Attachment

Def. + Syllabus

• Definition: Attachment is defined as a strong affectional tie that binds a child to a caregiver. It is primarily characterized by affection and a persistent desire to maintain proximity to the attachment figure.

• The syllabus for social and emotional development focuses on several key areas:     - The study of emotion over physiological needs in Rhesus monkeys ($1958$).     - Bowlby’s theory of attachment ($1969$, $1988$).     - Evolutionary perspectives on attachment.     - Concepts of monotropy, critical and sensitive periods, maternal deprivation, and the internal working model.     - Ainsworth’s Strange Situation to measure attachment ($1978$).     - Classification of attachment types (Type A, Type B, Type C).     - Cross-cultural patterns identified by van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg ($1988$).     - The impact of enriched versus deprived environments, including case studies of feral children like Genie.

Genetic and Environmental Perspectives

• Nature (Biological Perspective):     - Infants are biologically predisposed to form attachments.     - Forming these attachments is an evolutionary necessity, as it aids in survival by ensuring access to shelter, food, and protection.

• Nurture (Environmental Perspective):     - A consistent responsive social environment is considered critical for healthy development.     - Caregivers who are unresponsive or inconsistent can have a significant negative impact on the quality of the attachment.

Harlow’s Study on Rhesus Monkeys ($1958$)

• Aim: To determine whether attachment was primarily a result of providing food or providing comfort.

• Method:     - $8$ Rhesus monkeys were separated from their biological mothers at birth.     - They were placed with two different surrogate mother figures:         1. A wire mother that held a feeding bottle.         2. A mother covered in soft cloth that did not provide any food.

• Findings:     - The monkeys spent the vast majority of their time with the cloth mother.     - They only visited the wire mother when they needed to feed.     - When the monkeys were frightened, they would immediately cling to the cloth mother for protection.

• Conclusion: Harlow concluded that contact comfort is the most powerful contributor to attachment, rather than the simple provision of food.

• Contributions:     - Challenged the contemporary belief that attachment was merely a matter of meeting basic physiological needs like food and warmth.     - Established a foundation for further research into social and emotional behavioral development.

• Limitations:     - Ethical concerns: There were significant issues regarding the treatment of animals and whether the research benefits justified the harm.     - Generalizability: The extent to which Rhesus monkey behavior can be accurately applied to human behavior is limited.     - Experimenter effect: There is a possibility of bias, suggesting Harlow may have favored the cloth mother in his own interactions with the subjects.

Bowlby’s Theory of Attachment

• Evolutionary Perspective: Bowlby believed attachment is biologically based. Babies are born with innate behaviors—such as crying, cooing, and smiling—designed to encourage close proximity with a caregiver.

• Critical Period:     - Initially, Bowlby suggested a critical period for developing attachment within the first $2.5$ years of life.     - A critical period is defined as a limited time frame during which a specific development must occur; if it does not happen then, it may never occur.

• Sensitive Period: Bowlby later proposed a sensitive period extending up to $5$ years. This is a stage where an organism can most rapidly acquire a particular skill or characteristic.

• Monotropy:     - This is the innate tendency for babies to form a primary attachment to one specific figure, usually the mother.     - This primary relationship is considered more important than any other subsequent attachments.

Maternal Deprivation and the 44 Thieves Study

• Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis: If an infant cannot develop a warm, intimate, and continuous relationship with its mother, the child will face difficulty forming future relationships and is at significant risk for behavioral disorders.

• Potential consequences of maternal deprivation include:     - Delinquency.     - Reduced intelligence.     - Aggression.     - Depression.     - Affectionless Psychopathy: This is defined as a lack of concern for others, a lack of guilt, and an inability to form lasting, meaningful relationships.

• The $44$ Thieves Study ($1944$):     - Method: Bowlby selected $88$ children from his clinic. $44$ were classified as "thieves," while $44$ served as a control group (having emotional problems but no criminal history). He interviewed the children and examined their family histories.     - Findings: Over $80\%$ of the thieves had experienced significant separation from their mothers, compared to only $20\%$ of the control group.     - Diagnoses: $32\%$ of the thieves were diagnosed with affectionless psychopathy, while $0\%$ of the control group received this diagnosis.     - Conclusion: There is a distinct correlation between criminal behavior and early maternal deprivation.

The Internal Working Model (IWM)

• Bowlby believed the quality of early attachment influences all future relationships (friends, partners, and one's own children).

• The Internal Working Model consists of cognitive representations of oneself and others that shape expectations about relationships. It involves:     1. A model of others (e.g., the mother) being experienced as trustworthy.     2. A model of the self as being valuable and important to others.     3. A model of the self as being effective when interacting with others.

Evaluation of Bowlby’s Theories

• Strengths:     - Highlights the importance of early life experiences on social and emotional development.     - Emphasizes the necessity for caregivers to be emotionally available and responsive.     - Support for the Continuity Hypothesis: Evidence suggests attachment patterns in childhood often persist into adulthood.

• Limitations:     - Downplays other factors like genetics, individual temperament, and the broader social environment.     - Ignores resilience: Some children develop healthy relationships later in life despite lacking early secure attachment.     - Maternal Overemphasis: The theory focuses almost exclusively on the mother, ignoring the vital roles of fathers, grandparents, and other caregivers.

Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation ($1978$)

• Ainsworth expanded Bowlby’s work, moving away from the idea that attachment is an "all or nothing" concept.

