PAPER 1 TOPIC 3: ATTACHMENT
Overview:
Emotional connection between an individual and an attachment figure.
When 2 people form an attachment they feel more secure in each other’s presence and
desire to be close to one another.
- Caregiver-infant interactions
o Types of interactions
- Stages of attachment
- Multiple attachment and role of the father
- Animal studies of attachment
o Lorenz’s geese
o Harlow’s monkeys
- Explanations of attachment
o Learning theory
o Bowlby’s monotropic theory
o Critical period and internal working model
- Types of attachment
o Ainsworth’s strange situation
o Cultural variations in attachment
- Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation
- Romanian orphan studies
o Effects of institutionalisation
- Influence of early attachment
,Caregiver-infant interactions
Attachment is a two-way enduring emotional bond that develops between the infant
and the caregiver early in the infant’s life.
Develops as a result of their two-way communication.
Process of responding to each other builds emotional bonds and results in the infant
showing distress when separated from caregiver.
Types of interactions
Interactional synchrony
Infant and caregiver reflect each other’s actions and emotions in a coordinated
manner.
Reciprocity
Interaction wherein the adult and infant continuously respond to each other’s
actions and can initiate or respond to communication.
Direct imitation
Infant mimics/copies the adult’s behaviour exactly.
E.g., smiles elicit smiles.
Sensitive responsiveness
Adult pays close attention to the infant’s communication and responds in an
appropriate manner.
E.g., providing milk, changing.
Caregiverese
Adults modulate their voice, slowing it down and raising pitch to make it song-like.
Most adults do this when encountering an infant.
Bodily contact
Physical contact, skin-to-skin.
Important in bonding particularly in first few hours of life.
A03
Meltzoff and Moore (1977) experimenter display facial gestures e.g., sticking their
tongue out, opening mouth in shock and manual gestures e.g., opening and closing
their hand, to infants 12-21 days old. Infants responses were recorded and rated by
people blind to aim of experiment. Ratings showed these infants imitated
experimenter. This suggests that ability to observe and imitate develops very early in
infants, potentially as way to develop attachment with caregiver.
Papusek et al., (1991) showed that tendency to produce Caregiverese is common
across American, Chinese and German mothers. This suggests that some aspects of
caregiver-infant interactions are not culturally biased but are universal to many
cultures and may be innate within caregivers and infants.
Modern techniques of studying attachment tend to use multiple observes providing
inter-rater reliability and reducing the potential for bias.
Also often have a system of video cameras to document and slow down micro-
sequences of interactions that may not be observable in real time. This also allows
other researchers to review evidence more easily at a later date.
, Infants are unable to communicate their thoughts and emotions, so findings depend
on inferences about internal mental states based on observations of infant
behaviour. This is unscientific due to its subjective nature, so some studies suffer
from observer bias.
Researchers are unable to claim intentionality as it may be an unconscious automatic
response.
Social sensitivity is a concern when investigating child rearing techniques as some
parents may find their life choices criticised e.g., mother who returns to the
workplace shortly after giving birth. Findings may lead new parents to blame
themselves if their attachment is not strong or their children do not develop
according to the models.
Schaffer and Emerson: Glaswegian baby study (1964)
Collected data of 60 babies and their families over the course of a year via monthly
observations and interviews with a follow-up visit at 18 months.
Looked at stranger distress (signs of discomfort when around a stranger and ability to
distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people) and separation anxiety (signs of
discomfort when the caregiver moved to another room showing development of
attachment).
Found separation anxiety in majority of babies at 25-32 weeks with stranger anxiety
occurring approx. one month later.
18-month follow-up, 87% of babies developed multiple attachments.
Strongest attachment tended to be with mother.
Attachment occurs in stages in all babies perhaps being a biologically controlled
process.
Quality of caregiver interaction has direct impact on strength of attachment for
infants and their caregivers.
A03
Study only used white, working class Scottish babies from Glasgow so cannot be
generalised to babies of other classes or cultures so lacks external validity.
Study was carried out in 1960s so may lack temporal validity as childrearing practices
have changed significantly in last 50 years.
High ecological validity as children were studied in their own homes and high
mundane realism as strangers visiting the home would have been a fairly normal
occurrence for the babies as would have been the caregiver leaving the presence of
the infant.
By incorporating self-report into the study, researchers were able to use the process
of triangulation (using 2 different research methods and finding same result) so
greater internal validity.
Overview:
Emotional connection between an individual and an attachment figure.
When 2 people form an attachment they feel more secure in each other’s presence and
desire to be close to one another.
- Caregiver-infant interactions
o Types of interactions
- Stages of attachment
- Multiple attachment and role of the father
- Animal studies of attachment
o Lorenz’s geese
o Harlow’s monkeys
- Explanations of attachment
o Learning theory
o Bowlby’s monotropic theory
o Critical period and internal working model
- Types of attachment
o Ainsworth’s strange situation
o Cultural variations in attachment
- