attachment

Attachment

An emotional tie or bond between two people, usually a mother and a child, that is reciprocal (shared).

Ainsworth's Strange Situation

A technique involving a controlled observation used to test a child's attachment patterns, assessing behavior towards the mother, a stranger, separation anxiety, and behavior when reunited with the mother.

Animal Studies: Attachment

Research conducted to develop an understanding of the processes involved in human attachment, including imprinting by Konrad Lorenz and Harlow's research using rhesus monkeys.

Bowlby's Theory of Maternal Deprivation

Proposes that separation from the mother figure in early childhood has serious consequences for emotional and physical development.

Caregiver-Infant Interactions

Behaviors shown between a caregiver and a child that help attachments to develop.

Critical Period

The time frame before the age of two and a half years during which a child must form an attachment, or it may never occur.

Cultural Variations in Attachment

Differences in attachment patterns that exist between infants and their caregivers in different cultures.

Bowlby's Theory of Attachment

An evolutionary explanation suggesting that attachment is an innate mechanism that increases the survival chances of the infant.

Learning Theory of Attachment

A behaviorist explanation that suggests attachments develop through classical and/or operant conditioning, often referred to as cupboard love theory.

Harlow's Research

Research using rhesus monkeys to demonstrate the effects of maternal deprivation and the importance of contact comfort. Also to test the theory of cupboard love. He had a wired mother (with food) and a towelling mother (comfort). They measured the amount of time they spent with each mother in different conditions, as well as when they're under stress.

• The baby monkeys cuddled the cloth mother in preference to the wire mother with food and also went to the cloth mother when stressed.

Influence of Early Attachment

Early attachments influence the ability to form relationships later in adulthood, as suggested by Bowlby.

Insecure-Avoidant Attachment

An attachment pattern identified by Ainsworth where the child is willing to explore but does not seek proximity to the caregiver, showing low separation and stranger anxiety. 21% of children show this pattern.

Insecure-Resistant Attachment

An attachment pattern identified by Ainsworth where the child is not willing to explore and seeks greater proximity to the caregiver, showing both separation and stranger anxiety. 13% of children show this pattern.

Institutionalisation

The effects of growing up in an orphanage or children's home, often leading to a lack of emotional care and inability to form attachments.

Interactional Synchrony

When an infant mirrors the actions of another person, such as facial expressions and body movement.

Internal Working Model

A mental representation of our relationship with our primary caregiver that becomes a template for future relationships.

Lorenz (1935)

An ethologist known for research into imprinting, where he splits a batch of gosling eggs into 2, and one hatch with the mother goose (control) and the other batch in an incubator with Lorenz being the first large moving object they see (experimental group). Then, he marked the goslings and merged them together and released them. They followed the first large moving object they hatched and saw.

Multiple Attachments

Attachments to two or more people, with research showing that most babies can form multiple attachments after forming a specific attachment to their main caregiver.

Reciprocity

Where an infant and caregiver respond to each others signals, eliciting a response from one other - reciprocal

Romanian Orphan Studies

Studies investigating the effects of institutionalisation on children raised in poor quality Romanian orphanages in the 1990s.

Secure Attachment

An attachment pattern identified by Ainsworth where the child is willing to explore and seeks proximity to the caregiver, showing moderate separation and stranger anxiety. 65% of children show this pattern.

Stages of Attachment

Identified by researchers, including Schaffer and Emerson, suggesting that attachments develop in four stages: asocial stage, indiscriminate attachment, specific attachment, and multiple attachment.

The Role of the Father

Recent research focusing on the father's importance in infant development, suggesting a distinct role related to play and stimulation rather than caregiving.

Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg (1988)

Conducted a meta-analysis comparing rates of secure, insecure avoidant, and insecure resistant attachments in 32 studies across 8 different countries.

Alert phases

Babies have periodic 'alert phases' in which they signal (eye contact) that they are ready for a spell of interaction

Active involvement

Both caregiver and baby can initiate interactions as they appear to take in turns doing so

T Berry Brazelton et al (1975) (caregiver interactions)

• Described active movement as a 'dance' where each partner responds to the other

• Identified trends in mother - baby interactional synchrony and videotaped 12 mother baby pairs play behaviour and examined up to 5 months of age. Revealed 3 phases of play: attention and build up, recovery, and turning away

Feldmen and Edelman ( 2007) (caregiver infant interactions)

Suggested that reciprocity increases in frequency as the infant and caregiver pay increasing attention to each others verbal and facial communications. Alert phases and caregiver spotting them will lay the strong foundations for an attachment to form.

