Attachment and Deprivation Notes

The Social Approach

  • Explores links between people and their impact on behavior, identity, and expectations.
  • Focuses on: Attachment and Deprivation, Pro-social Behavior, Social Influence

Attachment & Deprivation

  • Attachment: A strong, reciprocal emotional tie between infant and caregiver, leading to a desire for proximity.
  • Attachment Deprivation: Bond disruption due to separation from an attachment figure (short-term or long-term).

Attachment Theory

  • Key figures: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth.
  • Bowlby drew from ethology, developmental psychology, and psychoanalysis.
  • Ainsworth's methodology tested and expanded Bowlby's ideas.

Psychoanalytic Explanation - Freud

  • Emotional bond with mother arises from satisfying instinctual needs (libidinal drives) through feeding.
  • Attachment begins in the oral stage (0-12/18 months) where the mouth is the focal point of pleasure (sucking, biting).
  • Rooting and Sucking Reflexes are important.
  • Evaluation:
    • Schaffer and Emerson (1964) showed quality of interaction, not biological needs, is most important for attachment.

Behaviorist Explanation

  • Attachment results from classical and operant conditioning.
  • Dollard and Millar (1950): child attaches to mother because she provides food.
    • Classical Conditioning: Parents associated with pleasant stimuli.
    • Operant Conditioning:
      • Positive reinforcement for parents: infant's comfort and smiling.
      • Negative reinforcement for parents: less crying when parents are near.
  • Evaluation: Enhances infant's survival but infants also seek closeness when stressed or threatened (Lorenz, Harlow).

Harlow’s Monkey Study

  • Harlow & Zimmerman (1959):
    • Aim: To determine if feeding or contact comfort is more important.
    • Method: Infant monkeys reared with wire and cloth