Knowt
Attachment
Attachment is a strong Emotional Bond:
Attachment is a close emotional relationship between an infant and their caregiver.
‘Securely attached’ infants will show a desire to be close to their primary caregiver (usually their biological mother)
They’ll show distress when they’re separated, and pleasure when they’re reunited
Features of caregiver-infant interaction:
There are common caregiver-infant interactions which are seen in attachments
These are thought to be involved and maintaining the attachment
Sensitive responsiveness- The caregiver responds appropriately to signals from the infant
Imitation- The infant copies the caregiver’s actions and behaviour. For example, Meltzoff and Moore (1977) found that infants between 2 and 3 weeks of age appeared to imitate the facial expressions and hand movements of the experimenter
Interactional synchrony- Infants react in time with the caregiver’s speech, resulting in a ‘conversation dance’. Condon and Sander (1974) provided evidence for this concept, by showing how babies do appear to move in time with adult conversations
Reciprocity/turn-taking- Interaction flows back and forth between the caregiver and infant
Motherese- The slow, high-pitched way of speaking to infants. However, there is no evidence that this influences the strength of an attachment between parent and infant
Schaffer identified stages in Attachment Formation:
The pre-attachment (or asocial) phase- During the 0-3 months of life, the baby learns to separate people from objects but doesn’t have any strong preferences about who cares for it
The indiscriminate (or diffuse) attachment phase- Between 6 weeks and 7 months the infant starts to distinguish and recognise different people, smiling more at strangers. However, there are still no strong preferences about who cares for it
The discriminate (or single) attachment phase- From 7 to 11 months the infant becomes able to form a strong attachment with an individual. This is shown by being content when that person is around, distressed when they leave and happy when they return. It may be scared of strangers and avoid them
The multiple attachment phase- From about 9 months the infant can form attachments to many different people. Some attachments may be stronger than others and have different functions, e.g for play or comfort, but there doesn’t seem to be a limit to the number of attachments it can make. Although Schaffer found that after 18 months, approximately 32% of babies had at least five attachments, the original attachment is still the strongest
Schaffer and Emerson (1964)- Evidence for attachment stages:
Method:
60 babies were observed in their homes in Glasgow every 4 weeks from birth to about 18 months.
Interviews were also conducted with their families
Results:
Schaffer’s stages of attachment formation were found to occur.
Also, at 8 months of age about 50 of the infants had more than one attachment
About 20 of them either had no attachment with their mother or had a stronger attachment with someone else, even though the mother was always the main caregiver
Conclusion:
Infants form attachments in stages and can eventually attach to many people.
Quality of care is important in forming attachments, so the infant may not attach to their mother if other people respond more accurately to its signals
Evaluations of Schaffer and Emerson (1964):
There is now a lot of evidence to support Schaffer and Emerson’s results and their stages of attachment formation, but there are also criticisms of the study
For example, Schaffer and Emerson used a limited sample, and evidence from interviews and observations may be biased and unreliable
Additionally, some cross-cultural differences should be considered.
Tronick et al (1992) found that infants in Zaire had a strong attachment with their mother by 6 months of age but didn’t have strong attachments with others, even though they had several carers
The father plays an important role too
Schaffer and Emmerson (1964) found that the attachment between caregiver and infant varied across the infants. Their mother was the primary attachment for only half of the infants. A third of the infants preferred their father, whilst the rest had their strongest attachment with their grandparents or siblings
A lot of the initial research into caregiver-infant attachment focused on the mother being the primary caregiver. But that ignores the role of the father
Goodsell and Meldrum (2009) conducted a large study into the relationship between infants and their fathers. They found that those with a secure attachment to their mother are also more likely to have a secure attachment to their father
Ross et al (1975) showed that the number of nappies a father changed was positively correlated to the strength of their attachment. This was supported by a study by Caldera (2004) who investigated 60 fathers and mothers and their 14-month-old infants. Caldera found that when the father was involved in care-giving activities, they were much more likely to develop a strong attachment with their child
But there is research which suggests the role a mother and father plays can be different. Geiger (1996) suggested that a mother’s relationship is primarily nurturing and caring, but a father’s relationship is more focused around play
