Attatchment Flashcards
(38 cards)
Caregiver infant interactions- meaningful
-quality of these interactions is associated with successful development of attachments
-Two kinds of interaction are reciprocity and internal synchrony
Reciprocity
-When baby and caregiver respond to and elicit responses from each other
-mothers successfully respond two thirds of time (Feldman and Eidelman 2007)
-babies are not passive, but active participants, both can initiate interactions
Interactional Synchrony
-‘the temporal co-ordination of micro-level social bahaviour’ (Feldman 2007)
-Meltzoff and Moore 1977 onserved beginnings of IS in babies as young as 2 weeks
-Babies were more likely to mirror adults than chance would predict
-Isabella et al 1989 observed 30 mother and baby and quality of attachment
- found high levels of synchrony associated with better quality attachment
Schaffers stages of attachment- stage 1
Asocial stage (first few weeks)
-similar behaviour towards people and inanimate objects
-some preference for familiar people (more easily calmed)
-Happier in the presence of other people
Schaffers stages of attachment- stage 2
Indiscriminate attachment (2- 7 months)
-more observable social behaviour
-recognise and prefer familiar people
-no stranger or separation anxiety
-Attachment is indiscriminate because same towards all
Schaffers stages of attachment- stage 3
Specific attachment (from around 7 months)
-stranger anxiety and separation anxiety when separated from one particular person
-baby said to have formed a specific attachment with primary attachment figure
-Usually person who offers most interaction and responds to babies signals with most skill
mother in 65% of cases
Schaffers stages of attachment- stage 4
multiple attachments (by one year)
-secondary attachments with other adults form shortly after
-29% of babies had secondary attachments within a month of forming primary attachment
-By one year most had multiple secodary attachments
Schaffer and Emmerson (1964) stages of attachment- procedure
-60 babies from Glasgow
-Visited every month for a year and then again at 18 months
-separation anxiety measured by asking mothers about babies behaviour during everyday separations
-stranger anxiety measured by asking children’s response to unfamiliar adults
Schaffer and Emmerson (1964) Stages of attachment- findings
-Babies developed attachment through a sequence of stages
-specific attachment was not necessarily the person the baby spent the most time with, but the person who was most interactive
The role of the father- primary attachments
-Schaffer and Emmerson (1964) found majority of babies attached to mother first
-In only 3% of cases the father was the first attachment
-27% mother and father
-75% eventually form secondary attachment with dad by 18 months, indicated by babies protesting when fathers left
A distinctive role for the father
-Grossman et al (20020 carried out longitudinal study about parents behaviour and it’s relationship to quality of childrens attachment
-found quality attachment with father was less important for adolescents then mother
- also found quality of fathers play with baby was related to quality of adolescent attachment
-suggests fathers have diff role, one to do more with play and stimulation, less with emotional care
Role of the father- fathers can be primary attachment figures
-when fathers adopt the role of main caregiver they take on behaviours more typical of mothers
-field (1978) filmed 4 moth old babies and found that primary careguver fathers, like mothers, spent more time smiling, imitating, and holding babies
-These behaviours are related to interactional synchrony (isabella et al 1989)
-Key of attachment is level of responsiveness and not gender
Animal studies- Lorenz (1952) imprinting- procedure
-divided large clutch of goose eggs
-one half were hatched with mother in natural environment and other half hatched in incubator where Lorenz was first moving object they saw
-all mixed to see who they would follow
-Also observed their later courtship behaviour
Animal studies- Lorenz (1952) imprinting- findings
- incubator group followed Lorenz and control group followed mum
-critical period where imprinting needs to take place, if imprinting did not occur in this time, chicks did not attach to mother
-sexual imprinting also occurs whereby the birds acquire a template of desirable characteristics in a mate
Animal studies- Harlow (1958) importance of contact comfort- procedure
-16 rhesus monkeys with 2 wire model ‘mothers’
-condition 1= milk dispensed by wire mother
-condition 2= milk dispensed by cloth mother
- to measure attachment harlow observed frightening situations
-e.g. noisy mechanical teddy bear
-continued to study the monkeys who had been deprived of their mother in to adulthood
Animal studies- Harlow (1958) importance of contact comfort- findings
-cuddled cloth mother rather than wire mother, regardless of which was dispensing milk
-suggests comfort more important than food
-monkeys sought comfort from cloth mother when frightened
-As adults, monkeys deprived of real mother were more aggressive, less sociable and less skilled in mating
explanations of attachment: learning theory- importance of food
-sometimes called ‘cupboard love’ explanation because it emphasises importance of food in attachment formation
-children learn to love whoever feeds them
learning theory- role of classical conditioning
-association of 2 stimuli
-UCS(food) leads to UCR(pleasure)
-caregiver starts as NS
-caregiver becomes associated with food and becomes CS
-after conditioning, sight of caregiver produces CR
-conditioned pleasure response is the basis of love
learning theory- role of operant conditioning
-explains why babies cry for comfort (important building block for attachment)
-crying leads to response from caregiver
-as long as caregiver provides correct response, crying is reinforced because of its pleasurable consequences
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learning theory- negative reinforcement
-At same time as baby is reinforced for crying, caregiver receives negative reinforcement because the crying stops
-interplay of positive and negative reinforcement strengthens attachment
learning theory- drive reduction
-hunger is a primary drive, an innate biological motivator
-Attachment is a secondary drive learned by an association between caregiver and primary drive
-Sears et al (1957) suggested as caregivers provide food, primary drive of hunger becomes generalised to them
Explanations of attachment: Bowlby’s theory- attachment is innate
-Bowlby gave an evolutionary explanation, that attachment is an innate system that gives survival advantage
-imprinting and attachment evolved so young animals stay close to parents who protect them
Bowlby’s theory- monotropic
-having a primary attachment figure
-Bowlbys theory emphasises the childs attachment to one caregiver
-believed the more time spent with mother figure the better, for 2 reasons=
1. Law of continuity (more constant care forms better attachment)
2. Law of accumulated separation (effects of separation add up)
Bowlby’s theory- critical period
-critical period of 2 years when the infant attachment system is active
-Child is maximally sensitive at 6 months this may extend up to 2 years
-If an attachment has not formed in this time, it will be much harder to do so later
