Attachment Flashcards
Definition of attachment
-an emotional link between an infant and caregiver
-each seek closeness and feel more secure when in the presence of the attachment figure
-interactions between a carer and an infant is where an attachment starts
-it is the responsiveness of the caregiver to the infants signals that has a deep effect on the child
How do researchers recognise an infant has an attachment
-Proximity:- People try to stay physically close to those they are attached to
-Separation distress:- People are distressed when an attachment figure leaves their presence
-Secure base behaviour:- We always “touch base” with our attachment figure regularly return to their attachment
Interactional synchrony as a feature of infant interactions in humans
-Interactional synchrony:-
-Caregiver and infant respond in time to keep communication going
-e.g infant smiles, caregiver smiles back at the same time
-this type of communication ensures infant and caregivers emotions and actions mirror each other’s
-Meltzoff and Moore conducted a controlled observation of forty two-week old babies to measure caregiver-infant interactions
-An adult displayed one of three facial expressions or distinctive gestures, such as mouth opening or tongue protrusion
-The child’s response was filmed and identified by an independent observer
-A link was found between the facial expression/gesture of the adult and the response of the baby
reciprocity as a feature of infant interactions in humans
Reciprocity:-
-This is a two-way, mutual process where infant and caregiver take turns to respond to each other’s behaviours/signals
-to sustain interaction
-The behaviour of each party elicits a response from the other
-e.g. child puts arms out to be held - caregiver picks up
-Babies have ‘alert phases’ and signal when they are ready for interaction
-Mothers pick up and act on these signals 2/3rd of the time
-Brazelton said both mother and baby initiate the interaction
-take it in turns to do so
-He called this the “dance”
-He said it’s like when a couple dance together they respond to each other’s moves
Evaluate infant interactions in humans AO3 limitation
-lacks ecological validity
-this is because the research takes place in controlled environments
-controlled observation with the caregiver and infant being filmed
-difficult to generalise the findings to real life cases of caregiver-infant interactions as the infant may not behave how they usually do in the real world
-e.g. they may interact with the parent more as they are the only familiar person in the room
-they may interact less as they feel uncomfortable or shy in an unfamiliar environment
-lowering the external validity
-However, some would argue that because the baby is young they may not notice the change in the environment
-this would not affect the validity
Evaluate infant interactions in humans AO3 strength
-high control over extraneous variables
-a potential extraneous variable that would be controlled is not having other adults in the room during observations of caregiver-infant interactions as it may distract the baby
-this means that cause and effect can be established in the interactions between caregivers and infants
-increasing the internal validity
Evaluate infant interactions in humans AO3 limitation
-prone to bias
-as babies cannot speak, inferences must be drawn about their behaviour
-This means that a psychologist may interpret this info in a way that fits their hypothesis
-e.g. a baby may have wind but the psychologist may infer that this is a smile in response to their parents smile
-reducing the internal validity of the research in to caregiver-infant interactions
-In order to minimise this, there should be two observers present to agree on the findings
Schaffer and Emerson research AO1
Aim:- To investigate the formation of early attachments (stages and multiple attachments), the age at which they develop and who they are directed to
Procedure:-
-Longitudinal study on 60 working class newborn babies and their mothers from Glasgow
-The babies and mothers were visited at their own homes every month for the first year of the baby’s life and again at 18 months
-Observations and interviews (with mothers) were used
How was attachment measured in Schaffer and emerson’s research
separation anxiety= assessed by the infant being left alone in a room/or the researcher asking the mother how the infant reacts in this instance
stranger anxiety= assessed by the researcher starting each home visit by approaching the infant to see if this distressed the child
Researchers asked the mothers questions such as who infants smiled at, whom they responded to etc.
