent could start considering wether or not to have children at all.
But this study showing that their is no negative effect on the development of the child will help many couples.
2nd weakness of the role of the father.
conflicting evidence: Grossman et al suggests father have a distinctive role in child development involving play and stimulation Mccallum found that children without a father do not develop differently.This means the question of wether fathers have a distinctive role remains unclear.
What was Conrad Lorenz procedure?
Randomly divided a clutch of geese eggs - half raised with the mother and half in an incubator.
Lorenz was the first moving thing the gooses saw after hatching(Incubator group).
Findings of Lorenz study?
After hatching the incubator group followed Lorenz wherever he went, the control group followed the mother - even after mixing the group.
What is imprinting?
Birds attach to the first moving object they see.
what is the critical period?
Time period in which imprinting has to occur or it won’t take place at all.
What is sexual imprinting?
Imprinting would later lead to courtship behaviour later being displayed.
One strength of the Lorenz study
Advance to support it: chicks were exposed to simple shapes combinations that moved and then when exposed to a range of combos they followed the original shape more closely.
One weakness of the Lorenz study
Cannot be generalised due to it being studied on non - human animals so it was difficult to say that humans would act the same way. Its even different with other animals imprinting different between mammals and birds.
What is the Harlow monkey study?
16 baby monkeys separated from their mothers and were raised with 2 surrogate mothers - one made out of wire and the other a cloth with a warm hot water bottle.
What were the findings of Harlow’s monkey study?
The baby monkeys spent most of their time with the cloth covered mother regardless of where the milk was.
One weakness for the Harlow monkey study
Unethical practices- the monkey was taken from their biological mothers and after the experiment many of the monkeys never recovered and were left with separation anxiety.
One strength of the Harlow study
It has real world applications - social workers realised that the lack of bonding with a mother may develop a risk factor in development
Zoos have also adopted adequate attachment figures for wild monkeys.
what is classical conditions?
Learning to associate to stimuli together so that the caregiver and baby begin to respond to one in the same was able to rescind to each other.
what is operant conditioning?
Explains why babies cry for comfort - crying leads to a response from the caregiver as long as the caregiver provides the correct response - crying is reinforced because it produces a pleasurable consequence.
What is drive reduction?
Attachment is a secondary drive learned by association between the caregiver and the satisfaction of a primary drive sears et al suggests ; As caregivers provide food the primary hunger drive becomes generalised to them.
Counter ervidence for learning theory -Lorenz geese
Animal studies - Lorenz geese imprinted on him before being fed and even added the variable of adding the biological mother however they still separated back into the group of Lorenz.
Counter evidence -Animal studies -Harlow’s monkey’s
The monkeys still spent more time with the cloth mother regardless of who was feeding them shows they went for comfort rather than food.
Strength of Classical Conditioning
Babies associate the feeling of warmth and comfort for a particular adult.Could influence the baby choice of their attachment figure.
What is monotropy ?
Its a part of Bowlby theory.
Placed influence on attachment to 1 particular caregiver
This attachment is different and more important
The more time spent with the PCG the better.
What are social releases?
Babies are born with a set of cute behaviours both physical and behavioural.
It encourages attention from adults - activate adult attachment systems and makes the adult feel love for the infant
Triggers the innate predisposition.
What is the critical period of Bowlby?
Its a window of 6 months were the PCG and the baby build a relationship.
This is when attachment is most active and becomes harder to develop after 2 years.
What is the Internal working model?
A mental representation of attachment to their PCG.
A model of what a relationship should look like
A template for future relationships
A loving and reliable caregiver ——→ Expects all relationships to be like that
vise versa for a cold and not reliable caregiver
Support for the internal working model
Bailey et al : Tested the idea that patterns of attachment is passed on throughout generations.
99 mothers were measured on the attachment of their own primary caregiver attachment and it showed mothers who had poor attachment to their own caregivers had poor attachment with their babies.
