Attachment Flashcards
(32 cards)
Define attachment
Attachment is a strong, enduring, emotional and reciprocal bond between two people, especially an infant and caregiver
Behaviours which show attachment
- Proximity seeking
- Clinging
- Separation anxiety & pleasure when reunited
- General orientation towards specific individual
Outline Schaffer and Emerson (1964)
Method
•Longitudinal study in natural environment (60 infants from Glasgow) observed every 4 weeks until 1 year old and at 18 months.
•Observations & diary records
•Measured attachment via (1) separation anxiety; (2) stranger anxiety
Results
•First attachment formed between 6-8 months
•Stranger anxiety starts soon after.
•Infant became attached to others soon after forming first attachment.
•Infant was attached to the most responsive adult, not necessarily to the one who fed them.
Evaluate Shaffer and Emerson
-High ecological validity as observations were carried out in infants’ own home.
Sample was from Glasgow so findings cannot be generalised to the wider population as cultural factors might influence attachment patterns.
Parents completed questionnaires, answers might have been influenced by social desirability
Bowlby’s theory of attachment
1) Attachment is adaptive and innate
2) Sensitive Period
3) Caregiving is Adaptive (social releasers)
4) A secure Base (6-9 months)
5) Monotropy
6) Internal Working Model
7) The Continuity Hypothesis
Evaluate Bowlby’s explanation of attachment
Imprinting happens in other animals (Lorenz Geese)
Shaffer and Emerson (1964) found evidence for monotropy.
Harlow’s (1959) study demonstrated the importance of secondary attachments.
Caregiver sensitivity is also demonstrated by Harlow, the monkeys all became quite maladjusted adults- they had difficulties in reproductive relationships and were poor relationships.
xTemperament hypothesis (Kagen 1984) offers an alternative explanation to continuity.
xBelsky and Rovine (1987) assessed babies aged one to three days old and found a link between certain physiological behaviours and later attachment types.
xOther attachments are important, e.g. fathers and siblings, but still may be primary and secondary attachments.
Describe the learning approach explanation of attachment.
- All behaviour is learned.
- Children are born with social releasers i.e. crying, when the child cries the caregiver responds by giving food thus crying is reinforced (operant conditioning).
- Caregiver becomes associated with pleasant stimuli such as food through a process of classical conditioning. The caregiver is first a neutral stimulus which is paired with food, the unconditioned stimulus. After a number of pairing the caregiver becomes the conditioned stimulus, the feeling of comfort becomes the conditioned response.
Evaluate the learning approach explanation of attachment.
We do learn through conditioning, although food is not the only factor (e.g. attention and responsiveness).
xThis explanation predicts that infants will form a strong attachment to the caregiver who feeds him/her however Shaffer and Emerson show that they become attached to the carer who is the most responsive.
xHarlow show that the monkeys also formed an attachment to the most “responsive” “wire mother” not “the wire mother” who had the food. However this study was done on monkeys so we cannot extrapolate the results as animals are different cognitively and physiologically from humans.
Describe the strange situation by Ainsworth et al. (1971)
- Original sample: 106 middle class American infants.
- Controlled observation.
- Data is collected by a group of observers who record what the infant is doing every 15 seconds (time sampling). Infants observed for: stranger anxiety, separation anxiety, reunion behaviour, willingness to explore.
- 8 episodes lasting 3 minutes long each.
Describe the stages of the Strange Situation
- Parent and infant play.
- Parent sits while infant plays.
- Stranger enters and talks to parent.
- Parent leaves, infant plays, stranger offers comfort if needed.
- Parent returns, greets infant, offers comfort if needed; stranger leaves.
- Parent leaves, the infant is alone.
- Stranger enters and offers comfort.
- Parent returns, greets infant and offers comfort.
Strange situation findings
types of attachment
- Secure attachment (66%): explore the unfamiliar room, upset when mother left but greeted her positively when she returned. Mothers described as sensitive.
- Insecure-avoidant attachment (22%): did not approach their mother during exploration, unconcerned by her absence, little interest when she returned. Avoided the stranger, tended to ignore the mother when she returned. Mothers tend to ignore their infants.
- Insecure-resistant attachment (12%): showed intense distress when mother was absent but rejected her on her return. Showed ambivalent behaviour towards the stranger.
Evaluation of Strange Situation
The results support the sensitivity hypothesis as the children of responsive mothers were found to be securely attached.
High inter-rater reliability (.94) in the strange situation.
The study took place in a lab. The extraneous variables were controlled therefore it is replicable therefore the results are reliable.
High levels of predictive and construct validity.
xThe participants were American therefore we cannot generalise the findings to other cultures as cultural factors may affect attachment patterns.
xThe method only measures one relationship therefore may not be valid (children may have different attachments to other parents).
What are the three different types of attachment?