Meltzoff and Moore (1977) (interactional synchrony)

Observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in babies as young as 2 weeks by observing an adult displaying 1 of 3 expressions or gestures and then the baby would mirror them if they had an attachment.

Russell Isabella et al (1989) (interactional synchrony)

Observed 30 mothers and babies together and assessed the degree of synchrony, as well as the quality of the mother's attachment. Found that high levels of synchrony were associated with higher quality of attachment

Stages of attachment

Many development theories identify a sequence of qualitatively different behaviours linked to specific ages. In the cases of 'stages of attachment' qualitatively different infant behaviours are linked to specific ages, and all babies go through them in the same order

Schaffer and Emerson

To examine the formation of early attachments, by taking a sample of 60 babies (31 male and 29 female) from working families in Glasgow aged 5-23 weeks. They visited the babies home every month for the first 12 month, and then again at 18 months. They also interviewed the mothers and observed the children for stranger and separation anxiety.

Asocial stage (1st)

Birth - 2 months

An infant shows similar responses to objects and people

Indiscriminate (2nd)

2-6 months

Preference for human company. Ability to distinguish between people but comforted indiscriminately (by anyone)

Preference for human company. Ability to distinguish between people but comforted indiscriminately (by anyone)

Discriminate (specific) (3rd)

7 months - 1 year

Infants show a preference to one caregiver, displaying separation + stranger anxiety. The baby looks to particular people for security, comfort and protection

Multiple (4th)

1 year +

Attachment behaviours are displayed towards several different people

Father

In attachment research, the father is anyone who takes on the role of the main male caregiver. This can be but is not necessarily the biological father

Grossman et al (2002)

To investigate the value of the father's vote in a child's development by conducting a longitudinal study - adults behaviour towards infant and infants attachment later in life. He concluded that attachment to fathers is less important than attachment to mothers, as a father's role is more about play and stimulation rather than emotional attachment.

Field (1978)

To investigate the importance of face to face interactions with caregivers by analysing face to face interactions/ video footage of infants at 4 months old. He concluded that fathers and mothers have potential to be a emotional focused primary care giver- as long as they engage in attachment behaviours.

Hrdy (1999)

To investigate the sensitivity of fathers compared to mother caregivers. He found that fathers are less able to detect low levels of infant distress, in comparison to mothers. These results, suggest that the role of the father is biologically determined and that a fathers role is restricted because of their biological makeup

Maternal deprivation - Harlow

Harlow and colleges followed the monkeys who had been deprived of a 'real' mother into adulthood to see if this early maternal deprivation had a permanent effect.

They found that those reared with the wire mothers were the most dysfunctional - they had become aggressive, less sociable and unskilled and mating, if they became mothers they often attacked or neglected them.

Ethnologist

An individual, who engages in the specific and objective study of animal behaviour, especially under natural conditions

Imprinting

Where the offspring follows and forms an attachment bond to the first large moving object they see after birth - this is seen as innate behaviour (imprinting only in birds)

Critical period

A time period in which imprinting must occur, which could be as brief as a few hours. If imprinting doesn't occur within that time, infants may not attach to their primary caregiver

Maternal deprivation

The emotional and intellectual consequences of separation between an infant and their primary caregiver - prolonged separation could cause serious, irreversible damage

Sexual imprinting

Imprinting with an animal, and later in life, then only having direct courtship behaviours towards that type of animal

Peter Seebach (2005) (Lorenz study)

Argues imprinting behaviour also evident in humans and that we form attachments to computer operating systems and reject others

Guiton et al (1966) (Lorenz study)

Found that chicks would imprint on yellow washing up gloves, if that was the largest moving object they saw after hatching, and then later they would try and mate with that object in adulthood (sexual imprinting)

Supports innate mechanisms to imprint

Howe (1998) (Harlow study)

Reports that the knowledge gained from Harlow's research has helped social workers understand the risk factors in neglect and abuse cases with human children, which can then serve to prevent it occurring, or recognise when to intervene.

