Attachment Researcher Flashcards
Brazelton (1975)
Caregiver-Infant Interactions
Procdure:
Identified trends in mother-baby interactional synchrony. Videotapes of 12 mother-baby pairs’ play behaviour was examined up to 5 months of age, which revealed three phases of play:
Findings:
Attention and build-up
Recovery
Turning away
Conclusion:
These three phases were repeated at regular intervals over the 7 minute footage. It was concluded that the three phases of play demonstrate the early signs of organised behaviour.
Lorenz (1952)
Have organisms a biological propensity to form attachments to one single subject?
Procedure:
Lorenz conducted an experiment in which goslings were hatched either with their mother or in an incubator. Once goslings had hatched they proceeded to follow the first moving object that they saw between 13 & 16 hours (critical period) after hatching (imprinting); in this case, Lorenz.
Conclusion: Imprinting takes place because of the goslings increased mobility. Attachment is biological determined.
Bowlby (1958, 1969)
He believed that infants have an inbuilt tendency to make an initial attachment with one attachment figure, usually the mother. This is because attachment gives a survival advantage.
Imprinting and attachment evolved because they ensure young animals stay close to their caregiver and this protects them from hazards.
- Rejected the learning theory
- Evolutionary explanation
- Innate system that gives a survival advantage
- Evolved mechanism – like imprinting in order to keep animals safe
Harlow (1958)
Procedure:
8 rhesus monkey were in a cage with a wired and a clothed-covered mother.
Harlow measured time spent with each “mother”. The wired mother gave food.
Findings:
The monkeys showed a preference towards the clothed mother even when the wired one gave food. They were more willing to explore when the clothed mother was present.
This monkey developed dysfunctional behaviours like: being timid, unpredictability, difficulties with mating, females were inadequate mothers.
Conclusion:
The monkeys showed a preference to the mother which gave them comfort (contact comfort). Food is not the primary drive but comfort.
Isabella et al. (1989)
Aim:
to assess the degree of synchrony and the quality of mother-infant attachment
Procedure:
Observed 30 mothers and infants together and assessed the degree of synchrony then quality of the mother-infant attachment.
Results:
High levels of synchrony were associated with better quality of mother-infant attachment.
Feldman and Eidelmann (2007)
Caregiver-Infant Interaction
Babies have “alter phases” where they show that they are ready for interaction. Mothers typically pick up two-thirds of the time on the infants requests.
Feldman (2007)
Caregiver-Infant Interaction
From around 3 months this interactions tends to increasingly frequent and involves close attention to each other´s verbal signals and facial expression.
Meltzoff and Moore (1977)
Caregiver-Infant Interaction
Procedure:
Conducted a series of controlled observations using babies (aged 6 to 27 days old) and 12 babies (aged 16-21 days old).
The Babies were exposed to four different stimuli; three facial gestures (e.g. sticking tongue out) and one manual gesture (e.g. waving fingers).
Responses were observed and actions recorded.
Independent observer categorised the behaviours.
Findings: The results indicated that babies aged 12 to 27 days old could imitate both facial expressions and manual gestures.
Conclusion: Meltzoff and Moore concluded that the ability to imitate serves as an important building block for later social and cognitive development.
Lamb (1987)
Children often prefer to interact with the father when they are in a positive emotional state.
Mothers are preferred when children are distressed and seeking comfort.
The father is more the playmate. However, only in certain situations
However, fathers who become main care provider seem able to quickly develop more sensitivity to children´s needs. This suggests that sensitive responsiveness is not a biological ability limited to women
Geiger (1996)
He showed that fathers´ play interactions are more exciting and pleasurable than the mothers (playmate)
The mothers´ are more nurturing and affectionate (caregiver)
Lucassen et al (2011)
He performed a meta-analysis of studies involving observations and Strange Situation technique
He wanted to find out if higher levels of sensitivity were associated with greater levels of infant-father attachment security
More secure attachments are found in children whose father are more sensitive to their needs
Dollard & Miller (1950)
They used the term secondary drive hypothesis to describe the processes of learning an attachment through operant and classical conditioning. Secondary drive hypothesis explains how primary drives which are essential for survival, such as eating when hungry, become associated with secondary drives such as emotional closeness. They extended the theory to explain that attachment is a two way process that the caregiver must also learn, and this occurs through negative reinforcement when the caregiver feels pleasure because the infant is no longer distressed.
Schaffer and Emerson (1964)
Aim:
To investigate the formation of early attachments; in particular the age at which they developed, their emotional intensity and to whom they were directed.
Procedure:
60 babies (31 males and 29 female) all from Glasgow and the majority were from skilled working class families.
The babies and their Parent Care Givers were visited at home every month for the first year and again at 18 months.
The researcher asked the mothers questions about the kind of attachment the babies showed in 7 everyday separations (e.g. adult leaving the room). This was designed to measure separation anxiety.
The researchers also assessed stranger anxiety – the infant´s response to unfamiliar adults.
Findings:
They came up with 4 stages of attachment
- Asocial
- Indiscriminate
- Specific
-Multiple
Ainsworth Strange Situation (1978)
Aim:
- She developed the Strange Situation as a method to assess the quality of a child´s attachment to a caregiver
- Controlled observation
- Lab experiment
Procedure:
The procedure has seven parts, each lasting three minutes:
- The child is encouraged to explore by caregiver
- Stranger enters and talks to caregiver
- Caregiver leaves
- The caregiver returns, the stranger leaves
- The caregiver leaves the child alone
- The stranger returns
- The caregiver returns
Five categories are used to judge attachment quality:
- Proximity seeking
- Exploration and secure-base behaviour
- Stranger anxiety
- Separation anxiety
- Response to reunion with the caregiver after separation for a short period of time
Findings:
Ainsworth found distinct patterns in the way infants behaved. She identified three main types of attachment:
- Secure-attachment (B)
- Insecure-avoidant attachment (A)
- Insecure-resistant attachment (C)
Zeanah et al (2005)
Procedure:
Zeanah et al. (2005) assessed the attachment in 136 Romanian orphans aged between 12-31 months who had spent an average of 90% of their life in an institution and compared them to a control group who spent their life in a “normal family.” The attachment type was measured using the Strange Situation.
Infants took part in the Strange Situation to assess attachment type.
Findings:
74% of the control group was found to be securely attached, but only 19% of the institutionalized group. 65% of this group were classified as disorganized attachment (a type of insecure attachment where the children display an inconsistent pattern of behaviour; sometimes they show strong attachment, other times they avoid the caregiver).
44% of the institutionalized children showed signs of disinhibited attachment (friendliness to everybody/no stranger anxiety). Compared to only 20% of the control group.
Conclusion:
From the research, it can be concluded that institutionalisation can cause confusion and lead to the individual developing disorganised attachment styles with others later in life.
