Attachment

-Caregiver Infant Interaction -Attachment Figures -Stages of attachment Schaffer and Emerson -Animal Attachment Lorenz and Harlow -Ainsworth Strange Situation -Cultural Variation in Attachment -Bowlby: Maternal Deprivation -Effects on Institutionalisation -Effects of Attachment on later relationships

Reciprocity

Reciprocity

Each person responds to the other and takes turns

Interactional Synchrony

When mother and baby’s emotions and actions mirror each other

Supporting research

Meltzoff and Moore found interactional synchrony in as young as 2 weeks old.

Isabella interactional synchrony=better attachment

Evaluation of Caregiver infant interaction

+Controlled observation as they were filmed and infants do not produce demand characteristics

-Feldman simply description but not explanation why it happens

-Hard to know what is happening and if there is a special meaning

What is the role of the father (not important)

GROSSMAN When compared attachment in teens it was the mother attachment which was important in later life not the father

What is the role of the father (important)

Grossman did find that the quality of play a child had with their father impacted later attachment showing maybe he has a different role

Is important when primary caregiver fathers take on qualities typically associated with females- Field

Evaluation of Attachment figures

-Why are children without dads no different to those with dads-GROSSMAN

-Inconsistent findings as the questions vary from role of the dad as secondary and primary caregiver

Study of Schaffer and Emerson

Asked mothers about how much stranger and separation anxiety their child showed wheen aged 0 to 18 months. 60 babies all from working class families in Glasgow.

Found 50% of infant showed separation anxiety from around 30 weeks. By 40 weeks 80% had attachment and 30% had multiple attachments.

Evaluation of Schaffer and Emerson study

+Longitudinal, same children followed up and observed regularly, better internal validity and no participant variables.

-Limited sample, all families were from the same social background Glasgow.

Stages of Attachment Schaffer and Emerson

Stage 1: Asocial (first few weeks), baby is recognising and forming bonds with its carers

Stage 2: Indiscriminate Attachment (2-7months), Display more observable social behaviour

Stage 3: Specific Attachment (7 months), Babies start to show anxiety towards strangers, formed specific attachment with primary caregiver

Stage 4: Multiple Attachments: extend their attachment to other adults.

Evaluation of Stages of Attachment Schaffer and Emerson

-Multiple attachment in different cultures Van Ijzendoorn

-Difficult to study asocial stage as there isn’t much observable behaviour

-Measuring attachment through separation anxiety is a problem. Bowlby found babies cry when their playmate leaves the room, therefore Schaffer and Emerson doesn’t distinguish between secondary attachment figures and playmates.

Animal Attachment Lorenz Study

Geese, one half with mum, one half hatched with Lorenz. Each attached to who they saw first, called imprinting. Must happen during the critical period- the first few hours.

Evaluation of Animal Attachment Lorenz Study

-Cannot be generalisable to humans

-Original findings disputed Guiton birds imprinted on gloves and try to mate with it, however, after experience they preferred mating with other chickens,

-Imprinting not accurate. Originally seen as leaving a mark on the nervous system but not found in more recent research. Guiton could reverse it.

Animal Attachment Harlow’s Study

Baby monkeys had a wire mother and a cloth mother. In one condition the wire mother dispensed milk and in the second the cloth mother provided milk. Their preference was measured.

Animal Attachment Harlow Findings

All monkeys prefered the cloth mother suggesting that comfort is more important in attachment. Psychological and social effects included inability to care for young or agression. Harlow argued critical period was 90 days.

Evaluation of Animal Attachment Harlows Study

+Theoretical Value, shows attachment is key to psychological health

+Practical application, social work, etc

-Ethical issues as monkeys were harmed, counter argument that Harlow’s findings were significant enough to justify the effects

-Can we generalise to humans

Ainsworth Strange Situation Procedure

Controlled observation that measure security of attachment. It judges: Proximity seeking, exploration and secure base, stranger anxiety, separation anxiety and reunion behaviour.

Mother and child go through a series of separations with and without a stranger before finally reunited.

Ainsworth Strange Situation Findings

Ainsworth identified 3 types of attachment types:

Type A: Insecure-Avoidant, Explores freely, no proximity seeking, low stranger and separation anxiety. Doesn’t require comfort on reunion. Around 25%

Type B: Secure, Happily explore but seek proximity, moderate separation and stranger anxiety. Accept comfort at reunion. Around 60-75%

Type c: Insecure-Resistant, Seek greater proximity, explore less, high separation and stranger anxiety but without accepting comfort on reunion. Around 3%

Evaluation of Ainsworth Strange Situation

+Valid, Use studies from influence on later life/relationships such as Myron Wilson to show attachment doesn’t predict later attachment

+Reliability: Bick inter observer reliability, different observers watching the same child generally agree on their attachment type

-Culture Bound Test, Takashi and Japan, doesn’t work in Japan as Japanese mothers are rarely separated from their kids.

