Attachment Flashcards
(46 cards)
Definition of attachment by Schaffer.
A close emotional relationship between two people, involving mutual affection and a desire to maintain proximity.
Define reciprocity + examples.
Interactions between the infant and caregiver, involving mutual responses to one another.
E.g. Interactions flow between caregiver and infant.
- Reciprocal interactions
- Communication signals which elicit responses.
Define Interactional Synchrony + examples.
Interactions between care giver and infant that are synchronised so they reflect each other.
E.g. Responding in time to sustain communication
And mirroring the action, such as smiling or responding in a co ordination way.
Evidence of Reciprocity.
Tronick et al (1975) - The Still Face experiment
After 3 minutes of trying to interact with a non-responsive mother the infants grew wary.
This shows how reciprocity is an important factor.
Evidence of Interactional Synchrony.
Meltzoff & Moore (1997) - 18 infants aged 12-27 days old. Investigated whether they could imitate facial/manual gestures. They found they could from 12 days suggesting interaction synchrony is innate.
What was Schaffer and Emersons study?
- In 1964 a longitudinal study that took place in Scotland
- It followed he developments of attachments in 60 infants using naturalistic observations.
- A total of 13 observations took place.
How were attachments measured in Schaffer and Emersons study?
1) Levels of Separation protests - mothers were asked to describe the intensity of the infants protests using a 4 point likert scale when they were left in 7 everyday situations.
2) Stranger anxiety - measured by assessing infants response to the interviewer on visits.
Results + Conclusion of Schaffer and Emersons study.
- 1/2 of infants showed first specfic attachment between 6-8 months. Stranger anxiety began about 1 month later
- 39% had a primary attachment to someone other than who fed, bathed and changed them.
- At 7 months 29% had formed several attachments, with 10% having 5 attachment figures.
- At 10 months 50% had more than one AF and by 18 months 87% had.
Conclusion - By 6-8 months most infants have formed attachments and others rapidly follow.
Methodological issues with Schaffer and Emersons study.
G - it’s ethnocentric, only done in Scotland. May be affected by Social Norms e.g. Maternity Leave and only one parent present a lot. So lacks Temporal Validity and representativness.
V - Compromised internal validity as the caregiver may seeks social desirability.
Name and Describe the 4 Stages of Attachment as suggested by Schaffer and Emerson.
1) ASOCIAL STAGE 0-5 WEEKS - Produce similar responses to objects and people, No preference for specific people, but towards end show preference for social stimuli e.g. smiling face.
2) INDISCRIMINATE STAGE 6 WKS-7 MONTHS - More social, tell people apart, prefer human company. Distinguish familiar and unfamiliar people, relatively comforted by anyone, no stranger anxiety.
3) SPECIFIC STAGE - 7-11 MONTHS - Show separation and stranger anxiety. Strong attachments and preference to individuals. Good subsequent attachments made from 9 months.
4) MULTIPLE ATTACHMENTS 11 MONTHS ON - Makes several attachments to important people e.g. parents and siblings. Show separation anxiety in secondary attachments.
Strengths of Schaffer and Emersons stages of attachment. (2)
1) Their 1964 study provides support for stages of attachment - most of 60 infants had formed specific attachments between 6-8 months. 87% had several by 7 months. Showing there is some credibility.
2) Can be practically applied to society and used as 1 measure of infant behaviour. Help early identification of abnormal development, leading to early diagnostic + intervention can benefit families.
Weaknesses of Schaffer and Emersons Stages of Attachment. (2)
1) There are methodological problems with S+E study such as that it is ethnocentric as it only took place in Scotland and it lacks temporal validity as it took place in 1964. It lacks represntativness.
2) The theory can be CULTURALLY SPECIFIC and limited to individualistic concepts. Based on research in individualistic cultures where immediate family set ups are the norm. Development of attachment in collectivist cultures may not reflect this. Meaning S+E’s study may not describe attachment in a universal way.
Describe Schaffer and Emersons evidence for multiple attachments.
- Infants form multiple attachments by 10-11 months.
- By 18 months only 13% had single attachments.
- 31% had 5 or more attachments.
