Attachment Flashcards
Caregiver-infant interactions
Reciprocity
Babies signal when they are ready for interaction. Mothers respond to infant alertness 2/3 of the time.
From 3 months interaction becomes more frequent. A key element of this is reciprocity where mother and infant respond to the other and elict a response.
Mother or child can initiate interactions and take turns doing so.
Caregiver-infant interactions
Interactional synchrony
Mother and infant reflect the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a co-ordinated way.
Meltzoff and Moore- Adult displayed an expression or gesture. Child’s response was filmed and identified by independent observers. An association as found between the action of the mother and response of the child.
Isabella et al- interactional synchrony important for development of attachment. Observed 30 mothers and infants and assessed the degree of synchrony. Also assessed the quality of attachment. High levels of synchrony associated with better quality mother-infant attachment.
Caregiver-infant interactions
strengths
Controlled observations capture fine detail.
Well controlled procedures filmed from multiple angles. Babies don’t know they’re being watched so behaviour won’t change. Increases validity.
Caregiver-infant interactions
weaknesses
Hard to know what’s happening when observing infants.
Same patterns of interaction often shown but only hand movements/expressions are being observed. Hard to tell what is going on from child’s perspective. Can’t tell if imitation is conscious and deliberate.
Synchrony just means behaviours occur at the same time, it doesn’t tell us their purpose.
Attachment figures
Parent-infant interaction (schaffer and emerson)
Majority of babies attach to mothers first then secondary attachments soon after. Attachment formed with father after 18 months by 75%. Determined by protest as father walks away.
Role of the father (grossman)
Longitudinal study found quality of infant attachment with mother but not father related to attachment in adolescence. Suggests fathers attachment less important. Quality of father’s play related to adolescent attachments- fathers role stimulation not nurturing.
Fathers as primary carers
Fathers can adopt behaviours typical of mothers. Babies filmed in ftf interactions. Primary caregiver fathers, like mothers, spent more time smiling and imitating than secondary caregiver fathers. fathers can be nurturing attachment figure.
Attachment figures
evaluation
Inconsistent findings on fathers.
If fathers have a distinct role why aren’t children without fathers different.
Schaffer and emerson
Investigate formation of early attachment. Babies visited at home once a month for first year then after 18 months. Asked mothers questions of how babies responded to everyday separation.
30 weeks- 50% separation anxiety
40 weeks- 80% specific attachment, 30% multiple.
Stages of attachment (based on schaffer and emerson)
Asocial (first few weeks)- similar behaviour to humans and objects. Begin to prefer familiar humans.
Indiscriminate (2-7 months)- prefer people, recognise familiar adults. Accept comfort from anyone, no stranger/separation anxiety.
Specific (from 7 months)- Separation/stranger anxiety. Primary attachment formed with who offers most interaction and responds most accurately to signals.
Multiple- attachment behaviour extends. 29% within month of primary.
Schaffer and emerson
Evaluation
Good external validity
observations by parents in own home. Babies’ behaviour not likely to be effected by observer.
Longitudinal design
better internal validity because no confounding variable of participant variables (would be problem if different children used for each stage).
Limited sample characteristics
Same social class, city, time. Hard to generalise.
Stages of attachment (based on schaffer and emerson)
Evaluation
Conflicting evidence on multiple attachments.
Bowlby- babies form a specific attachment before they can form multiple attachments.
Psychologists working in cultural contexts state multiple attachments can be made from the outset.
Problem with how multiple attachment is assessed.
Baby getting distressed when individual leaves doesn’t mean they’re an attachment figure. Babies also have playmates and get distressed when they leave. Schaffer and emerson observations don’t distinguish between behaviour shown to secondary attachment figures and playmates.
Animal studies
Lorenz
Half geese hatched with him (first moving thing they saw), half with mother. Geese imprinted on him- followed him around. When all mixed up the geese hatched with mother would return to her and the others return to Lorenz. Identified critical period- if imprinting didn’t occur within this time it never would.
Animal studies
Lorenz evaluation
Problem generalising to humans. Attachment system of mammals different to birds. mammals show more emotional attachment and can form attachments at any age (but much easier in infancy).
Lorenz’s conclusions have been questioned. Studies suggest imprinting isn’t as permanent as he stated. Chicken imprinted on gloves, but learned with experience to prefer other chickens.
Animal studies
Harlow
Wire and cloth monkey. For half monkeys wire mother had milk, for other half cloth monkey had milk. Cloth provided contact comfort so was preferred. Only went to wire mother for food, then returned.
Also investigated whether this maternal deprivation had a permanent effect. Monkeys reared with wire mother most dysfunctional. More aggressive, less social, mated less.
Concluded there is a critical period. Mother must be introduced to infant monkey in 90 days for an attachment to form. After this damage may be irreversible.
Animal studies
Harlow Evaluation
Increases psychologists’ understanding of human mother-infant interactions. Showed attachment doesn’t develop due to being fed by mother but as a result of contact comfort. Also shows importance of early attachments on later development.
Ethical issues
Monkeys suffered greatly. Species similar enough to be generalised to human, so suffering human like. Counter argument-research important enough to justify effects
Learning theory
Dollars and Miller
Classical conditioning- learning by association. Food UCS>pleasure UCR. Caregiver NS. Caregiver associated with food. NS becomes CS and leads to CR of pleasure.
Operant conditioning- learning through consequence (reinforcement/punishment). Mother responding to baby crying positively reinforces baby to cry and negatively reinforces mother to repeat behaviour. Mutual reinforcement strengthens attachment.
Learning theory evaluation
Counter evidence from animal research
Show animals don’t attach to who feeds them(Lorenz/Harlow). Food doesn’t create attachment bond
Counter evidence from human research
Babies develop primary attachment to biological mother even if someone else feeds them (Schaffer and Emerson). Shows feeding isn’t key element of attachment. No UCS or primary drive involved.
Ignores other factors involved in developing attachment (reciprocity/interactional synchrony). Best quality attachments with those who respond accurately. Aren’t demonstrated through learning theory. If attachment developed only through food there would be no need for these complex interactions.
