Chapter 10C - Attachment Flashcards
ATTACHMENT
ATTACHMENT is a close emotional bond between two people. Interest in attachment has especially focused on infants and their caregivers.
In children, attachment is characterized by specific behaviours, such as seeking the attachment figure when upset or threatened - in adults, attachment toward the infant includes responding sensitively to the child’s needs.
BOWLBY’s ETHOLOGICAL THEORY of ATTACHMENT
The ETHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE proposed by BOWLBY stresses that both infants and their primary caregivers are BIOLOGICALLY PREDISPOSED to form attachments. He argues that the newborn is biologically equipped to elicit attachment behavior - the immediate result is to keep the primary caregiver nearby, the long-term effect is to increase the infant’s chances of survival. In other words, attachment is nothing more than a survival mechanism that evolved to protect infants from predators.
According to Bowlby, attachment:
1) is INNATE and UNIVERSAL - which is supported by Harlow’s studies;
2) has a CRITICAL PERIOD of development;
3) produces COGNITIVE SCHEMAS in the infant, called INTERNAL WORKING MODELS - if optimal, it provides a safe haven from which the infant sets out to explore the world;
4) is based on a selective, strong EMOTIONAL BOND - it leads to emotional maladjustment if not properly formed;
5) in the beginning, it is direct towards one individual, a concept called MONOTROPISM;
COGNITIVE SCHEMAS as a product of ATTACHMENT
ATTACHMENT produces internal mental representations of attachment relationships based on the first attachment relationship, usually the one with the primary caregiver - attachment contributes to:
1) Expectations of future attachment relationships;
2) The self-schema - if the child experience love and affection, she will perceive herself as worthy of love and affection, and vice versa.
In sum, the main result of positive attachment is the development of a SENSE of SECURITY - the child learns that the caregiver is trustworthy, which creates a secure base for the child to confidently explore the world. This cognitive schema is called INTERNAL WORKING MODEL.
HARLOW’s experiments with MONKEYS
HARLOW removed infant monkeys from their mothers at birth; for six months they were reared by surrogate “mothers” - in two different conditions, one was made of wire, the other of cloth. Regardless of which mother fed them, the infant monkeys spent far more time with the cloth mother. Harlow was able to show that the need for affection created a stronger bond between mother and infant than did physical needs such as nourishment - attachment is EMOTIONAL rather than PHYSIOLOGICAL.
ATTACHMENT does NOT need to be RECIPROCAL - further experiments with monkeys showed that no matter how abusive the surrogate mothers were, the baby monkeys always came back and displayed affection towards them.
Harlow showed that the development of attachment was closely associated with CRITICAL PERIODS in early life and that it is impossible to compensate for the loss of initial emotional security.
These monkeys were socially maladjusted the rest of their lives - when confronted with fear, they displayed autistic behaviours. Furthermore, they could not have sexual relations or parent their offspring, either abusing or neglecting them.
The STRANGE SITUATION PROCEDURE
The quality of attachment is often assessed through the STRANGE SITUATION PROCEDURE, devised by AINSWORTH.
This paradigm is based on how the infant reacts to separation from the caregiver and the reunion - in laboratory sessions lasting 20 minutes, infants experiences a series of introductions, separations, and reunions with the caregiver and an adult stranger in a prescribed order:
-Parent and baby enter playroom;
-Parent sits quietly while baby plays;
-Stranger enters and talks with parent;
-Parent leaves the room. Baby is alone with the stranger;
-Parent returns. Stranger leaves;
-Parent leaves. Baby alone in the room;
-Stranger enters and offers comfort;
-Parent returns and offers comfort if needed and tries to get the baby to play.
Based on her observations, AINSWORTH identified 4 different ATTACHMENT STYLES.
AINSWORTH’s classification of ATTACHMENT STYLES
Through the STRANGE SITUATION PROCEDURE, AINSWORTH identified 4 different ATTACHMENT STYLES:
1) SECURELY ATTACHED BABIES, who make up 65% of middle-class US infants. These babies developed the belief that the caregiver will protect and provide for them, which allows them to freely explore the environment - they usually protest separation moderately and shows pleasure at reunion.
2) INSECURE AVOIDANT BABIES, who make up 20% of middle-class US infants. These babies developed the belief that the caregiver will not protect or provide for them - they show insecurity by avoiding the caregiver, not protesting their departure and showing similar behaviour with the stranger and the parent.
3) INSECURE RESISTANT BABIES, who make up 10% of middle-class US infant. These babies show uncertainty about whether the parent will protect or provide safety in stressful circumstances - these babies often remain close to the caregiver and don’t explore the environment, show distress at separation and show mixed feeling as reunion.
4) INSECURE DISORGANISED BABIES, who make up 5% of middle-class US infant. These babies are disorganized and disoriented - they show no consistent way of dealing with stressful events. They exhibit strong patterns of both avoidance and resistance - this is the typical attachment style of abused or neglected children.
Factors that influence ATTACHMENT STYLES
ATTACHMENT STYLES depend on:
1) The CAREGIVER’s SENSITIVITY and subsequent RESPONSIVENESS to the infant’s needs - these characteristics are in turn deeply influenced by the presence of PARENTAL PSYCHOPATHOLOGY. For instance, depressed mothers tend to have lower quality interactions with their infants
2) FAMILY STRESS - infants exposed to aggressive fighting among their parents form insecure attachments;
3) INFANT’s TEMPERAMENT - if a child shows high reactivity and poor regulation skills, she is more likely to develop an insecure attachment.
CULTURAL VARIATIONS in ATTACHMENT STYLES
The same four types of attachments have been found in various cultures, but the proportion of children in each category differ by culture - for instance, avoidant attachments are rare in cultures where the child is rarely apart from the mother.
Furthermore, the STRANGE SITUATION PARADIGM might be CULTURALLY BIASED - for example, German and Japanese babies often show patterns of attachment different from those of American infant:
1) German infants are more likely to show an AVOIDANT attachment pattern, because their caregivers encourage them to be independent;
2) Japanese infants are more likely to display a RESISTANT attachment pattern, because japanese mothers rarely let anyone unfamiliar with their babies care for them;
This differences have more to do with the Strange Situation as a measure of attachment than with attachment insecurity itself.
STABILITY and EFFECTS of ATACHMENT STYLES
SECURELY ATTACHED babies show stability in attachment over the years, although stressful life events may cause the attachment style to change. On the other hand, INSECURELY ATTACHED babies are not as stable, especially in dysfunctional families.
Attachment Theory holds that the quality of the attachment predicts subsequent development - it predicts:
- Social and emotional intelligence, which influences social functioning during childhood and adolescence;
- Sociability through early, middle, and late adulthood;
- Self-esteem;
- Academic performance and cognitive skills;
- Teenage sexual activity;
- Quality of attachment to their own children.
Effects of DEPRIVATION and TRAUMA on development.
DEPRIVATION consists of inadequate access to basic needs, such as nutrition, sensory and cognitive stimulation, affect, and linguistic input - it is typically associated to family poverty. A longitudinal study on children reared in Romanian orphanages which experienced deprivation showed that they showed high rates of INSECURE ATTACHMENT, greater COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT and autistic-like behaviour.
TRAUMATIC EVENTS - such as war, sexual abuse or parent’s divorce - can impair development by leading to PTSD - POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER. Children with PTSD show poor performance on verbal and memory tasks, social isolations, poor emotional intelligence and they have problems remembering the trauma.
Research shows that PTSD can be transmitted from parents to child - children of Holocaust survivors have been found to be more likely to develop PTSD.
