Attachment Flashcards
definition of attachment?
-two way reciprocal emotional bond between individuals where one sees the other as essential for their own emotional security.
what is reciprocity?
-the infant and mother respond to each others signal and each elicits a response from the other involves turn taking.
what did Feldman study?
-2007 found that the frequency of reciprocity increases from 3 months and is signalled by more verbal and facial signs
what did Brazleton et al study?
- 1975 characterises reciprocity as a dance where the infant and caregiver respond to each others behaviour.
what did Meltzoff and Moore study?
-1977 they found that infants from two to three weeks old would respond to adult models facial expressions.
-1983 went on to show this in infants 3 days old
what is interactional synchrony?
-when an infant and caregiver reflect the actions and emotions and do this in a coordinated way
first stage of attachment?
-Schaffer
-Pre-attachment, 0-6 weeks, infants become attracted to other humans preferring them to objects and is shown by them smiling at others.
second stage of attachment?
-Indiscriminate attachments, 6 weeks to 6 months, infants begin to understand familiar and unfamiliar and smiles at more known people.
third stage of attachment?
-Discriminate attachments, 7 to 12 months, infants begin to develop specific attachments stay close to specific people and distressed when separated.
final attachment stage?
-multiple attachments, 1 onwards, infants form strong emotional ties with other major caregivers fear of strangers weakens but attachment to mother remains strongest.
what did Schaffer and Emerson study?
-1964
-the age at which infants become attached and who they become attached to
-naturalistic observations with a survey.
-60 Glasgow babies and their mothers from a working class area.
-babies observed in their homes every four weeks until they reached 1 and then again at 18 months
-mothers were asked about their babys reactions to 7 everyday separations designed to measure Separation anxiety and questions about infants responses to others to measure stranger anxiety.
-found that the onset of attachment was 6-9 weeks, intensely attached had mothers who responded quickly and was seen through the separation anxiety with the mother.
-39% of cases the person who bathed, fed and changed was not the primary caregiver instead it was those who were most sensitive to the infants signals and gave reciprocity.
-by 40 weeks 80% of babies had a specific attachment and 30% had multiple.
how quick attachment to father?
-by 18 months 75% of infants had formed an attachment with their father, shown by separation anxiety.
what did Grossman find?
-2002
-longitudinal study looking at quality of children’s attachment in adolescence.
-showed that the quality of attachment with mothers was related to children’s attachments in adolescence but the fathers wasnt
-quality of Fathers play related to teenage attachments
-suggests that fathers have a different role in fostering skills through play and stimulations rather than the traditional nurturing role of mothers.
what did Lorenz study?
-studied imprinting.
-classic experiment where he divided goose eggs in to 2 half were hatched with the mother in a natural experiment, the other half in an incubator and first moving object seen was Lorenz.
-the incubated group followed Lorenz as if he was their mother, even when the two groups were mixed up and they saw their mother
-identified that there was a critical period in which imprinting could occur, varied between species and sometimes was only a few hours and if not they never attached to a mother figure.
what did Harlow study?
-1950s
-to discover wether monkeys attach for comfort or food.
-16 rhesus monkeys separated from mothers at birth and put in cage where they were provided with two surrogate mothers, one cloth and one wire with a feeding bottle.
-monkeys preferred the cloth and spent 16 hours on it
-maternal deprivation have a permanant effect with monkeys more aggressive and less sociable
What does SLT believe babies attach for?
-food motivâtes the baby to form an attachment
How does a baby form an attachment through classical conditioning?
-pleasure from food = unconditioned stimulus.
-person doing it= neutral stimulus
-becomes associated with pleasure from feeding and therefore becomes conditioned to feel pleasure from the sight of the primary caregiver.
How does operant condition create an attachment?
-process of reinforcement
-the primary caregiver becomes a source of reward as they provide food security and love.
How does SLT believe that babies learn to show affection?
-through observing and imitating people so they see the caregivers affection and then show it back
What did Bowlby believe?
-convinced that evolution was a vital factor in explaining some aspects of behaviour including attachment.
-is an innate instinct which increases chances of survival.
First letter for Bowlbys beliefs?
-A, helpless babies we are unable to look after ourselves we need careers to keep us safe. Therefore this innate attachment is ADAPTIVE simply means it’s usefully for us to become attached.
Bowlby acronym?
Adaptive
Social releases
Critical period
Monotropy
Internal working model
2nd letter for Bowlby?
Social releases- which make people want to care for them like crying big eyes and adults have innate drive to respond to them
3rd letter for Bowlby?
-Critical period, first 2 years of life and if attachment doesn’t occur during that period it may never do so and serious long term effects follow
-Physical, Intellectual Emotional and Social damage