ATTACHMENT

  • A two way emotional bond

  • Individuals see each other as an essential for their own emotional security

  • Takes a few moths to develop

Altricial- born at an early stage of development (eg. Human babies). Seek protection and nurturing from adults.

Precocial animals- born at an advanced staggered of development (eg. Animals).

  • The critical period takes 12-17hrs after birth to form

LORENZ

AIM: Ethologist studying animals under natural conditions

PROCEDURE:

  • Divided googling eggs into 2 groups, one left with the mother, the other put in an incubator with Lorenz.

  • To test the imprinting effect, Lorenz mixed the groups = both Lorenz and the mother were present.

Long lasting effect→ irreversible and had effects had on later mating preferences (sexual imprinting). Chose to mate with the same kind upon which they were imprinted on.

FINDINGS:

  • Lorenz’s group showed no recognition to their mother.

  • If the offspring is not exposed to a moving object during the critical period, they wont imprint.

HARLOW

AIM: ‘the origins of love’ means mother love isn’t based on feeding, but comfort from a caregiver.

PROCEDURE:

  • Created 2 wire monkey mothers. One wrapped in soft cloth and the other just wire but provided milk.

  • 8 baby rhesus monkeys were studied for 165 days.

  • Measured amount of time each monkey spent with the different ‘mothers’.

FINDINGS:

  • All 8 spent most their time with the cloth mother.

  • Moneys became underweight and would only go to the wire mother for food if they really needed to.

  • When frightened, they clung on the coth mother.

Long lasting effect→ became socially abnormal and sexually abnormal (didn’t cradle their babies).

  • Attachment was only made with a caregiver who gave contact comfort.

LEARNING THEORY:

Classical conditioning (Pavlov)

  • Certain things become associated with food beacuse they are present at the time of being fed - Natural stimulus

  • If any natural stimulus is consistently associated with an unconditioned response it will take on its properties and produce a same response.

  • The natural stimulus becomes a conditioned response and produces a conditioned response

  • A well formed stimulus = ‘mother love’

Forming an attachment (association)

Operant conditioning (Skinner)

  • When an infant is fed, drive is reduced = a pleasured feeling

    • The drive reduction theory motivates behavior

  • Food becomes a primary reinforcer because it supplies a reward

  • Attachment occurs because an infant seeks a person who can supply this reward

Maintains an attachment (consequence)

BOWLBY’S MONOTROPIC THEORY:

  • Attachment is biologically programmed at birth→ critical period.

  • Evolves/ persists beacuse of its adaptiveness.

Monotropy- one special emotional bond (primary)

Internal working model- mental representation of a monotropy relationship

→ Short Term: insight into caregivers behavior

→ Long Term: template for future relationships (expectations)

Social releases- innate mechanisms that explain how attachment to infants form (eg. Smiling/ having a ‘baby face’)

Continuity hypothesis- emotionally secure infants go on to be emotionally secure and socially confident adults]

  • Vicarious innate social releases have evolved to elicit caregiving→ attachment is a 2 way process

AINSWORTH’S STRANGE SITUATION:

AIM: Measure security of attachment between a baby and a caregiver

PROCEDURE:

  • Took place in a controlled observation rom with a one way mirror.

  • There were 8 stages, each lasting 3 minutes.

  1. Child and caregiver enter an unfamiliar room

  2. A stranger comes in → tests stranger anxiety

  3. Caregiver leaves the stranger and baby together → tests separation

  4. Caregiver returns and the stranger leaves → tests reunion behavior

  5. Caregiver leaves baby on its own → tests separation anxiety

  6. Stranger returns → tests stranger anxiety

  7. Caregiver returns → tests reunion behavior

Proximity seeking- a baby with good quality attachment will stay close to the caregiver

Exploration- good attachment enables the baby to feel confident to explore, using the caregiver as a secure base

Stranger anxiety- close attachment causes anxiety when a stranger approaches

Separation anxiety- protests when separating from caregiver

Reunion behavior- babies securely attached greet caregivers returns with pleasure

FINDINGS:

  • Secure attachment (66%): not likely to cry if caregiver leaves but is reluctant to eavesdrop them. Has good social interaction

  • Insecure avoidant (22%): avoid social interaction. Has little response to separation. Can explore independently

  • Insecure resistant (12%): separation causes distress. Seek and reject social interaction

CULTURAL VARIATIONS:

Culture- groups of people who are bound by the same rules, morals and methods of interaction.

Cross- culture research- research where data is collected from more than one culture and make comparisons.

Cultural variations- difference i norms, values, beliefs and behaviors across different culture groups.

Meta analysis- research strategy where researchers examine results of perilous studies with he purpose of gaining greater confidence in results.

Ethnocentric- refers to our own ethnic group as a bias for judgements about others.

Cultural relativism- value judgments are relative for judgements about others.

MATERNAL DEPRIVATION:

  • Loss of emotional care that is provided by a caregiver.

Bowlbys theory:

  • Explains what happens when attachments are broken.

  • Disruption to this bond within the critical period can have consequences.

→ intellectual development- delay characterized y abnormally low IQ

→ emotional development- causes affections less psychopathy (inability to experience guilt and strong emotions). Prevents developing or al relationships and is associated with criminality.

  • Affectionless psychopaths cannot appreciate the feelings of victims, so lack remorse for their own actions.

AIM: find links between afectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation.

PROCEDURE:

  • Analyses case history’s of a number of patients in the London child guidance clinic.

  • All the children were emotionally maladjusted (react differently).

  • Studies 88 children- half were thieves and the others were a controls group.

FINDINGS:

  • Affectionless psychopaths (the thieves) were found to have early separation from their mothers and were in foster care or hospitals.

  • A lack of continuous care can cause emotional maladjustment or even mental disorders.

EARLY ATTACHMENT ON LATER RALATIONSHIPS:

AIM: Hazan and Shaver designed a ‘love quiz’ to test the internal working model.

PROCEDURE:

  • Analyzed 620 replies to the love quiz that was printed in the local newspaper

  • Quiz assesses respondents current attachment experiences, attachment history and their attitudes towards love.

FINDINGS:

  • Attachment styles were similar to those found in infancy.

Secure→ 56%

Avoidant→ 25%

Resistant→ 19%

  • There was a positive correlation between attachment type and experiences

  • Securely attached adults described their love experiences as happy and trusting, leading to enduring relationships.

  • Insecurely attached adults feel in and out of love easily as they find love rare, this lead to divorces quicker.

INSTITUTIONALISATION:

Effects:

  • Physical underdevelopment- lack of emotional care rather than poor nourishment is the cause of deprivation dwarfism.

  • Intellectual underfunctioning- cognitive development is also affected by emotional deprivation.

  • Disinhibited attachment- treating near-strangers with inappropriate familiarity and seek constant attention.

  • Poor parenting- Quinton compared 50 women who had been reared in institutions with 50 women who had even reared at home. The ex-intuitional women experiences difficulties with parenting and looking after others.

PROCEDURE:

  • Rutter and Songa-Barke studied English and Romanian adoptees.

  • 165 Romanians spent their life in institutions and suffered the effects of institutionalization.

  • Adoptees were tested in intervals (ages 4,6,11 and 15) to assess physical, cognitive and social development.

  • This was compared to a control group of 52 British adoptees in the uk before they were 6 months old.

FINDINGS:

  • By 4, some caught up with the british children’s development.

  • Significant deficits remain substantial in some minorities who had experienced institutional care 6 months+.

  • Children were smaller and classed as mentally retarded.