ATTACHMENT

Caregiver-infant Interactions in Humans

Attachment refers to an emotinal connection between two people

Reciprocity refers to an interaction between two people where they respond to
eachothers signals
Interactional synchrony refers to two people mirroring eachother facial expressions
and movements
These are imporatant to the developing a strong attachment, as the the infant is
feels valued due to the interactions where the caregivers responds to them
Without these it can affect the social developmet of the baby as they may feel
ignored

Tronick(1972) Still face study - How infants respond to not having their signals
responded too
Baby and caregiver are interacting with eachother normally
Caregiver then turns their face away for a couple seconds and then turns back with
a still face for 2 minutes
After the 2 minutes they carrying on interacting with eachother again as they were
Baby is being observed for behaviours being shown throughout different stages
In the first stage the baby is acting normal and happy responding to the caregivers
respondses
In the second stage the baby feels confused onto why the caregiver is n lng
responding
As the time ges on they start to show behaviours like crying, confusion, trying to
interact with caregiver
In the recovery stage the baby feels relieved, feeling less distressed they
continue to unteract wit caregiver

Metzff and moore(1974) - When do babies start to show interactinal synchrony

Care giver shows baby one of 3 facial expressions or hand movements
The baby initially has a dummyin there mouth to not show any expressions, it is
then removed
The babies expressions and movements are recorded and judged by independent
observer
M and M found that interactional synchrony beginned as early as two weeks
+:The study used standardised procedures, this is shown when the caregivers uses
the same interactions accross the study and judged by someone not linked t the
study ,this eliminates potential experiemnter bias and ensures objective
measurment, this makes us more confident that findings were genuine increase
internal validilty
+:The study als shows consistency, In another study metzoff(1984) he found the same
resullts using a similar procedure finding that interactional synchrony can start
as early as 3 days old, this supports
the idea the it is innate, consistency across studies gives the study reliability
-:A limitation is that is difficult to interpret the babies interactions,You cannot
know whether babies spontaneous or genuine as you cannot ask for their intentions,
this reduces the validility of findings as you cannot confirm
the infants intentions
-:Other studies failed to replicate same findings, Koepke et al. failed to find
similar results depsite using similar procedures, this reduces the scientific
reliability due to lack of consistency, showing finding of mm may be due
bias or chance

Stages of Attachment Identified by Schaffer

Schaffer and emerson(1964) - Glasgow babies study

60 babies for 1980s glasgow
Visited every 4 weeks for the first year of the babies and again at 18 months
During these weeks, they were questions about the babies resonse tto seperation in
7 everyday situations
They also kept a diary of the babies interactions
They were asked to record their responses 4 point scale indicating the intensity of
the babies protests
The scale measured seperation anxiety and stranger anziety
Seperation anxiety is distress shown when seperatd from caregiver
stranger anxiety is distress showen when approached of left with an unfamiiliar
face
Schaffer and emerson found the 4 stages of attacment

Asocial
0-2 months
Behaviour towards human and objects the same
Begin to recognise familiar faces
Bonds start to form through reciprocity and interactional synchrony

Indiscriminate
2-7 months
Becomes more social
Shows preference for humans, starting to recognise familiar faces
Unlikely to show signs of spereatina dns tranger anxiety

Specific
7 - 1 years
Show preference for main caregiver
Known as there primary caregiver

Multiple attachments
1 year onwards
Form attachments with familiar people
Known as secondary attachment

+:High ecological validility as it took place in the babies homes which means
behaviours are likely to be typical everyday behaviours which increases the
external reliablility
+:The study was a longitudinal study, so the same 60 babies were follwed over 18
months, this means they are able to track genuine development and ignre individual
differences, this icreases internal validility

-:Biased sample as they only used working class children frm 1980s glasgow which
reduces population valaidility, which means it is hard to apply findings as
parenting styles and behaviour differs accross cultures which reduces
generalisability
-:Self report reduces reliability as the findings were based on the mothers
diaaries they wrote which could be innacurate,biased or lack details due to
forgetfulness or social desirability