• Aim: To observe and measure the variety of attachment types exhibited between mothers and infants using a standardized experimental procedure.

• Sample: Approximately $100$ middle-class American families with infants aged between $12$ and $18$ months.

• Procedure: The infant is observed through seven $3$-minute episodes:     1. Parent and infant alone: Infant plays/explores while parent sits (tests use of parent as a secure base).     2. Stranger joins parent and infant: Tests stranger anxiety.     3. Parent leaves infant and stranger alone: Tests separation anxiety.     4. Parent returns and stranger leaves: Tests the reaction to reunion (this was the most essential interaction for determining attachment type).     5. Parent leaves (infant left completely alone): Tests separation anxiety.     6. Stranger returns: Tests stranger anxiety.     7. Parent returns and stranger leaves: Tests reaction to reunion.

Classification of Attachment Types

• Type B: Secure Attachment ($66\%$ typical in US samples):     - Child feels confident the attachment figure will meet their needs.     - Uses caregiver as a safe base for exploration and seeks them in distress.     - Easily soothed when upset.     - Result of sensitive and appropriate caregiver responses.     - In Strange Situation: Explores but returns to base; moderate separation distress; avoids stranger alone but friendly when parent is present; happy on reunion.

• Type A: Insecure Avoidant Attachment ($22\%$ typical in US samples):     - Infant does not orient to the attachment figure during exploration.     - Displays physical and emotional independence and does not seek contact when distressed.     - Result of insensitive or rejecting caregiving.     - In Strange Situation: Explores independently; no distress upon separation; plays normally with stranger; little interest in parent upon reunion.

• Type C: Insecure Resistant (Ambivalent) Attachment ($12\%$ typical in US samples):     - Child fails to develop security and is difficult to move away from the caregiver to explore.     - Difficult to soothe when distressed and exhibits inconsistent seeking/resisting of comfort.     - Result of inconsistent caregiver responsiveness.     - In Strange Situation: Will not leave caregiver to play; intense separation distress; fear of stranger; approaches caregiver on reunion but resists contact or pushes them away.

Evaluation of Ainsworth’s Research

• Strengths:     - Predictive Validity: High validity in predicting future social and emotional outcomes for the child.     - Reliability: The standardized procedure allows for high levels of consistency across different settings and researchers.     - Practical Application: Informs better parenting practices by emphasizing responsiveness.

• Limitations:     - External Validity: The small sample size of US middle-class families limits generalizability.     - Laboratory Setting: The artificial nature of the lab may not capture the complexity of real-life relationships.     - Focus: Like Bowlby, it focuses primarily on the mother-infant bond.

Cross-Cultural Variations in Attachment

• Cultural Definitions:     - Individualistic Groups: Prioritize individual needs over the whole group.     - Collectivist Groups: Prioritize the needs of the entire group over individual desires.

• Meta-Analysis by van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg ($1988$):     - Analyzed $32$ studies using the Strange Situation.     - Findings: Attachment types are largely similar across cultures, though percentages vary based on parenting styles.     - Germany: Showed a higher percentage of Insecure Avoidant infants due to Authoritarian parenting styles.     - Israel: Showed higher levels of Insecure Resistant infants, likely due to communal sleeping arrangements in kibbutzim.

Baumrind’s Parenting Styles

• Styles are classified based on two dimensions: Responsiveness (support/affection) and Control (supervision/regulation).

• Authoritarian (Low responsiveness, High control):     - Rules must be obeyed immediately and without explanation.     - Praise is avoided to prevent children from becoming "too full of themselves."     - Child is expected to act with "mature"/adult behavior (independent, non-emotional).     - Outcomes: Anxious, withdrawn, low self-esteem, good school performance, low antisocial activity. Correlated with Insecure Avoidant attachment.

• Permissive (High responsiveness, Low control):     - Accepting of children’s desires; rules are seen as restrictive to natural development.     - Avoids confrontation and the use of power.     - Outcomes: Poor emotion regulation, rebellious, low persistence, antisocial behaviors.

• Authoritative (High responsiveness, High control):     - Clear standards are set but parents are assertive and not intrusive.     - Children have some say, but parents have the final word.     - Uses praise and positive attention; teaches children to understand feelings.     - Outcomes: Happy, high academic success, good self-esteem, social competence, better mental health, less violence. Correlated with Secure attachment.

Questions & Discussion

• Question: How much of an influence do you think your relationship with your parents has on future relationships? Why?

Impact of Deprived Environments: The Case of Genie

• Context: Genie was a feral child discovered at $13$ years and $7$ months of age. Her father believed she was mentally disabled and subsequently withheld care and attention.

• Conditions of Deprivation:     - Socially isolated in a room for over a decade.     - Physically restrained and malnourished.

• Physical and Mental Impact:     - Impaired physical development and poor fine motor skills.     - Developed the "bunny walk."     - Normal vision but inability to focus eyes.     - Difficulty swallowing due to only being fed liquids/non-solids.     - IQ of a $13$-month-old child upon discovery.

• Language Development:     - Did not acquire a first language during the critical period.     - Through intervention, she developed non-verbal communication and learned roughly $100$ words.     - However, she was unable to use these words in properly formed sentences.

• Long-term Outcome: After turning $18$, she was returned to her mother, who could not care for her. She was then placed in an adult foster home where her language development regressed.