Psychology -attachments

attachment meaning

an attachment is an emotional bond between two people shown in their behaviour. It is a two-way (reciprocal) process which endures over time.

how can we recognise attachment?

• Separation distress

  -> distressed when caregiver leaves

• Secure-base behaviour

  ->regular contact to behaviour

  ->children regularly return to care-giver when playing

• Proximity

  ->physically close

what are the two features of caregiver-infant interactions?

reciprocity and interactional synchronicity

what is reciprocity?

"When an adult and baby interact with each other

what is interactional synchrony?

"When an adult and baby interact with each other at the same time in a synchronised way. For example

what is the research carried out for reciprocity?

Alert Phases (Feldman and Eidelman/ Finegood/ Feldman)Active Involvement (Brazelton)

what is the research carried out for interactional synchrony?

synchrony begins (Meltzoff and Moore)Importance for attachment (Isabella)

What was the aim of Schaffer and Emerson’s research?

To investigate how attachments develop between a caregiver and an infant.

How many babies were involved in Schaffer and Emerson’s research?

60 babies- all of the babies were from Glasgow.

When and where were the babies and their mothers visited? (schaffer and emerson)

Visited every month at home for the first 12 months and then once again at 18 months old.

How did Schaffer and Emerson’s find their results?

"The researchers observed how the baby reacted to separation and stranger anxiety, as well as asking the mothers questions about the behaviour of their baby in a variety of situations.

What were the results of Schaffer and Emerson’s research?

They found that there are 4 distinct stages in the development of infant attachment behaviour.

What were the conclusions of Schaffer and Emerson’s research?

"Their four stage theory of how attachments develop (asocial, indiscriminate, specific, multiple)

When is the asocial stage?

0 to 6 weeks.

What is the asocial stage of Schaffer and Emerson’s research?

"Any observable behaviour towards human and inanimate objects is similar (asocial). Babies, however, do show a preference for the company of familiar people and are more easily comforted by them. They begin forming bonds with certain people.

When is the indiscriminate stage?

2 to 7 months.

What is the indiscriminate stage of Schaffer and Emerson’s research?

"Babies begin to display more observable social behaviour. They show a preference to familiar adults, rather than inanimate objects. Babies accept cuddles from any adult, and do not show separation or stranger anxiety (do not discriminate). They don’t usually show separation anxiety when caregivers leave, or stranger anxiety, when an unfamiliar person approaches.

When is the specific stage?

7 months onwards.

What is the specific stage of Schaffer’s stages of attachment?

"Babies start to display anxiety towards strangers (stranger anxiety), and become anxious when separated from one particular adult, who that baby has formed a specific attachment by this point (primary attachment figure), normally this is the person who responds to the baby with the most skills. This is the mother 65% of the time.

When is the multiple stage?

10-11 months onwards.

What is the multiple stage of Schaffer’s stages of attachment?

"Babies start to show attachments to multiple people with whom they regularly spend time with. These are secondary attachments within a month of forming their primary attachment. By the age of 1, most babies have developed multiple attachments.

"What are the three pieces of research in terms of the role of the father and what do each of them say?"

-Schaffer and Emerson (1964) -> attached to father 2nd

-Grossman (2002) -> father’s attachment isn’t important for development

-Field (1978)-> PCF can emotionally provide, just like PCM

What is the Schaffer and Emerson’s research into the role of the father? (1964)

-Most babies become attached to their mother first, and then a few weeks or months later, they formed secondary attachments to others, including the father.

-In only 3% of cases is a child’s first attachment to the father.

-Out of all the infants, in the study, 75% of infants developed an attachment with the father, by the age of 18 months, showing that they do become important attachment figures.

What is the Grossman research into the role of the father? (2002)

In his longitudinal study (conducted over a long amount of time), he wanted to see whether an attachment to a father in early life has any relevance to later life relationships.

He found that the quality of the baby’s attachment to the mother was relevant and important to later life, but not the attachments to the father.

This suggests that the father’s role is not to emotionally nurture the child, but to be more of a ‘playmate’.

