Chapter 4: Attachment Flashcards
1
Q
History of Attachment: John Bolby
A
- Bobly inspired by work of ethologists and animal experiments
- real-world phenomenon on children who were hospitalized for lengths in 2nd world war
- evolutionary underpinnings -> prior was psychoanalytic, focus on internal processing affecting attachment
2
Q
History of Attachment: Mary Ainsworth
A
- pioneering observation of attachment in Uganda and USA
- first to suggest understanding attachment by interviewing adults about younger experiences, observe infants and follow prospectively
- cross-cultural and empirical
- strange situation
- prospective component not just retrospective
3
Q
Attachment
A
- exclusive relationship between an infant and another person
- a strong emotional bond that forms bw infant and caregiver in 2nd half of child’s first year
4
Q
Exclusive
A
- attachment bw infant and other is qualitatively diff compared to other people, does not generalize
5
Q
Relationship (attachment)
A
- not something inside an infant, not a characteristic of an infant or caregiver, but the relationship bw the two people
6
Q
How and why attachment develops
A
- infant preparedness -> babies seek exploration and comfort (explore w eyes, turning head, reach, smile, walk, all unprompted)
- caregivers support needs for exploration and comfort providing secure base to explore from and safe haven to return to
7
Q
Secure base
A
- place from which a child can go and explore while feeling supported when things get difficult
8
Q
Safe haven
A
- somewhere they can return to when they’re feeling sad
9
Q
Unique needs: goodness of fit
A
- balance bw exploration and comfort, degree to which needs met depends on goodness of fit
- degree to which needs met determines quality (type) of attachment relationship
10
Q
Goodness of fit between
A
- characteristics of infant (reactivity, display of needs/diff cries, motivation)
- characteristics of the caregiver (awareness, comfort with infant’s needs, confidence)
- context in which relationship develops (where are they living, noisy neighborhood, opportunities to explore, siblings, social support)
11
Q
Secure attachment
A
- exploration and comfort sufficiently met
- seeking comfort -> caregiver is there, child develops confidence
12
Q
Insecure/anxious attachment (general)
A
- insufficiently met exploration and/or comfort
13
Q
Insecure-avoidant relationship
A
- exploration greater emphasis than comfort
- child goes to seek comfort, met with rejection, violence, shameful
- doubts caregivers’ ability to provide SAFE HAVEN
- minimizes comfort-seeking and maximizes exploration
14
Q
Insecure-ambivalent/insecure-resistant relationship
A
- over-emphasis on comfort
- caregiver may be inattentive; child doubts they are a secure base when they go to explore
- minimizes expression of exploration and increase COMFORT-seeking behaviour
15
Q
Organized attachment strategies
A
- secure
- insecure-avoidant
- insecure-ambivalent
- attachment quality (A,B,C) forms from repeated transactions bw infant and caregiver
16
Q
Strange situation
A
- 8 phases
- 12-18 months of age
- measure of the attachment relationship
- designed to elicit increasing stress and observe the baby’s behaviour to assess the relation
- reveals 3 distinct patterns of infant behaviour that reflect 3 organized attachment strategies
- always looking at infant’s behaviour when mother/caregiver is int he room and accessible
17
Q
Insecure-avoidant: Strange situation
A
- Type A
- baby avoids caregiver as stress increases (A1, A2)
18
Q
Insecure-ambivalent: strange situation
A
- Type C (C1, C2)
- ambivalence in form of passivity or anger as stress increases
- push and pull bw wanting to be near and far from caregiver; squirms when picked up although wants to be
- passive ambivalence, very upset but crouches in and reaches
19
Q
Secure attachment: strange situation
A
- baby greets caregiver and shows comfort-seeking as stress increases B (B1, B2, B3*)
20
Q
Disorganized attachment
A
- D
- breakdown in an organized attachment relationship; fragmentation
- something disrupts a fully organized attachment pattern
- some or all of baby’s behaviour inconsistent with single organized attachment strategy
- repetitive movements: flapping arms, rocking back and forth, self-injurious behaviour, scratch their face, hit heads
- may occur in absence of a reliable caregiver or when caregiver is a source of fear ex. institution in romania -> no caregiver to develop attachment with
- understood in light of organization
- disorganized/avoidant (D/A); disorganized/ambivalent (D/C), disorganized/secure: (D/B) -> becomes insecure
21
Q
Theories of attachment
A
- Psychoanalytic
infants become attached to mother bc associate her with gratification of instinctual drive to obtain pleasure through sucking an oral stimulation - Learning theory
drive-reduction learning theorists suggest mother becomes attachment object bc associated with reduction of baby’s primary drive of hunger - Harlow’s research
baby monkeys prefer to cling to cloth mother in stress especially, though no food dispensed (drive for contact and comfort dominates) - Operant conditioning
attachment develops based on visual, auditory, tactile stimulation from caregiver; parents sources of this
attachment is not automatic, develops from satisfying interactions -> behaviours evolve through conditioning and learning mechanisms - Ethological theory (bowlby)
looked at separated children, world wars
separation anxiety 1960 paper
3 important features: active role by infant’s early social signaling systems, stress on development of mutual attachments bw caregiver and child, attachment is dyadic -> not simply behaviour of either infant or parent
22
Q
Formation and early development of attachment
A
- pre-attachment: 0-2, indiscriminate social responsiveness
- attachment in the making: 2-7, recognition of familiar people
- clear-cut attachment; 7-24 months, separation protests, wariness of strangers, intentional communication
- goal-corrected partnership; 24 months onward, relationships are more 2-sided, children understand parents’ needs
23
Q
What it means to be attached
A
- form first attachment by 1
- seek contact and proximity
- separation distress or protest, peaks at 15 months; stable and predictive
- number of attachments limited
24
Q
Role of father
A
- playmate, 4-5x more time playing