However Bailey did not factor other factors like history of depression or anxiety.
A limitation of monotropy theory
The evidence for the only attachment to one PCG is unclear.
Schaffer found that although most babies attach to 1 there was a significant minority which did have multiple attachment and still had a good relationship f attachment with the PCG.
5 categories used to judge attachment
Proximity seeking
Exploration and secure
Stranger anxiety
Response to reunion with caregiver after separation for a short period of time
separation anxiety
The procedure has seven episodes each lasting three minutes.
Baby is encouraged to explore caregiver
Stranger enters and talks to caregiver approaches baby
Caregiver leaves
Caregiver returns, stranger leaves
Caregiver leaves baby alone
Stranger returns
caregiver returns
What was the procedure for the Strange Situations study?
The procedure involved observing a child’s reactions to a series of separations and reunions with their caregiver in a controlled environment. It typically includes a sequence of events: the child is introduced to a playroom, left alone, and then reunited with the caregiver while a stranger enters, allowing researchers to assess attachment styles.
What were the 5 hypothesis that they were looking for in the strange situation study?
Proximity seeking
Explanation and secure base behaviour
Stranger anxiety
Seperation anxienty
Response to reunion
findings of the strange situation study - secure attachment
Secure attachment:These babies explore happily but regularly return back to their secure base.They show moderate separation distress +Stranger anxiety need comfort upon reunion - 66% of babies were secure
Insecure -Avoidant attachment: These children explore freely but do not display proximity seeking and do not have to return to secure base regularly they do not require comfort.
findings of the strange situation study - Insecure avoidant
Insecure -Avoidant attachment: These children explore freely but do not display proximity seeking and do not have to return to secure base regularly they do not require comfort.
Parents:Emotional unavailable / unresponsive- discourage crying and encourage premature independence
22% are classified as insecure avoidant
Findings of the strange situation study- Insecure- Resistance attachment.
Baby explores less and seeks greater proximity.
Shows considerable stranger and separation anxiety.
Resists comfort when reunited with caregiver.
One strength of strange situations
Good predictive - Attachment type predicts later development.For example secure babies typically have greater success at school.
In contrast insecure - Resistant attachment is associated With the worst outcomes eg.bullying.
This is evidence for the validity of the concept because it can explain future outcomes.
One limitation of strange situations
May be a culture-bound test - Might not have the same meaning in countries outside Europe and the US where it was created.Cultural differences in children experiences may mean they respond differently.This means its difficult to know what the strange situation is measuring in some countries and cultures.
A strength of Strange situations
It had good inter-rater reliability- Different observers watching the same baby agree on attachment type.This may be because the strange situation takes place under controlled conditions and because the behavioural categories are easy to observe.This means that we can be confident that the attachment type of a baby identified in the strange situations does not just depend on who is observing them.
Why is continued emotional care essential- Bowlby theory of maternal deprivation
It is necessary for normal emotional and intellectual development.
Why may separation lead to maternal deprivation- Bowlby theory of maternal deprivation
Bowlby believed that mother-love in infancy is as important for mental health as are vitamins and proteins for physical health.owH
How are separation and deprivation different.
Separation means the child not being physically in the presence of the primary attachment figure.
Deprivation means losing emotional care as a result of separation.
How can deprivation be avoided
An alternate emotional care is offered thus separation dosent always cause deprivation.
How long is the critical period
2 ½ years
What happens if a child is separated during/after the critical years?
It will lead to psychological damage
There will be a continuing risk up to age 5
Lower IQ
Affectionless psychopathy
Procedure of the 44 thieves study
Bowlby studied 44 juvenile thieves, assessing their backgrounds and comparing with a control group of emotionally disturbed children. The study involved interviewing for signs of affectionless psychopathy.
Type of sample in the 44 thieves study
The sample consisted of 44 juvenile thieves, who were compared with a control group of emotionally disturbed children.