What was Field’s research into the role of the father? (1978)

She filmed 4 month old babies, during their face-to-face interactions with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers, and primary caregiver fathers.

The primary caregiver fathers, like mothers, spent more time smiling, imitating, and holding infants that the secondary caregiver fathers (reciprocity/interactional synchrony)

This suggests that the fathers can be the nurturing attachment figure, and they do have the potential to be the emotion-focused caregivers.

What are the two animal studies of attachment?

Lorenz and his geese, and Harlow and his monkeys.

What was the aim of Lorenz’s animal study?

Lorenz wanted to investigate imprinting, after a newly hatched duckling followed him around as a child.

What was the method of Lorenz’s animal study?

He randomly divided a large clutch of goose eggs. Half the eggs hatched with the mother goose, in their natural environment, and the other half hatched in an incubator, with Lorenz being the first moving thing they saw.

What were the results of Lorenz’s animal study?

The incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere, whereas the control group (hatched with mother) followed her. When the two groups were mixed up, the incubator group still continued to follow Lorenz.

What were the conclusions of Lorenz’s animal study?

Imprinting -> species (most birds) that are mobile from birth attach to and follow the first moving thing they see.

Critical period-> imprinting needs to take place within a certain time frame (hours for geese), otherwise an attachment does not form.

Sexual imprinting -> birds who imprinted onto humans, often later display courtship towards them.

What was the aim of Harlow’s animal study?

Harlow wanted to investigate whether monkeys attached to parental figures for food or for comfort.

What was the method of Harlow’s animal study?

He removed 16 baby rhesus monkeys from their mothers and divided them into groups:

-Group 1: wire model ‘mother’, that dispensed milk, and comfort ‘mother’, that was soft.

-Group 2:wire model ‘mother’, and a comfort ‘mother’ that was soft and dispensed milk.

What were the results of Harlow’s animal study?

The monkeys cuddled the cloth mother, and sought comfort from the cloth mother, when frightened (i.e by a noisy, mechanical bear), regardless of which mother produced milk. The monkeys showed that ‘contact comfort’ was more important than food.

What were the conclusions of Harlow’s animal study?

As adults, these monkeys were dysfunctional. Group 1 were more ‘damaged’, than group 2, but both groups suffered irreparable consequences. They were more aggressive, and less sociable than other monkeys, and when they became mothers themselves, they neglected and attacked their own children, even killing them. Harlow argued the critical period for monkeys was 90 days.

What was the learning theory of attachment?

Dallard and Miller proposed that attachment develop, due to the caregiver being a provider of food (the cupboard love theory). They use CC to explain how attachments form and OC to explain how infants reduce their discomfort.

What is the classical conditioning of attachment?

bottle of milk (UCS) -> happy baby (UCR) | caregiver (UCS) -> normal baby (UCR/NCR) |

bottle of milk (UCS) + caregiver (NS) -> happy baby (UCR) |

caregiver (CS) -> happy baby (CR)

What is the operant conditioning of attachment?

-Operant conditioning is learning through consequences of behaviour.

-We can use OC to explain why babies cry for comfort. If a baby cries, this leads to a response from the caregiver, i.e feeding or cuddles. This positively reinforced the crying behaviour (baby has been rewarded).

-From the caregiver’s point of view, when responding to the baby through feeding or cuddling, the crying stops and they are negatively reinforced, as they are escaping/ removing something unpleasant (crying).

-The learning theory states that hunger is the primary drive of a child- our ultimate goal is to feel satisfied. As caregivers provide food, the baby starts to associate the drive reduction with the caregiver i.e the baby notices that the caregiver eliminates negative feelings of hunger.

What are the 6 explanations of attachment in Bowlby’s monotropic theory? THINK SCAMPI

Social releasers

Continuity

Accumulated separation

Monotropy

Period (critical)

Internal working model

What are social releasers (Bowlby’s monotropic theory)?