what is the 4 stages to attachment acronym
An
Infant
Sucks
Milk
what are the 4 stages of attachment
Asocial= Babies behaviour to adults and inanimate objects was similar
Indiscriminate= (2-7 months) Babies show a preference to people over inanimate objects but usually do not show stranger/separation anxiety
Specific= (around 7 months) babies start to form attachments and show separation/strangers anxiety when separated. In 65% of cases this was with the mother
Multiple= (within 1 months) of forming a specific attachment 29% of children formed multiple attachment. By 1 year most infants had multiple attachments. At 18 months 75% of children had an attachment with their father
Conclusion: Infants form attachments in stages, multiple attachments can be formed
Evaluate stages of attachment AO3 strength
-high ecological validity
-because observations were carried out in the families’ own homes during ordinary activities by the parent e.g. leaving the room
-easier to generalise the findings to real life examples of attachment -as the children’s’ behavior is likely to be representative of everyday interactions
-increasing the external validity
Evaluate stages of attachment AO3 weakness
-prone to social desirability bias
-interviews were used to gather information
-mothers could have lied about their child’s behaviour
-present their parenting in the best possible light
-e.g. may say that the child is distressed when they leave the room even if they are not
-results may lack internal validity and not measure the true stages of attachment
Evaluate stages of attachment AO3 strength
-carried out longitudinally
-This means that the same children were followed-up and observed regularly (every month for their first year of life)
-research does not have the confounding variable of individual differences between the children
-e.g. how the natural temperament of the child may affect the perception of their attachment stage
-increasing the internal validity of the research in to the stages of attachment
Who are the two psychologists that studied the role of the father
Grossman
Field
Grossman’s research into the role of the father AO1
Aim: longitudinal study looking at both parents’ behav. and its relationship to the quality of children’s attachment into their teens
Finding 1: The quality of infants’ attachment with their mothers, but not their fathers, was related to the children’s’ attachments in adolescence
Conclusion: suggesting that the fathers attachment is less important
than the mothers
Finding 2: However, the quality of father’s PLAY with infants was related to the quality the children’s’ adolescent attachments
Conclusion: This suggests fathers have a different role in attachment
one that is more to do with play and stimulation, and less
to do with nurturing, but is still important for the child’s
wellbeing
Field’s research contradicting the role of the father research AO1
Aim: To investigate the role of the father
Method: Controlled observation
Procedure: Field filmed 4 month old babies in face to face interactions with primary caregiver mothers, primary caregiver fathers, and secondary caregiver fathers
Findings:
Primary caregiver fathers, like mothers, spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than the secondary caregiver fathers
This behaviour seems to be more important in building an attachment to an infant
Conclusion:
fathers can be the more nurturing attachment figure and take on a traditionally maternal role
The key to the attachment relationship is the level of responsiveness not the gender of the parent
Role of the father AO3 strength
-practical applications
-principles of the research, by Field, that responsiveness to the child’s needs, not gender, is most important when forming attachments can be used to advise parents
-Many parents make decisions about who should take on the primary caregiver role, mothers may feel pressured to stay at home because of stereotypical views of mothers’ and fathers’ roles
-Equally, fathers may feel pressure to go back to work rather than focus on parenting
-in some families, this may not be the best option economically as the mother may earn more money
-Research into the role of the father can be used to offer reassuring advice to parents
-e.g. fathers can become a primary attachment figure
-This means parental anxiety about the roles of fathers can be reduced
-meaning research into the role of the father is an important part of applied psychology
Role of the father AO3 limitation
-criticism is that the study found that fathers as secondary attachment figures had an important and distinct role in their child’s development of play and stimulation
-However other studies have shown that children growing up in single-mother or lesbian-parent families do not develop any differently from those in two parent heterosexual families
-This would seem to suggest that the father’s role may not be distinct
-However, it could be argued that parents in single-mother or lesbian-parent families simply adapt to accommodate the role played by fathers
-Suggesting, when a father is present they do adopt a distinctive role, but families can adapt to not having a father present
Role of the father AO3 limitation
-the fact that fathers tend not to become the primary attachment figure could simply be the result of traditional gender roles
-On the other hand, it could be that female hormones create higher levels of nurturing
-therefore women are biologically predisposed to be the primary attachment figure
-Therefore there are several expl. to consider when investigating the role of the father
Lorenz animal study AO1
Aim: To investigate the effects of ‘imprinting’ on goslings
Procedure:
-Lorenz randomly divided the goose eggs
-Half of the eggs were hatched with the mother goose in their natural environment (control group)
-The other half hatched in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was Lorenz (experimental group)
-Lorenz recorded the behaviour of the goslings and who they imprinted on
Findings:
- incubator group that saw Lorenz first imprinted on and followed Lorenz everywhere
-whereas the group who saw the mother goose first imprinted on and followed her
-Lorenz identified a critical period (12-17 hours after hatching) in which imprinting needs to take place
-If ‘imprinting’ did not occur within that time Lorenz suggests that chicks will not attach themselves to a mother figure.