- enrich social development beyond mothers
- physically arousing, especially w sons, and salient games to compensate for lack of time
25
Secure attachment (B)
- babies explore novel environments
- minimally disrupted by brief separations
- quickly comforted by return of caregiver
- B3 most optimal, strongest desire for mother in episode 8; actively seeks physical contact, gains it
26
Insecure-avoidant (A)
- babies not bothered by brief absences
| - specifically avoid her when she returns, sometimes visibly upset
27
Insecure-ambivalent (C)
- very upset at departure
- inconsistent behavior on her return, sometimes seek contact, sometimes push away
- insecure-resistant/anxious-ambivalent
28
Insecure-disorganized (D)
- disorganized and disoriented when reunited with mother after a separation
29
Attachment types and the brain
| strange situation
- insecurely attached show more activity in R prefrontal
- securely attached show more activity in L prefrontal
- similar patterns found in adult research using fMRI to assess wives' attachment with husband
30
Nature and quality of attachment: role of parents in attachment development
- Biological preparation
Hormonal changes during pregnancy -> women more responsive to needs, men, testosterone drops (intimate ties in marriage associated with greater changes)
31
Link bw caregiving and attachment 1
- secure attachment depends on close contact bw parents and child
- 4 features of mothers' behaviour associated with quality of attachment
1) sensitive and repsonsive
2) behaviour guided by baby's cues
3) accepting of baby and minimal frustration
4) physically and psychologically available
32
Link bw caregiving and attachment 2
- with fathers and cross-culturally, association bw sensitive and responsive caregiving and secure attachment
- parental insightfulness (reading baby's feelings and intentions associated w secure attachment)
33
Intrusive and rejecting parenting
- insecure-avoidant
34
unaffectionate and inconsistent parenting
- insecure-ambivalent
35
neglectful or abusive parenting
- insecure-disorganized
36
interactive synchrony
- smooth-flowing dance bw parent and child, associated with secure attachment (stillface example)
37
Attachment in institutionalized children
- less likely to have secure attachment compared to home-reared
- ambivalent-avoidant comparable across contexts
- higher degree of disorganized in institutionalized
- higher degree of unclassifiable infants if institutionalized
38
Attachment in family and community contexts
- relationship bw mother and father
- socioeconomic status
- social support
39
continuity in attachment from parent to child
- internal working model - mental representation of himself as a child, parents, nature of their interaction, reconstruction and intepretation of that interaction
- M/F recreate relationships w children that replicate their working models of their own relationships w parents in childhood
40
Attachment of children in child care
- children in full-time care more likely insecure attachment
- NICHD study of early child care found when controlled for parents' education, income, attitudes, infants in child care no more likely to be insecurely attached to mothers than those not in care
- poor quality child care mattered
- good quality child care can compensate for poor infant-caregiver at home
41
Infant temperament and quality of attachment
- links are moderated by support for parents, professional intervention
- must acknowledge effects of the social context
42
stability and change in attachment
- associations bw infant attachment quality and later attachment in short and long-term longitudinal studies
- if parenting / family changes, classification can change, more likely from insecure to secure than secure to insecure
43
attachments in older children
- children and parents begin to communicate over longer distances changing nature of secure base
- parents must continue to support and facilitate exploration while providing security and protection
- children may develop attachment to friends/romantic partners
- goal for child to achieve balance bw maintaining close ties w family while gaining the autonomy to expand social netowrk
44
Children with secure attachments
- exhibit more complex exploratory behaviour
- more interested, persistent and effective when solving a problem
- display less frustration and less crying/whining
- engage in more symbolic and pretend play
- display more advanced cognitive abilities at age 7
- more attentive in classroom and higher grades at 9, 12, 15
45
Research by Stroufe
Compared w insecurely attached, securely attached:
- rated by teachers as more emotionally positive, empathetic, socially competent age 3-5
- whined less, less aggressive, fewer negative reactions when other children approached
- more friends, more popular, more competent socially at 8 and 12
- more likely to develop close friendships w peers and form friendships with other securely attached children
"Birds of a feather"
46
NICHD Study of early child care and youth development
compared to insecurely attached
- securely attached rated as more socially competent
- fewer externalizing and internalizing behaviour in preschool and 1st grade
- better social problem-solving skills, less lonely, better quality friendships ages 4-10
47
Security of attachment affects:
- processing of emotional info, understand and regulate their emotions
- preschoolers securely attached better at understanding emotions
- securely attached display more elaboration of emotional themes (bw mother and child)
- older ages -> securely attached children better @ regulating their emotions in challenging situations
48
Consequences for self-esteem
- securely attached children view themselves more positively, acknowledge less-than-perfect qualities
- insecure-avoidant view as perfect
- insecure-ambivalent show no pattern
- quality of attachment related to degree to which children view themselves positively and realistically
49
Attachments to M/F (Main & Weston)
- 1 y/o infant as securely attached to both parents:
- more responsive to clown than those only attached securely to one, and infants who were securely attached to neither were least responsive
50
First attachment
begins when infant can discriminate a particular caregiver
| - diff in attachment influenced by several factors: parenting, child characteristics