"Babies are born with a set of innate ‘cute’ behaviours.The purpose is to activate adult social interaction and so makes an adult attach to the baby. Attachment is a reciprocal process.

“A face only a mother could love”

What is continuity (Bowlby’s monotropic theory)?

The law of continuity stated that the more constant and predictable a child’s care, the better the quality of their attachment.

What is accumulated separation (Bowlby’s monotropic theory)?

The law of accumulated separation stated that the effects of every separation from the mother ‘add up’, and ‘the safest dose is therefore a zero dose’.

Separation can lead to damages/consequences.

What is monotropic? (Bowlby’s monotropic theory)

"Emphasis on a child’s attachment to one particular caregiver. He believed that the child’s attachment to this one caregiver is different and more important than others (supports Schaffer and Emerson’s theory).

More likely to be biological mother, but doesn’t have to be.

The more time spent with the primary attachment figure, the better.

What is the critical period? (Bowlby’s monotropic theory)

Bowlby’s proposed that there is a critical period around 6 months, when the infant attachment system is active (sensitive period).

A child is maximally sensitive at 6 months, and this possibly extends up to the age of 2 (critical period). If an attachment is not formed in this time, a child will find it much harder to form one later.

What is the internal working model?

"A child forms a mental representation of their relationship with their primary attachment figure (similar to schema).Whatever quality of relationship they receive as a child, they will portray in later relationships (this affects child’s ability to be a parent themselves).

-> an expectation of experiences of attachment.

What did Ainsworth want to test in the Strange Situation?

-Exploration/secure base

-Separation anxiety

-Stranger anxiety

-Reunion behaviour

What is exploration/secure base?

Whether the baby leaves the caregiver’s side.

What is separation anxiety?

How the baby reacts to being separated from caregiver.

What is stranger anxiety?

How the baby reacts to a stranger.

What is reunion behaviour?

How the baby reacts when the caregiver returns.

What was the aim of Ainsworth’s Strange Situation?

To assess the quality of a child’s attachment to a caregiver.

What was the method to Ainsworth’s Strange Situation?

Child and caregiver enter an unfamiliar playroom.The child is encouraged to explore.A stranger comes in and tries to interact with the child.The caregiver leaves the child and stranger together.The caregiver returns and the stranger leaves.The caregiver leaves the child alone (completely)The stranger returns.The caregiver returns and is reunited with the child.

What were the results of Ainsworth’s Strange Situation?

Securely Attached (Type B)Insecure Avoidant (Type A)Insecure Resistant (Type C)

What are the characteristics of secure attachment (Type B)?

"Moderate exploration/secure base -> explore room freely

Moderate separation anxiety -> mildly distressed when mother left.

Moderate stranger anxiety

Reunion behaviour -> seek and accept comfort."

How many infants were classed as securely attached in Ainsworth’s Strange Situation?

70%

What are the characteristics of insecure avoidant (Type A)?

"High exploration/secure base -> explore room

Low separation anxiety -> no reaction when mother left

Low stranger anxiety

Reunion behaviour -> seeks no comfort

How many infants were classed as insecure avoidant?

15%

What are the characteristics of insecure resistant?

"Low exploration/secure base

High separation anxiety -> intense distress when mother left

High stranger anxiety

Reunion behaviour-> seeks but reject comfort

How many infants classed as insecure resistant in Ainsworth’s Strange Situation?

15%

What is collectivist culture?

A culture which prioritise the needs of the group over the needs of the individual

e.g Japan and Israel

What is individualistic culture?

A culture which emphasises the needs of the individual

e.g USA, UK

How does child rearing work in Japan?

"The child is dependent on the mother and is cared for unconditionally. Mothers rarely leave the child. This is a collectivist culture."

How does child rearing work in Israel?

Traditionally, the children were raised communally, spending limited hours each day with their parents, and sleeping communally in a separate children’s home without their parents.

There is no private property, or individual possessions, and everything belongs to the community. This environment creates clingy children.

How does child rearing work in Germany?

"There is a placement of high value on independence and responsibility. Whilst the children still live with their parents

What is meta analysis?