-In addition, goslings who imprinted on to humans would, as adult birds, attempt to mate with humans (sexual imprinting)
Conclusion:
Goslings imprint on the first moving object that they see, there is a specific time period in which this needs to take place, otherwise they will not attach/imprint
Lorenz research AO3 strength
-practical applications
-principles of the research, that goslings had to imprint within 12-17 hours otherwise they would not imprint at all shows the importance of this critical period on future relationships
-Psychologists can use this info in order to promote the importance of early interactions between parents and infants and hopefully reduce issues later in life
-therefore Lorenz’s research is an important part of applied psychology
Lorenz research AO3 limitations
-animal bias
-because it was conducted on animals (goslings) to investigate attachment
-This is potentially a problem because human attachment behaviour may be more complex than animal attachment behaviour
-as human emotions are more sophisticated towards their offspring than birds’
-For example, attachment in humans is a two way process, so it is not just the young who become attached to their mothers but also the mammalian mothers who show an emotional attachment to their young
-therefore there are issues with extrapolating the findings of Lorenz’s research in to attachment to humans
Lorenz research AO3 limitations
-researcher bias
-Lorenz recorded his own observations of the birds so he may have chosen to only include findings that would support his theory of imprinting
-lower internal validity of the research
-may not be measuring the effects of imprinting on attachment
Harlow research AO1
Aim: To investigate whether food or comfort is more important in the formation of attachments
Method: Lab experiment
Procedure:
-16 baby rhesus monkeys were separated from their mothers at birth and brought up in cages
-cages contained surrogate mothers
-A wire mother with milk
-cloth mother with no milk
-The amount of time spent with mother was recorded
-The monkeys were frightened with a loud noise to test which mother they preferred when stressed
The long term effects were recorded, such as sociability and relationships to their future offspring
Findings:
-Monkeys spent more time with the cloth mother than the wire mother
-When frightened the monkeys would go to the cloth mother
-The monkeys later in life had emotional damage such as being much more timid, being easily bullied, difficulty mating and females being inadequate mothers when they were older
Conclusion: Contact comfort is the most important factor when forming an attachment
Harlow AO3 strength
-practical applications
-emphasises the importance of comfort in the formation of attachments
-this finding can be used by social workers and clinical psychologists in understanding that a lack of bonding experience may be a risk factor in child development
-allowing them to intervene to prevent poor outcomes
-this research is an important part of applied psychology when explaining the formations of attachment
Harlow AO3 limitation
-practical application may be limited as
-animal bias
-uses rhesus monkeys to investigate attachment
-human attachment behaviour may be more complex than animal attachment behaviour
-human emotions are more sophisticated towards their offspring than animals
-Therefore there are issues with extrapolating the findings of Harlow’s research in to attachment to humans
Harlow AO3 limitation
-Harlow’s study raises ethical issues
-due to the harm inflicted on the monkeys
-The monkeys suffered greatly as a result of Harlow’s procedures and were frightened, had emotional/social issues in later life and sometimes died
-Limiting Harlow’s research into attachments in animals
Counter argument:
-However, Harlow argued the importance of the findings into the formation of attachments outweighed the distress caused to the monkeys as
-at the time of Harlow’s research there was a dominant belief that attachment was due to physical rather than emotional care
-As such, Harlow’s research into attachment has gone on to create important practical applications, as described above
Learning theory as an expl. of attachment AO1
-milk is an unconditioned stimulus which the infant needs to survive
-which provides an unconditioned response in the infant of pleasure
-This response is AUTOMATIC and does not need to be LEARNT
-The neutral stimulus is the feeder which has a neutral response
-through repetition of feeding the infant learns to associate the feeder with food and pleasure
-Therefore, the feeder becomes a conditioned stimulus
-sight of feeder indicates to the child that they will be fed
-this will produce the conditioned response of pleasure
Operant conditioned linked to an attachment AO1
-used to explain why babies cry for comfort
-When an infant is hungry and cries, this leads to a response from the caregiver e.g. feeding
-This is positive reinforcement for the infant as the infant receives the reward of food, and the crying behaviour is reinforced
-At the same time, when the caregiver feeds the infant, the crying stops, this is negative reinforcement for the caregiver as the negative stimulus of crying has been removed, and the feeding behaviour is reinforced
-This mutual reinforcement strengthens an attachment
Learning theory of attachment AO3 limitation
-environmental reductionism
-This is because the theory reduces the complex human behaviour of attachment down to simple basic units of learning to attach through stimulus, response and association between feeder and food
-This neglects a holistic approach, which would take in to account how a person’s culture and social context would influence and explain their attachment
-e.g. for example in collectivist cultures where families often work together to look after children children may form multiple attachments from the outset, not just with who feeds them
-Therefore, the learning theory of attachment may lack validity as it does not allow us to understand the behaviour in context
Learning theory of attachment AO3 limitation RTC
-RTC by Harlow
-Harlow found that monkey’s spent more time with the surrogate mother who provided them with comfort, rather than the surrogate mother who provided them with food
-The same must be true for humans as after all, learning theorists believed that non-humans and humans are equivalent
-Therefore contradicting the learning theory’s assumption that we learn to attach to the person who feeds us via associations
-thus limiting the learning theory of attachment
Counter argument:
-However, Harlow conducted this research on animals
-therefore it may not be appropriate to generalize the findings to attachments in humans
-limiting the extent to which Harlow’s research can be used to criticize the learning theory of attachment