Multiple Attachments & Role of the Father

Much of research into attachment assumer primary caregiver to be mothers however

fathers play a big part in this too
In the uk traditionally men are believed to be the financial providers for the
father whereas mothers are believed to stay at home and care for the children
Schaffer and emerson found the 3% of primary caregivers wer fathers, and by 18
months old 75% of infants formed a relation to their fathers
Fahers are less receptive and sensitive to the needs of an infant, which could be
due to biological factors like oxytocin known as the love hormone which increases
during breast feeding
In a field (1978) study Primary care giver mothers and fathers and secondary
caregiver fathers were filmed to see their interactions with 4 month old babies
It was found that primary caregiver fathers spent mre time smiling interacting and
holding there babies compared to secondary cargiver fathers, this shows attachment
dosent depend on who the caregiver is just the quality of attachment
Quality of fathers play and simulation was related to the attachment between father
and infant, this suggests that father may play a diffeerent role in attachment as
playmates

Animal Studies in Attachment: Lorenz & Harlow

Lorenz hypothesised that animals imprinted on the first moving thing they see
Imprinting- forming attachment to the first moving thingthey see, commonly seen in
birds

Procedure
Lorenz had a group of geese eggs
control group was hatched in their natural habitat,experimental group was hatched
in an incubator
The first thing the control group saw was their mother, the first thing the
experimental group saw was harlow
The geese were the mixed up and their behaviours were observed

Findings
The control group imrpinted to their mother and the experimental group imprinted to
harlow
This shows that there is a critical period for when imprinting happens, 13-16
months
This shows that imprinting is innate
If it dosent happen during this crititical period then attachment is formed to
mother

+:There is research supporting imprinting, guiton found that chicks imrpinted to a

rubber glove when it was the first thing they saw, tis supports the idea that
imorinting is innate, which adds credibility to lorenzes findings
-:The findings are hard to generalisr to humans, as humans are very different
emotionally and coginitivley, human attachment take splace over months nt hours and
requires reciprocity and interactional synchrny, this
limity external validility to human attachment

Harlow hypthesized that attachment was formed based on comfort and not feeding

Procedure
Harlow created tw steel monkey mothers, one cothered in cloth and in bare steel
He had 8 monkeys and observed them over `165 days
ne group were fed by the cloth monkey and the other grup by the monkey in bare
steel
They were observed to see who they spent the most time with, and additional
experiments were carried to see who they went to when frightened

Findings
The monkeys spent the most time with the cloth mother
The monkey who were fed bythe bare iwre mother only went to it foor feeding
The monkey went to the cloth mother when scared
Suggest confort is how attachment is formed
Long term
Harlow observed the monkeys into adulthood to investigate maternal deprivation
Both groups devloped abnormally, with the wire monkeys being mostly dysfunctional
Monkeys who were in isolation for thei first six months didnt recover to normal
behaviours
Monkeys who has interactions before 3 moths were able to reverse affects

+:It was a controlled study that took place in a lab where all variables were
controller except the type of mother, this makes the study replicable and support a
clear cause and affect, which increases internal variablkes
-:Ethical issues rise as the monkeys experienced long term damage like finding it
hard to socialise and instability, this questions whether the finding justifies the
harm

Learning Theory of Attachment

Learning via association and consequences

Does not include innate traits as a factor of behaviour
Babies are born as a blank slate, and experience is key for behaviour

Classical condition is learning through association to a stimulus

In attachment this is know as 'cuboard love'
Means infants form bonds with caregivers becuse they feed them

Operant conditioning is learning from consequences of behaviour

If a behaviour has a pleasent consequnce it will be repeated
If a behaviour has a negative consqeunce it is less likely to be repeated

Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory

John bowlby was a british psychiatrist,psychanalyst and psychologist

He disagreed with the leqarning thewoary as an explanation for attachment

Through bowbys research he found that behaviour was innate

Baby formed an attachment to be protected and fed
Parent formed an attachment make sure the baby is cared for and survives

Bowbly suggests that babies have innate behaviours that help form an attachment
These are known as social releasers and they trigger the caregiver to interact so
an attachment can be formed
The more they interact the stronger the attachment

Bowlby identidied a critical period when attachmentis formed, attachment isbelieved

to start forming around 3-6 months
The critical period is though to be around 2.5 years old
If an attachment isnt formed it can have long term emotional cognitive and
interlectual affects on the child

Bowlbys thery suggests that a attachment is montropic

He believes that an attachment is formed to one primary caregiver
The more time they spend with eachother the strnger the attachment is going to be

Bowlby suggests that a child forms a model based on there early attachment with
there primary caregiver to expect the type of relations they will form
If a child had postitive early attachments they are going to expect to form
positive relatinships
If a child hasnegative early attachments they aregoing toexpect to form negative
realtionships

+:Real world application - Bowlbys theory helped influences hospital and childcare
policies allw the parent to stay with them.This show that early attachment is an
important factor development increasing the usefulness and practical value of the
theory
+:Supporting evidence from studies - Bailey et al found that mothers that had poor
attachments with their mothers, had poor attachments with their kids, this supports
the idea that attachment is passed down thrugh generations via the internal working
model
This strenthens validlity of the theory foor prediciting future attachments
-:Contradicting evidence:Bowlbys theory suggeststhat only one main attachment is
formed,schaffer and emersn found that infants started to frm multiple attachmeents
around the ssame time which suggests that bowlby overephasised the importance on
primary caregiver
Thus reduces the valilityof the monotropy aspect of the theory
-:Bwlbystheory is thought be socially sensitive and reductionist as it dosent take
into account other caregivers and wider social factors, this can cause guilt in
working mothers or single parents making them feel responsible for poor developmet,
this raises
ethical concerns about the inclusivity of the theory

Ainsworth’s ‘Strange Situation’ & Types of Attachment

Ainsowrth(1972) developed the strange situation to observe infants attachments to

caregivers

106 midle class american infants observed

8 3 minute episodes devloped to assess behaviour of the infants
Observed through one way mirror and video recording
Behaviours were observed based on seperation anxiety, stranger anxiety, proximity
seeking, secure base behaviour and exploring

Caregiver and infant enter

Caregiver encourages infant to explore and play with toys
Stranger enters and interacts with both
Mother leaves
Mother re enters
STranger and mother both leave
Stranger re enters
Mother re enters

3 attachment types

Secure attachment
Proximity seeking and secure base behaviour to caregiver
Modertate seperation and stranger anxiety

Insecure avoidant
Little proximity seeking and secure base behaviour shown
No stranger or spereation anxiety
Infant did not require comfort from caregiver upon arrival

Insecure resistant
Increased level of proximity seeking and secure base behaviour, little willingness
to explore
High stranger and seperation anxiety
Infant did not want comford from caregiver upon reunion

+:High reliability due to controlled measures, Took place in a lab setting with
conrolled procedures and had multiple observers with high inter rater reliability
which means there was consistency accros results of observations
this shows gd scientific credibility and replicability

+:Shows good predicitve validility, people with secure attachments were likely to
form positive peer attachments and success at school, this supports the idea that
attachment has long terms effects, which increases the validilty

-:May be too simplistic, later studies discovered disorganised attachment which

shows inconsistent behaviours, this suggests that the explanation is incompletet
and there could be other types of attachment which reduces validlity

Cultural Variations in Attachment: Van Ijzendoorn

Bowlby's Theory of Maternal Deprivation
Romanian Orphan Studies: Effects of Institutionalisation

Influence of Early Attachment on Childhood & Adulthood Relationships