Secure attachment: Show slight anxiety when caregiver departs but easily comforted when she returns. Play independently and explore their surrounding and returns to caregiver regularly for reassurance. When a stranger appears a securely attached infant will move closer to the mother and be wary of a stranger.
Insecure avoidant attachment: infant shows indifference when the caregiver departs. Avoids caregiver when she returns. Infant play independently. Unconcerned about a stranger being there and show little preference for the mother over a stranger. They often avoid both.
Insecure-resistant attachment: Infant intensely distressed when the caregiver departs. Rushes to caregiver when she returns but is not easily comforted. May resist contact with caregiver or seek comfort and reject it.
Reasons for the different types of attachment
Sensitivity/ responsiveness of the caregiver: securely attached children have responsive and sensitive caregiver. Insecurely attached infants have caregiver who tends to be insensitive and ignore them during play.
Temperament hypothesis (Kagen 1984): suggests some infants form secure attachments because they are innately friendlier than other infants
Describe one study of cross-cultural variations in attachment.
Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg (1988)
•Method: meta-analysis of the findings from 32 studies of attachment behaviour in strange situation (over 2000 children from 8 countries).
•Results:
•Differences between cultures/ countries were small.
•Secure attachment was the most common classification in every country (lower % in China and highest in Britain)
•Insecure-avoidant was more common in Germany but rare in Israel and Japan.
•Variation within cultures was 1.5 times greater than variation between cultures.
Evaluation of Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg (1988)
Core attachment concepts seem to be universal.
xThe larger variations within cultures suggest that any one culture may comprise several subcultures.
xSome sample sizes from certain cultures were small e.g. only 36 children in the Chinese study and therefore it may be unsafe to generalise results.
xThe strange situation is based on US culture and observed behaviour may not have the same meaning in different cultures.
xUsing a procedure developed in one culture may not be a valid measure in another culture.
xRothbaum et al. (2000) argues that attachment theory is rooted in UK culture. Psychologists should instead create a set of indigenous theories.
Define separation, deprivation and privation
- Separation: occurs when a child is separated from his primary caregiver for a short time.
- Deprivation occurs when the attachment bond is formed but is broken later on a long-term basis.
- Privation is when a child does not form any attachment with a significant person.
Describe the effects of separation from the primary caregiver. (PDD model)
Protest: crying, panicking, and calling for the carer.
Despair: after a day or two the child loses interest in its surrounding and become increasingly withdrawn.
Detachment: after a few more days the child becomes alert again and seems to have recovered however the relationship with the carer might be permanently damaged as the trust and security may be lost.
One study showing the effect of separation
Robertson & Robertson (1968)
•Natural study (observation)
•John 17 months (9 days in residential nursery).
•Nurses did not respond to his attention seeking behaviour. Under the stress of separation from his mother, strange food and strange surroundings he eventually stopped playing, refused food and drink, cried and gave up attracting the nurses’ attention. Visits from his father failed to relieve his anxiety. When reunited with his mother, John screamed and struggled when she tried to hold him.
Factors affecting the effects of separation
- age of the child
- the quality of the attachment with the primary caregiver
- quality of the substitute care
Describe Bowlby’s deprivation hypothesis
- A child has a need to attach to one main attachment figure (i.e. monotropy).
- The development of the continuous relationship with the main attachment figure must occur during the critical period (before the age of 2 years).
- If the attachment is broken or disrupted during the critical two year period the child will suffer irreversible long-term consequences of this maternal deprivation.
Evaluate Research into Disruption of Attachment
High validity due to naturalistic studies.
Research has led to positive changes in the institutional care of children.
Bifulco et al. (1992) found that who had lost mothers through separation or death before they were 17 were more likely to suffer from depressive or anxiety disorders when they became adults.
xCase studies were used so we could argue that the results can not be generalised to other children. The children studied may have shared certain characteristics that differentiate them from other children e.g. they were all British.
Describe how Hodges & Tizard (1989) investigated the effects of institutionalisation
- Natural experiment, longitudinal study to find out if there is a critical period in which failure to make a secure attachment can be shown to affect adult relationships.
- Sample: 65 children, placed in an institution before the age of 4 months. Institution had a policy against “caretakers” forming attachment to the children. The children had an average of 40 different caretakers by the age of 4.
- By the age of 4, 24 children had been adopted, 15 had returned to their natural homes (restored children), the rest remained in the institution.
- By the age of 16 the researchers were able to locate 23 adopted children, 11 restored children and 5 who remained in the institution. The control group were children matched for age and gender.
- The emotional adjustment of the children was assessed by interview and questionnaire of the children, their parents or caretakers and their teachers.
Results of Hodges and Tizard (1989)
- Relationship with family: the adopted children were as closely attached to their parents than the control group. The “restored” children were less likely to be closely attached.
- Peer relationships: the ex-institutionalised children were less likely to have friends or to be liked by their peers. More likely to be bullies.
- Both the “restored” children and the adopted children were more likely to be seek attention and approval of adults.
