13. Attachment

What is attachment?

  • Refers to the strong emotional bond between the infant and the caregiver in the second half of the first year

  • In 5-6 months you can see the behaviour of the attachment

    • 6 months

      • you can see the baby favouring the primary caregiver

        • They protest when separated → Separation anxiety

  • Harry Harlow

    • Orphaned monkeys raised in isolation with artificial mother

      • Terry cloth mother who doesn’t feed the monkeys and wire mother who does feed them

        • IS FOOD A MOTIVATOR FOR ATTACHMENT?

  • Importance of Harry Harlows experiments

    • Showed that the monkeys preferred the comfort of the terry cloth mother over the wire mother

    • emotional support and tactile comfort are crucial components of attachment

→ Idea of the learning theory

  • The primary enforcer of the food, we become attached to our secondary sources of comfort → Suggesting that the presence of nurturing and warmth can significantly influence our emotional bonds

Monkeys:

  • Spend all the time with terry cloth mother (comfort) other than when its feeding time

    • They have a strong preference for comfort rather than food

    • Learning theory is not correct

  • Infant monkeys with responsive parents tend to generate the attachments

→ Babies with stimulating secondary caregivers have a stronger preference with them, rather than the mother that feeds them

  • Origins of attachment develop overtime when the caregiver spends time with them

Origins of attachment

Ethological view:

  • Biological processes of attachment

    • Won Nobel Prize

  • Ducks imprint on him as their mother

  • The caregivers set up signalling behaviours and infants are predisposed to emit the behaviours

    • e.g.

      • Babies crying signalling caregiver to help

  • Bowlby

    • Emphasized the importance of these attachment signals in forming strong emotional bonds, which are crucial for the child’s development and well-being

  • Examples:

    • smiling, cooing and reaching out → which encourage the caregivers to respond and reinforce the attachment relationship

    • Infant is biologically prepared to engage in the attachment reinforcing behaviour such as crying and clinging

      • These behaviours from babies reinforce nurturing responses from adults

  • Set of programming from both sides: Signalling and response

Measuring attachment → Ainsworth

  • Bowlby originally studies grief and loss in adults

  • Ainsworth took these origins and studies into childrens attachment

→ Stages scenarios

  • Structured observations helps reveal how children respond to separation and reunion with their caregivers, allowing for a deeper understanding of attachment

Patterns Of attachment (SAAD)

  • Secure (67%)

    • Babies use the mother as a secure base

    • distress and relief when mom comes and goes

    • comfortable with exploring and return to mother occasionally

    • Allows: children to explore without anxiety that the mother will not be supportive

      → remaining 33% of infants categorized in other 3 attachment styles

  • Ambivalent

    • Positive and negative reactions to their mothers

    • Initially with close contact with mother that they do not explore environment and are anxious even before the mother leaves

    • When mother returns, they have ambivalent reactions

      • → Wanting to be close to her but hitting and kicking in anger

      → 10-15% of children

  • Avoidant

    • Babies dont seem to show behaviour about mom coming and going, very unbothered

  • Disorganized

    • Babies show strange patterns of presence, absence and reunion

    • They might show a freeze response when parents come back, cry when parent leaves

      • Highly abusive parenting situations

How do secure attachments develop?

→ Sensitive care (Ainsworth)

  • Consistent response caregiving and plays a role in control in behaviour between infant and caregiving

  • Internal working model of attachment

    • From Bowlby’s grief research

    • The internal working model is a mental representation that influences how individuals perceive and interact in relationships, shaping their expectations of others’ responses and their own behaviours in social contexts

Cross cultural attachment patterns

Strange situations Paradigm

→ Geared towards nuclear family

  • Across different cultures children can be raised by grandparents, aunts, uncles… etc

  • Lack of father figures

  • Israeli communities

    • The community includes functions of different peoiple have roles

      • e.g. childcare in one facility

      • small community

    • Results

      • Parents let their children play freely, knowing the environment is safe. Everyone looks out for one another

      • Secure attachment is fostered stronger connections with their parents who sleep at home

  • Dutch vs American families

    • Dutch children found to be avoidant

      • Different expectations of their children’s independence and emotional expression, leading to distinct parenting styles that influence attachment behaviour

  • African tribes

    • Infants have secure attachment and no avoidant attachment

    • Mothers tend to feed of demand and respond immediately to infant needs

Effects of attachment

  • Secure attachment is the best outcome in adult behaviour

    → What happens when you dont have attachment at all?

  • Monkeys from Harry Harlows study express sadness

  • monkeys grow up to be strange

Spitz

  • Infant from orphanages exhibit profound depression

  • Spitz was hired by the American government to do a study of what happens to babies living in these institutions

    • Slow motor and cognitive development

    • Isolation and social neglect have severe consequences

    • poorer social skills

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