Researchers collect the results of past studies, and draw conclusions, giving a ‘big picture’ view of the concept. A single study does not answer a research question, so researchers combine the knowledge from many studies.

What was the aim of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenburg’s meta analysis ?

To investigate proportions of secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant attachments across a range of countries and cultures.

What was the method of Van Ijezendoorn and Kroonenburg’s meta analysis ?

The researchers gathered 32 studies of attachment, where the Strange Situation method has been used to investigate attachment types. The 32 studies were in 8 countries, 18 of the studies were in the USA. Overall, there were around 1,990 children involved.

What were the results of Van Ijezendoorn and Kroonenburg’s meta analysis ?

Secure attachment was the most common attachment type across all countries. Insecure resistant was overall the least common attachment type. Germany had the highest number of insecure avoidant attachment types, while Japan and Israel had the highest number of insecure resistant attachment types. One interesting finding was that there was actually more of a difference within cultures, than between cultures.

What were the conclusions of Van Ijezendoorn and Kroonenburg’s meta analysis ?

Secure attachment is the norm, supporting the idea that attachment is innate and universal. Cultural practices do influence attachment styles.

What is maternal deprivation?

The emotional and intellectual consequences of separation between a child and his/her mother. Bowlby proposed that continuous care from a mother is essential for normal psychological development.

If a child does experience deprivation, what are the two main effects on a child’s development?

Intellectual effects and emotional effects.

What are intellectual effects?

If children are deprived during the critical period, they experience delayed intellectual development and have an abnormally low IQ. Goldfarb (1974) found lower IQ in children, who had remained in an orphanage as opposed the those who had been fostered.

What are emotional effects?

Affectionless psychopathy is the inability to experience guilt or strong emotions towards others, such as sympathy. This prevents someone from developing ‘normal’ relationships and is associated with criminality.

"What was the aim of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study, in 1944?"

To examine the link between affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation.

What was the method of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study?

He used a sample of 44 criminal teenagers, all accused of stealing. All of the ‘thieves’ were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy, which was characterised as a lack of affection, leach of guilt about their actions and a lack of empathy for their victims.

Their families were also interviewed in order to establish whether the ‘thieves’ had prolonged early separation from their mothers.

A control group of non-criminal, but emotionally disturbed young people were used to see how often maternal separation/deprivation occurred in the children who were not thieves.

What were the results of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study?

From the control group, just 4% experienced early separation from their mothers and 0% showed signs of affectionless psychopathy.

From the experimental group (accused thieves), 38% experienced early separation from their mothers and 31% showed signs of affectionless psychopathy.

What were the conclusions of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study?

Prolonged separation/deprivation causes affectionless psychopathy.

What is institutionalisation?

When a child has lived for a long, continuous period of their life with little emotional care, more than likely (but not always) without parents. This is a form of privation (failure to form an attachment).

What were the conditions of Romanian orphanages?

-Electricity and heat were often intermittent

-Not enough staff

-Not enough food

-Some staff drugged the orphans, so they would ‘behave’

-Lead to disabled children with bone-stick limbs tied to their beds

-Toddlers couldn’t walk

-Malbourished babies left unattended in cribs with metal bars

-Little corpses stacked in basements

What was the aim of Rutter et al’s (2011) English and Romanian adoptee (ERA) study?

To see whether good care could reverse the damages of institutionalisation (orphanage).

What was the method of Rutter et al’s (2011) English and Romanian adoptee (ERA) study?

Rutter and colleagues (2011) have followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans for many years, as part of the English and Romanian adoptee (ERA) study. The orphans had been adopted by families in the UK. Physical, cognitive and emotional development has been assessed at ages 4, 6, 11, 15 and 22-25 years. A group of 52 children from the UK adopted around the same time have served as a control group.

What type of research is Rutter’s ERA study?

"Longitudinal research -> collects research from the same sample at different points over their lives at various intervals. It observes and collects data without trying to intervene the DV, in order to assess how and why things change over time.

