Attachment

Attachment

An emotional and psychological bond in which each seeks closeness and feels more secure in the presence of the attachment figure.

Caregiver-Infant Interactions (AO1)

Reciprocity

• Each person responds to the other and elicits a response from them.

• Babies have periodic ‘alert phases’ in which they signal that they are ready for interactions. (Feldman and Eidelman: mothers respond 2/3 of the time)

• At 3 months, frequency of interactions increases and more attention towards verbal signals and facial expressions.

• Active involvement: both baby and caregiver can initiate interactions. (Brazelton - dance)

Interactional Synchrony

• Two people carry out an action simultaneously

• The temporal coordination of micro-level social behavior

Meltzoff and Moore: Observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants as young as 2 weeks old. An adult displayed one of three faces and the infant’s response was filmed.

Isabella et al: Observed 30 mothers and their babies and assessed the degree of synchrony and quality of attachment. It was found that higher levels of synchrony were associated with better quality of attachment.

Caregiver-Infant Interactions (AO3)

Filmed observations

• Observations were filmed in a lab

• Other distracting activities are controlled

• Observations are recorded and can be analysed later so key behaviors are not missed.

• More than one observer can analyse recordings = inter-rater reliability

• Babies do not know they are being recorded so don’t change their behaviour

Difficulty Observing Babies

• Hard to interpret baby’s behaviour

• Lack coordination = movements being observed were small hand movements and subtle changes in expression

• Difficult to understand baby’s perspective

Developmental Importance

• Feldman suggested that interactional synchrony and reciprocity are just names given to patterns of observables caregiver and infant behaviours

• They can be observed but do not tell us about child development and the purpose of the behaviour

Schaffer and Emerson’s Stages of Attachment (AO1)

Research:

Procedure:

60 babies from Glasgow from working-class families

• Visited mothers and babies in their homes every month for the first year and again at 18 months.

• Analysed interactions, interviewed carers and assessed separation and stranger anxiety

Findings:

• Caregivers who had sensitive responsiveness were more likely to form an attachment than those who spent more time with the baby

Stages:

Asocial Stage (0-6 weeks)

• Behaviour towards humans and inanimate objects is similar

• Show a preference of company from familiar people

Indiscriminate Stage (6 weeks - 7 months)

• Clear preference of humans

• Prefer company of familiar people

• Do not show stranger or separation anxiety

Specific Attachment (7 months)

• Attachment towards one particular person

• Show stranger and separation anxiety

• Primary attachment figure is the one who offers the most interactions

Multiple Attachments (10/11 months)

• Form multiple attachments

• Schaffer and Emerson observed 29% of children formed secondary attachments within a month of forming primary attachment

Stages of Attachment (AO3)

Good external validity

• Most observations were made by parents and reported back to the researcher

• If researcher made the observations babies may have felt distracted or anxious

Real world application

• Practical application to day care

• In asocial and indiscriminate stage babies can be comforted by any skilled adult

• However, day care with unfamiliar adult in specific attachment stage may be problematic

Poor evidence for asocial stage

• Validity of measure used

• Poor coordination = if babies less than two months feel anxious it may have been displayed in a subtle, hard to observe way

• Difficult for mothers to observe and report back

Role of the Father (AO1)

Field et al

• Filmed 4 month old babies in face to face interactions with primary caregiver mother, primary caregiver father and secondary caregiver father

• Primary caregiver father spent more time smiling, imitating and holding the baby than secondary caregiver fathers

• Fathers can be the more nurturing attachment figure

• The key to attachment relationships is the level of responsiveness

Schaffer and Emerson

• Majority of infants become attached to their mothers first around 7 months and then form a secondary attachment within a few weeks

• 3% formed a first attachment with the father, 27% formed a joint first attachment with both mother and father

• 75% formed an attachment with their father within the age of 18 months

Grossman et al

• Longitudinal study looking at both parents’ behaviour and it’s relationship to the quality of child’s attachment into their teens

• Quality of attachment with mothers but not fathers was related to children’s attachment in adolescence, suggesting fathers are less important

• Fathers have a play and stimulation role rather than nurturing and emotional development

Role of the Father (AO3)

Real world application

• Parents agonise over decisions such as who should take on the role of the primary caregiver

• Mothers may be pressured to stay at home due to stereotypes

• Fathers may be pressured to go to work

• Heterosexual parents can be informed that fathers are capable of being the primary attachment figure

Conflicting evidence

• Findings vary according to methodology used

• Longitudinal studies such as Grossman suggest that fathers have a play and stimulation role

• This means children growing up with single mothers would turn out different

• However studies consistently show that children do not develop differently

Biological evidence

• Psychologists suggest the hormone estrogen underlies caring behaviour and lack of estrogen in men results in difficulties forming relationships

• However it has been found that oxytocin is the hormone for attachment

Animal Studies - Lorenz (AO1)

Lorenz’s Research

Procedure:

• Randomly divided goose eggs. Half hatched in their natural environment and half hatched in an incubator and the first moving object they saw was Lorenz.

