Lecture 5 – Parenting and Early Social Development  

Attachment 

  • Attachment: a bond or tie between an individual and an attachment figure  

Early theories – Cupboard Love 

  • Psychoanalysts (Freud): Infants attach to caregivers who satisfy instinctual needs (e.g. oral gratification). 

  • Behaviourists: Attachment forms with those who provide reinforcement (food, comfort). 

Harlow and Zimmerman – Contact Comfort 

  • Method: Infant rhesus monkeys raised with two “mothers” – one cloth, one wire (with milk). 

  • Findings: Monkeys preferred the cloth mother — showing the importance of comfort over food. 

  • Implications: Contact comfort is a basic need; deprivation caused abnormal development. 

  • Ethics: Highly criticised for cruelty, yet influential in attachment theory. 

Bowlby’s Attachment Theory 

  • Attachment: A deep emotional bond between infant and caregiver. 

  • Definition: “A pattern of emotional and behavioural interaction developing over time” (Cassidy & Shaver, 1999). 

  • Evolutionary function: Ensures infant survival. 

  • Social releasers: Crying, cooing, smiling – innate behaviours that elicit caregiving. 

Characteristics of Attachment 

  • Proximity maintenance: Desire to stay close to caregiver. 

  • Safe haven: Seeking comfort when distressed. 

  • Secure base: Confidence to explore when caregiver is near. 

  • Separation of distress: Anxiety when caregiver leaves. 

Phases of Attachment Development 

Stage 

Age 

Description 

Preattachment 

Birth–6 wks 

Infant signals (crying, smiling) attract caregivers. No preference for one person. 

Indiscriminate 

2–6 months 

Recognises familiar people; no strong separation protest. 

Discriminate 

7–8 months 

Shows clear preference for primary caregiver; separation anxiety begins. 

Reciprocal relationship 

18+ months 

Understands caregiver’s return; less distress; uses communication to negotiate. 

Internal Working Model (Bowlby, 1969) 

  • Mental representation of self, caregiver, and others. 

  • Influences future relationships and attachment patterns. 

Mary Ainsworth – Strange Situation (1978) 

Aim: Assess attachment quality in infants (12–18 months). 
 Procedure: 8 stages involving separation, stranger, and reunion episodes. 

 

Attachment and Parenting style 

 

Cross-Cultural Findings 

  • Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg (1988): Meta-analysis of 32 studies across 8 countries; secure attachment most common globally. 

  • Ainsworth’s Uganda vs. Baltimore studies: Culture affects caregiving but secure attachment still universal. 

Evaluation: 

  • Generalisable (cross-cultural studies, meta-analysis) 

  • Reliable – standardized procedure, strong controls 

  • Naturalistic observation 

  • Subjective nature of test (4th type of attachement found later – insecure-disorganized) 

  • Ethics of research 

  • Other extraneous varibale (gender, is child used to separation?) 

Maternal and Early Deprivation 

Bowlby’s Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis (1951) 

  • Continuous maternal care essential for normal development. 

  • Separation can cause “affectionless psychopathy” and developmental delays. 

  • Based on 44 Juvenile Thieves study. 

Critiques 

  • Rutter (1981): Distinction between privation (no attachment formed) and deprivation (attachment lost). 

  • Tizard & Hodges (1978): Effects can be reversed with later quality care. 

  • Context and environment also matter. 

 

Parenting styles 

  • Parenting style: the emotional climate of parenting 

  • Parenting practices: specific actions e.g. discipline 

 

  • Diana Baumrind conducted a study on more than 100 preschool-age children (Baumrind, 1967). 

  • Key study in understanding role of parents in influencing the behaviour and outcomes of their children 

  • Using naturalistic observation, parental interviews, and other research methods 

 

  • Baumrind initially identified three different parenting styles: authoritative parenting, authoritarian parenting and permissive parenting. 

  • Maccoby and Martin (1983) expanded this parenting style model using a two-dimensional framework. 

 

Parenting, ethnicity and race 

Cultural Variations 

  • Chao (2001): Authoritative style not linked to achievement in Chinese-American children. 

  • Deater-Deckard et al. (1996): Physical discipline more common in African American families. 

  • Steinberg et al. (1992): Authoritative not always predictive of academic success for African Americans. 

 

Children & Race: Early Social Understanding 

  • Common myths: 

  • Children too young for racial awareness. 

  • Children “colour-blind”. 

  • Racism only learned later. 

Clark & Clark Doll Studies (1940s): 

  • African American children preferred white dolls → evidence of internalised racism. 

Van Ausdale & Feagin (2001): 

  • Ethnography showed preschoolers use race in social interactions — race awareness starts early. 

 

Ethnic-Racial Socialisation (ERS) 

(Hughes et al., 2006; Iqbal, 2014) 
 How parents teach children about race, culture, and discrimination. 

  • Hughes and her colleagues have highlighted the extremely multifaceted nature of ethnic racial socialisation and its need to be understood in terms of its content, its mode of transmission and the underlying beliefs and aims behind it. 

 

ERS & Child Outcomes 

  • Strengthens ethnic identity and self-esteem (Rivas-Drake et al., 2009). 

  • Builds resilience and coping mechanisms (Hughes, 2008; Wang, 2020). 

  • Overemphasis on mistrust can have negative social effects (Neblett et al., 2006). 

 

Ethics of Harlow’s study 

Cons:  

  • Cruelty to subjects 

  • Implications for future generations 

Pros 

  • Valuable insight into attachment 

  • Influenced future research on attachment