Dillard and Miller (1950)

Proposed that caregiver infant attachment can be explained by learning theory - cupboard love

Primary drive

drives that are innate such as hunger

Secondary drive

drives that are learned through conditioning such forming an attachment with the person who supplies the food

Learning theory

A set of theories from the behaviourist approach to psychology, that emphasises the role of learning in the acquisition of behaviour. Explanations for the learning theory include classical and operant conditioning

Law of continuity (bowlby)

The more constant and predictable a child's care, the better the quality of their attachment

Law of accumulated separation (bowlby 1975)

The effect of everyday separation from the mother add up and the safest dose is therefore zero dose

Adaptive

Attachments give humans an advantage, making them more likely to survive. If an infant has an attachment they are kept safe, given food and kept warm by their caregiver

Social releases

Innate behaviours shown by an infant which leads to a caregivers response - crying, smiling, giggling

Critical period

Time within which an attachment must be formed if it is to form at all (2-2.5 years)

Monotropic

One particular attachment that is of central importance - formed one caregiver (usually mother)

Internal working model

Our attachments in childhood provide a template/ blueprint for future relationships

Kagan (1984) (bowlby)

Proposed the temperament hypothesis which suggests that a child's genetically inherited personality traits have a role to play in forming attachments with caregivers

Ainsworths strange situation

A controlled observation designed to test attachment security. Babies are assessed on their response to playing in an unfamiliar room, being left alone, left with a stranger and being reunited with their caregiver

Proximity seeking

How physically close the infant stayed to their caregiver

Exploration and secure base behaviour

How confident the infants were in exploring their environment and then returning to their caregiver

Stranger anxiety

How anxious the infants appeared to be when approached by a stranger

Separation anxiety

How distressed the infants appeared became when separated from their caregiver

Reunion behaviour

Whether the infants sought comfort when reunited with their caregivers

Secure attachment

60-75% of children have it. Moderate levels of stranger and separation anxiety and the reunion behaviour is where the require and accept comfort. They will also happily explore.

Bick et al (2012) (ainsworths)

Tested inter - rater reliability for the strange situation and found agreement on attachment types on 94% of cases

Cultural variation

The differences in social behaviors that different cultures exhibit around the world

Van ljendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988)

Investigated cross cultural differences in attachment type through a meta-analysis of research, comparing findings of the strange situation research conducted in other cultures (32 studies from 8 different countries)

Tronick et al (van ljendoorn and kroonenberg)

The Efe tribe, located in Zaire, Africa, live in extended family groups where the infants are looked after and breastfed by different women within the social group. However, infants tend to sleep with their own mothers at night. Although the practice is different from Western norms, the infants still showed a preference to the PCG at 6 months old - secure is most common globally

Grossman et al (van ljendoorn and Kroonenburg)

In German culture, child rearing practices favour independence from a young age whereby infants don't seek interpersonal contact with their parents - insecurely attached

Ethnocentric

Believing one's cultures ideas/ attitudes are superior and attempting to apply the to other cultures.

Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation

Child and mother separated for a prolonged period of time, which will cause them to experience serious emotional and intellectual damage - experience the emotional loss of the caregiver

Deprivation

The lack of denial of something considered to be a necessity

Retardation/ intellectual delay

Found lower iq and cognitive function in children who were deprived of primary caregiver for too long during their critical period

Affectionless psychopathy

The inhability to experience guilt or strong emotions to others

Maternal deprivation

The emotional and intellectual consequences of separation between a child and their mother/ substitute mother

Bowlbys 44 thieves study

Investigated the long term effects of maternal deprivation on people to see whether delinquents have suffered deprivation by interviewing them and doing it tests to see if they were an affectionless psychopath/ been maternally deprived.

Lewis (1944) (bowlby 44 thieves)

Replicated the 44 thieves study with a larger sample of children, but didn't find that early maternal derivation predicted a greater likelihood of criminal behaviour in youths

Rutter and Barke

Examined the long term effects of institutionalisation in a longitudinal study beginning in the 1900s by examining the children at regular intervals in their life and interviewing their adoptive parents and teachers

Disinhibited attachment

Equally friendly towards familiar people and strangers - adaptation living with multiple caregivers during the critical period (up to 50) - clingy and attention seeking

Institutionalisation

A place where children may live for a long period of time, such as a hospital or orphanage

Zeanah (2005)

Assessed the attachments of children who have spent most of their life in an institutionalisation by using the strange situation and comparing them to a control group of children who had never lived in an institutionalisation

Internal working model

A mental representation of our relationships with out primary caregiver that become a template for future relationships

Hazan and Shaver.

Designed a questionnaire called 'the love quiz' designed to test the internal working model to assess if attachment types formed as an infant influences friendships and adult relationships.

Zimmerman (2000) (Havan and shaver)

Assessed infant attachment type and adolescent attachments to parents - findings indicated that there was very little relationship between quality of infant and adolescent attachment.