attachment

what alert phase is

when a baby signals they are ready for interaction

how often mothers pick up on baby’s alert phases

2/3 of the time

when alert phase happens more often

3 months. verbal signals and facial expressions.

what reciprocity is

responding to the other and eliciting a response

who initiates reciprocity

mother and baby play active role. both initiate.

what interactional synchrony is

repeating the others actions in a co-ordinated way

two observations to support interactional synchrony

meltzoff and moore - observed adults and infants. adults did 1 of 3 gesture or facial expression. infant filmed and investigated by independent observers. found association between adult action and infant action.

isabella et al - observed 30 mother and infant to find associated between mother-infant attachment and interactional synchrony. increased IS meant better degree of mother-infant attachment.

strength of interactional synchrony and reciprocity

controlled observation helped capture fine details - multiple angles. no demand characteristics from babies ofc. increased validity.

limitation of interactional synchrony and reciprocity

don’t know if behaviour has a special meaning - observed very small details like actions. dont know if the baby did this with conscious effort. dont know babies perspective.

feldman says we still don’t know the purpose of IS + R - only described actions. not that useful. however, some research shows IS + R helped mother-infant attachment and stress relief.

schaffer and emerson role of father

attachment forms with mother first.

in 75% of infants studied, they formed secondary attachments with father by 18 months.

grossman role of father

longitudinal study to find relationship between parents behaviour and quality of attachment in children.

mothers and fathers play different roles.

father are for play, mothers are for nurturing.

field role of father

wanted to find out why fathers can be the primary caregiver.

filmed 4 months old in face-to-face interactions with primary caregiver mother, father, and secondary caregiver mother.

found that PC fathers took on a maternal role and were more nurturing.

suggests level of responsiveness is more important than gender of parent.

role of father eval

inconsistent findings - research into father has different aims: why fathers are secondary caregivers and why they’re primary caregivers. the former found fathers act different from mother. the latter found fathers took on a maternal role.

grossman vs other studies - grossman said that fathers have a role in development but other studies have differed. found that same-sex parent infants with no father don’t differ from other. this suggests secondary caregiver fathers arent important.

fathers don’t tend to become primary caregivers - traditional gender roles where mothers are more nurturing. female hormones (oestrogen) biologically make mothers more nurturing.

schaffer and emerson glasgow study

60 infants - 31 boys, 29 males. wanted to measure attachment and stranger anxiety. all working-class families studied at own home. visited 1 month until 1 year old, then visited at 18 months. mothers had to answer questions on if the baby experienced stranger or separation anxiety in 7 everyday separations.

at 25-32 weeks, 50% showed separation anxiety and formed specific attachments. at 40 weeks, 80% had specific attachments, 30% had multiple.

schaffer and emerson glasgow study eval

longitudinal study - not cross-sectional design. no participant variables. same babies over long time.

good external validity - done at home. no unnatural behaviour because mother observers behaviour, not researcher.

limited sample characteristics - all working class in glasgow. done 5 years ago. lacks temporal validity. cant generalise.

stages of attachment and short desc

1. asocial (first few weeks) - behaviour towards humans and inanimate objects are the same. slight preference over adults that calm them.

2. indiscriminate (3-7 months) - preference to humans. recognises familiar adults. cuddly to all adults.

3. specific (from 7 months) - stranger and separation anxiety. primary attachment figure is the reciprocal adult.

4. multiple attachment (little bit after specific) - s + e’s study found 1 month after specific, 29% babies formed multiple attachment. by 1yo, majority have multiple.

stages of attachment eval

difficulty distinguishing multiple attachments - bowlby found separation anxiety was also from playmates, not just attachments. makes it harder to distinguish if attachment is occurring in s + e’s study.

conflicting evidence - in collectivist cultures, they found multiple attachments form to begin. this is because multiple adults work together for babies.

difficulty studying asocial stage - babies are too young and immobile. not much to observe. can’t rely on evidence.

lorenz experiment and findings

divided a clutch of goose eggs into half. half hatched with mother (control), half hatched in incubator and the first moving object they saw was lorenz. the control group followed mother everywhere, and the incubator group followed lorenz everywhere, even when groups mixed. this is imprinting.

lorenz found sexual imprinting occurred. those who followed lorenz would try and mate with humans. in a case study, where a peacock hatched in a reptilian area of a zoo, the first moving object being a giant tortoise, would try and mate with other giant tortoises when adult.

lorenz eval

can’t generalise to humans - mammalian attachment systems are very different from geese. mammals show more emotional attachment to their offspring and can develop attachments at any time.

lorenz can be questioned - guiton et al found chickens which imprinted on a yellow rubber glove would try and mate with it as an adult, but as it gains more experience, it starts to mate with fellow chickens. unlike what lorenz said, sexual imprinting is not permanent.

harlows experiment and findings

wanted to test if a soft object had the qualities of a mother.

16 baby monkeys. 2 conditions - milk dispensed by wired mother and dispensed by cloth mother.

in both conditions, the monkeys seeked comfort and cuddles from the cloth mother. suggests contact comfort is more important than food.

harlow eval

ethical issues - monkeys went through a lot of suffering. harlow knew this and called the wire mother ‘iron maiden’ after the torture device. monkeys are very human-like, so their suffering is too.

application in practical contexts - we understand the importance of proper attachment figures for monkeys in zoos. social workers also know now the risk factors in child neglect and abuse, helping them prevent it.

better understanding of mother-infant relationships - contact comfort is the most important. we know the importance of quality of earlier relationships and how they impact future relationships and child bearing.

who came up with the explanation of attachment using the learning theory?

dollard and miller

classical conditioning in attachment

food - unconditioned stimulus. pleasure - unconditioned response. caregiver - neutral stimulus.

the caregiver will give food to the baby who will then feel pleasure. an association will then be formed between the caregiver and the food.

the caregiver becomes the conditioned stimulus, and pleasure becomes the conditioned response.

operant condition in attachment

babies will cry which will lead to comfort from the caregiver, which is a pleasant consequence. crying will become reinforced and the caregiver will respond with a comforting ‘social suppressor’ behaviour.

this is a two way process as babies will get the comfort, and the caregiver receives negative reinforcement as they want to reduce the unpleasant behaviour (crying). mutual reinforcement strengthens the attachment.