Findings of the 44 thieves study
14 out of 44 juvenile thieves displayed signs of affectionless psychopathy.
A majority had suffered prolonged separation from their mothers during the critical period (2 ½ years).
Separation during this time is linked to emotional and psychological issues.
One limitation of Bowlby theory of maternal deprivation
The evidence for maternal deprivation is flawed -Its open to bias Bowlby himself assessed both deprivation and psychopathy knowing what he hoped to find.
Had no solid evidence originally had no solid evidence on which to base his theory of maternal deprivation
Second limitation of Bowlby theory of maternal deprivation
Bowlby confused deprivation and privation
Rutter (1981): Made the distinction between deprivation (Separation from an attachment figure) and privation ( Failure to form attachment.) - privation had more serious effects.
Meaning Bowlby probably exaggerated the effects of deprivation on development.
Procedure of Romanian Orphan studies
What was the procedure of the Romanian Orphan studies?
The Romanian Orphan studies examined the development of children raised in Romanian orphanages following the end of communism during the early 1990s.
The studies involved a group of children living in severely neglectful conditions in the orphanages, which were compared to a control group of children who were adopted into nurturing families.
Researchers conducted longitudinal assessments to monitor their emotional and psychological growth over time, focusing on their attachment styles and developmental progress, with evaluations taking place from infancy through early childhood.
Findings of a Romanian orphan studies
Half of the orphans showed delayed intellectual developments when they came to the UK.
Frequency of inhibited attachment related to the age of the adoption - children adopted at 6 months were clingy, attention seeking and indiscriminate affection to strangers.
Support: Bowlby theory that there is a sensitive period in the development of attachments - a failure to form an attachment before the age of 6 months appears to have long lasting effects.
Effects of insituationalisation
Quasi autism
Low IQ
One strength of the Romanian orphan study
Has real world application : Results from the research have led to improvements in the way children are cared for in institutions.
Children’s homes now avoid large number of caregivers for each child they only have 2 key workers who play a central role.
This means children in institutional care have a chance to develop normal attachments and disinhibited attachment is avoided.
2 strength of the Romanian Orphan study
Fewer confounding variables than other research - There are many orphan studies before the Romanian study involving children who have lost or trauma before they were institutionalised.
This meant it was hard to observe the effects of institutional on its own.The children were also effected by other confounding variables
This means we can be fairly use the differences in institutionally-cared for children are the result of this type of care.
One limitation in the Romanian orphan study
Lack of data on adult development : We cannot be sure wether the children studied have permanent effects because we only have data as far as their early twenties.
This means that Romanian orphan studies have not yet been yielded their most important findings some children may catch up.
Why is the first attachment important for future relationships?
It provides a template that will effect the nature of their future relationships.This is due to the influence of the internal working model created by that first attachment.
What do good first attachment at early age do?
A child who’s relationship is wit a reliable attachment figure assumes this is how all relationships are suppose to be.They will then seek out functional relationships and behave functionally within them
What do bad first attachment at early age do?
A child with bad experiences of their first attachment will being these experiences to bear on later relationships.This may mean they struggle to form relationships in the first place or they will not know how to behave in them.
Link with friendships and bullying
Securely attached babies tend to go on to form the best quality childhood friendships.
Securely attached children are likely to be involved in bullying whereas insecure - avoidant children are likely to be victims and insecure -resistant are most likely to be bullies.
One strength on influence of early attachment on later relationships
Strong research support : There are many studies showing a link between infant attachment type and later development including bullying success , in romantic relationships and parenting.
Fearon and Roisman (2017)
Hazan and Shaver ( 1987) The love quiz.
One limitation on influence of early attachment on later relationships
Validity issues with retrospective studies : Most studies assess participants attachment type in adulthood (Not infancy ) using questionnaires or interviews These rely on honest answers.
A problem with these studies is that its done in late childhood and adulthood and are assumed for infancy.
Meaning the measures of attachment may not be valid.
Note 
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