What were the results of Rutter eat al’s (2011) English and Romanian adoptee (ERA) study?

When the children first arrived in the UK, half the adoptees showed signs of delayed intellectual development and the majority were severely malnourished.

By age 11, the children showed differential rates of recovery that were related to their age of adoption. This continued later on life.

Adoption age of before 6 months-> Mean IQ of 102, and no disinhibited attachment

Adoption age of 6 months to 2 years ->Mean IQ of 86, and no disinhibited attachment

Adoption age of after 2 years-> Mean IQ of 77, and no disinhibited attachment

What were the conclusions of Rutter et al’s (2011) English and Romanian adoptee (ERA) study?

"It appears that damages to intellectual and emotional development (therefore attachment) can be recovered, providing adoption takes place before the age of 6 months.

What is mental retardation?

An effect of living in an institution during childhood, characterised by having a severely low IQ.

What is a disinhibited attachment?

An effect of living in an institution during childhood with multiple caregivers.

Characterised by attention seeking, clinginess and no stranger anxiety, completely different to non-inst babies who would have stranger anxiety.

What was the aim of Havan and Shaver’s study?

Havan and Shaver (1987) conducted a classical study of the association between attachment and adult relationships.

What was the method of Havan and Shaver’s study (1987)?

"They analysed 620 replies to a ‘love quiz’ printed in an American local newspaper. The quiz had 3 sections. The first assessed respondent’s current or most important relationship. The second part assessed general love experiences (such as number of parents). The third section assessed attachment type by adding respondents to choose which of 3 statements best described their feelings. These questions were closed, giving multiple choice answers (a,b,c).

What were the findings of Havan and Shaver’s study (1987)?

56% of respondents were identified as securely attached, with 25% insecure-avoidant and 19% insecure resistant. Those reporting secure attachments were the most likely to have good and long-lasting romantic experiences. The avoidant respondents tended to reveal jealousy and fear of intimacy.

What were the conclusions of Havan and Shaver’s study (1987)?

That patterns of attachment behaviour are reflected in romantic relationships.

What were the 3 pieces of research in influence of early attachment on later life?

1. Romantic Relationships (Havan and Shaver- 1987)

2. Later Childhood (Kerns, Smith -1994 and 1998)

3. Parenting style (Bailey et al- 2007)

What was Kerns’ research into later childhood (2007)?

Attachment type is associated with the quality of peer relationships in childhood. Securely attached babies tend to go on to form the best quality childhood friendships, whereas insecurely attached babies have friendship difficulties.

What was Smiths’ research into later childhood (1998)?

Bullying behaviour can be predicted by attachment type. Wilson and Smith (1998)assessed attachment type and bullying involvement, using standard questionnaires in 196 children, aged 7-11 from London. Securely attached babies children were very unlikely to be involved in bullying. Insecure-avoidant children were the most likely to be victims, and insecure-resistant children were most likely to be bullies.

What was Bailey et al’s research into parenting style (2007)?

Bailey et (2007) considered the attachments of 99 mothers to their babies and to their own mothers.

Mother-baby attachments were assessed using the Strange Situation, and mother’s attachment to their own mothers was assessed using an adult attachment interview.

->Majority of women had the same attachment classification both to their babies and their mothers.

What was the Evan’s and Porter (2009) study for interactional synchrony?

Evans and Porter (2009) studied reciprocity, interactional synchrony and attachment quality in 101 infants and their mothers for the first year after birth; 53 babies were female and 48 male.

All were recruited from an American suburb. Mothers and babies were invited into the laboratory on three occasions. At 6, 9 and 12 months mother and baby pairs were provided with toys in an observation room and instructed to play as normal for 15 minutes. They were videoed and the extent of reciprocity and degree of interactional synchrony were assessed.

At 12 months the quality of mother infant attachment was assessed using a standard test called the Strange Situation (discussed later in the attachment chapter). Babies judged to be securely attached according the Strange Situation tended to be those that had the most reciprocal interactions and the most interactional synchrony.