- Suggesting infants are capable of forming multiple attachments by the extent to which these are equal is disputed.
How have the role of the father changed and what factors affect this?
- Traditionally father played a minor role in parenting, mothers stayed and home and fathers worked. Single parent families or a mother working was rare.
- Today Mothers are more likely to work (5.3 million in 2013)
- Stay at home fathers are increasing, with nearly 10% of those caring for children being male + 9% of single parents being male.
- There are mediating factors that relate to the type of attachments formed with fathers, these being INTERACTION (how father engages with child), ACCESSIBILITY (how physically and emotionally accessible he is) and RESPONSIBILITY ( what care taking tasks he takes on)
Evidence into the role of fathers in attachment and sensitivity.
HARDY (1997) Found father less able to detect low levels of infant distress than mothers, suggesting less suitable primary caregiver.
LAMB (1987) Fathers that became main caregiver quickly developed sensitivity to children needs. Suggesting sensitivity is not biologically limit to women.
Evidence into the role of fathers in attachment and biological differences.
FRODI ET AL (1978) Showed video tapes of babies crying and found no difference in the physiological responses of men and women. So biological factors may not explain the gender differences in attachment relationships between parents and infants.
Evidence into the role of fathers in attachment and different roles.
GEIGER ( 1996) Found fathers play interactions were more exciting and pleasurable whereas mothers are more nurturing and affectionate. Suggesting they have different roles that are complementary and both important.
Strengths of the research into the Role of Father. (2)
1) There is research that supports the idea that fathers play a complimentary role to mothers - Geiger (1996) found that fathers interactions are more exciting. The findings support the importance of he role of the father as it suggests that fathers play different roles.
2) The findings of research can be seen to have practical applications. They recognise the importance of fathers in parenting and gives support to legal changes allowing them to be more presence in their lives. In UK Fathers can take up to 9 months paternity leave and are allowed the same parental rights. This means it may have befitted families.
Weaknesses of the research into the Role of the Father. (2)
1) Conclusions of research can often be socially sensitive e.g. Geiger research suggests it’s important for children to have a mother and father to fully develop. It suggests that there is an ideal type of family, although modern societies and norms have led to many different types of families. This means researchers must be careful drawing conclusions, and not to overly generalise.
2) The research can be considered ethnocentric, as most research has taken place in individualistic cultures where stereotypical gender roles in parenting may differ from roles in collectivist cultures. So the research may not be applicable to other cultures
What was the aim of Lorenz’s study?
Lorenz (1935) wanted to investigate the mechanism of imprinting - the process by which young animals follow and form attachments to the first large moving object they meet.
What was the aim of Harlow’s study?
Harlow (1958) wanted to investigate whether attachments were primarily formed though food (as explained by the learning theory) or by attachment.
What was Lorenz’s procedure in his study?
- He took a large clutch of goose eggs and kept them until they were about to hatch.
- 1/2 were placed with goose mother and 1/2 were kept with Lorenz. When they hatched Lorenz imitated a quacking noise.
- He marked all the ducklings so he could tell if they were naturally hatched or incubated.
- To check the ducklings had properly imprinted he mixed them up under an upturned box, then let the free and observed their behaviour.
What was Harlow’s procedure in his study?
- 16 monkeys were separated from their mother after birth and were put into cages with access to two surrogate mothers.
- One surrogate mother made of wire and one of soft terry towling cloth - they were kept in the cage for 165 days.
The monkey’s were in 1 of 4 conditions.
1) Wire monkey with milk + cloth monkey no milk.
2) Wire monkey no milk + cloth monkey with milk.
3) Only wire monkey with milk.
4) Only cloth monkey with milk. - Amount of time spent with each mother + feeding recorded.
- Monkey’s frightened with loud bangs to test preference in times of stress.
- Monkey’s put in large cages to test exploration.
What were Lorenz’s findings?
- After hatching the natural goslings followed mother while incubated followed Lorenz.
- When released from box NH followed mother and incubated followed Lorenz.
- The bonds proved irreversible, goslings would only follow imprint.
- Critical period for imprinting 4-24 hours after hatching.
- Goslings that imprinted on humans would try to mate with humans as adults.