-What is it measuring?, Attachment or temperment, Kagan

Cultural Variation in Attachment Procedure

Van Ijzendoorn and Kronenberg meta analysed 32 studies of attachment from 8 different countries including, UK, US, China, Germany, Israel and Japan.

Cultural Variation in Attachment Findings

• Wide variational in different countries.

• Secure most common but varied around 75% UK and 50% China.

• Insecure- resistant least common around 3% UK and around 30% Israel.

• Variations within the same country varied by 150% than those between countries, US one study found 90% secure but another found 46%

Cultural Variation in Attachment Findings Simonelli and Jin

• Simonelli: Italy around 50% secure and 36% avoidant. Lower than previous studies which could be due to mothers working long hours and childcare

• Jin et al: Korea compared to other cultures. Mostly similar results as most were secure. But more were resistant than other cultures. Interestingly japan had similar rates which might be because parenting style is similar.

Cultural Variation in Attachment Evaluation

+Large Samples: Meta analysis meant a sample of over 20000 children

-Samples do not represent cultures: but instead countries. Van Ijzendoorn and Sago found larger differences between Tokyo and rural Japan compared to the rest of the world.

-Based on strange situation which is etic research

Bowlby: Maternal Deprivation Separation VS Deprivation

Separation is not being in the presence of a caregiver. Deprivation is when an element of care is completely lost and creates lasting damage.

Bowlby: Maternal Deprivation Effects on Later Development

Emotional development

• Affectionless psychopathy. 44 juvenile thieves study. 14 were affectionless psychopaths and 12 had prolonged separation from their mum. In contrast of the non psychopaths, only 2 had experienced prolonged speech.

Intellectual Development

• Delayed intellectual development and low IQ. Goldfarb those remained in orphanages had lower IQ than those who were fostered by 4 months old. At 12 those fostered had 96 IQ, those who were in care, 68.

Bowlby: Maternal Deprivation The critical Period

The first 30 months of life. If extended separation happens during this time it becomes deprivation and causes harm.

Bowlby: Maternal Deprivation Evaluation

-Poor evidence, 1940s and 50s war orphans. Not just maternal deprivation but poor care and trauma.

-Counter evidence, Lewish replicated 44 thieves and found no correlation

+Real world application, parents visiting ill children in hospital

-Good aftercare can overcome deprivation. Koluchova. Twins locked in cupboard but did make full recovery.

Effects on Institutionalisation Rutter english and Romanian adoptee study

Procedure

• 165 Romanian Orphans. Physical, cognitive and emotional development assessed at 4,6,11 and 15 years. Control group of British children adopted at similar time

Effects on Institutionalisation Rutter english and Romanian adoptee study Findings

Findings

• Age 11 adopted before 6 months had iq average and rarely displayed disinhibited attachment.

• Adopted 6 months- 2 years low IQ around 86 and even lower if adopted after 2. Also showed disinhibited attachment of clingy, attention seeking of adults.

Effects on Institutionalisation Zeenah Bucharest + Early intervention project

Assessed attachment using strange situation. Around 74% of children in control group (no institutionalisation) came out secure but only 19% of institutional group. 65% had disorganised attachment, 44% showed disinhibition.

Effects on Institutionalisation Effects of Institutionalisation

• Mental Retardation

• Disinhibited Attachment

Effects on Institutionalisation Evaluation

+Real life application: Introduction of key workers and better conditions for institutionalised children. Longtom

+Fewer extraneous variables as these orphans had all experienced very similar conditions. Unlike in other studies.

-Orphanages were extreme and not typical of everyday deprivation

-Individual differences some orphans were not as strongly affected as others

Effects of Attachment on later relationships Internal working model

Bowlby. Primarily attachment figure creates blueprint for future relationships.

Effects of Attachment on later relationships Childhood Myron Wilson

Type A: Victim of bullying

Type B: Not involved in bullying

Type C: Bully

Type B best quality of friendship (Kerus)

Effects of Attachment on later relationships Romantic relationships Hazan and Shaver

Love quiz assessing attachment and significant relationships

Type A: Jealous and fear intimacy

Type B: Good and long lasting relationships

Type C: Difficulty maintaining relationships

Effects of Attachment on later relationships Own parenting

Bailey found mothers relationship with baby mirrored relationship with own mother.

Effects of Attachment on later relationships Evaluation

-Lacks Validity: Basedon self report recalling childhood which isn’t accurate

-Overly deterministic: Age one determines all future relationships. Simpson did not find this in their study

-Correlation not causation: Third variables such as parenting styles, etc.