Findings:

• Control group followed the mother and experimental group followed Lorenz, even when mixed

• Critical period is a few hours after hatching or else attachment won’t form

Sexual Imprinting

Peacock reared in a reptile house and the first moving object seen was giant tortoises. As an adult the peacock only displayed courtship behaviours towards giant tortoise.

Animal Studies - Lorenz (AO3)

Generalisability to humans

• Mammalian attachment systems are far more complex: mammals can form attachments at greater intensity and both mothers and young become attached

• Low ecological validity and cannot be generalised

Research Support

• Study that supports imprinting: Chicks were exposed to random combinations of moving shapes. A range of combinations of shapes were moved in front of them and they followed the original most closely

Animal Studies - Harlow’s Monkeys (AO1)

Harlow’s Monkeys

Procedure:

• Reared 16 monkeys in two conditions

• In one condition the milk was dispensed from a plain wire mother, in the other condition no milk dispensed from cloth-covered mother

Findings:

• Cuddles and sought comfort from cloth covered monkey when frightened regardless of which mother dispensed milk

• Contact-comfort was more important than food

Maternally deprived monkeys as adults

• Less social, more aggressive, bred less

• When they became mothers: neglected, attacked and even killed their young

• Critical period was 90 days after which attachment was impossible to form and damage was irreversible

Animal Studies - Harlow’s Monkeys (AO3)

Real world application

• Helped social workers and clinical psychologists understand that lack of bonding may be a risk factor in child development

• Also understand the importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos

Ethical issues

• Psychological harm: later difficulty in mating and forming secure attachments

• Cost-benefit analysis should be conducted

Learning Theory (AO1)

Dollard and Miller

• Attachment if formed through classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning.

• Food = primary drive, attachment is secondary drive as it is learned by an association between caregiver and satisfaction of primary drive

Classical conditioning:

• Food = unconditioned stimulus

• Happy baby = unconditioned response

• Caregiver = neutral stimulus

• When the caregiver provides food they become associated with the food so the caregiver becomes the conditioned stimulus

• Happy baby = conditioned response

Operant conditioning:

• Positive reinforcement: crying causes the caregiver to feed the baby so they stop crying

• Negative reinforcement: sound of the baby crying is taken away for the caregiver

Learning Theory (AO3)

Counter-evidence from animal studies

• Lorenz’s geese imprinted on the first moving object they saw, regardless of whether the object was associated with food

• Harlow’s monkey’s displayed attachment towards the soft surrogate mother

Counter-evidence from human studies

• Schaffer and Emerson found that babies tend to form and maintain an attachment to their mother regardless of if she is the person who fed them

• Isabella et al found that higher levels of synchrony led to better quality attachment

Some conditioning is involved

• A baby may associate feeling warm and comfortable in the presence of a particular person

Ainsworth’s Strange Situation (AO1)

Procedure:

• Controlled observation measuring the security of attachment displayed by the baby towards the caregiver

• Takes place in a room with a two-way mirror

Behaviour used to judge attachment:

• Proximity seeking

• Exploration and secure base

• Stranger anxiety

• Separation anxiety

• Reunion behaviour

7 episodes, each lasting three minutes:

1. Baby is encouraged to explore

2. Stranger enters, talks to caregiver and approaches the baby

3. Caregiver leaves baby and stranger together

4. Caregiver returns and stranger leaves

5. Caregiver leaves the baby alone

6. Stranger returns

7. Caregiver returns and is reunited with the baby

Findings:

Type A - Insecure-avoidant (20-25% British babies)

• Explore freely but do not seek proximity or show secure base behaviour

• No or little reaction when caregiver leaves and little stranger anxiety

• Little effort to make contact when caregiver returns

Type B - Secure (60-75% British babies)

• Explore happily and regularly go back to caregiver

• Moderate stranger and separation anxiety

• Require and accept comfort from caregiver during reunion

Type C - Insecure-resistant (3% British babies)

• Seek greater proximity and explore less

• High stranger and separation anxiety

• Resist comfort during reunion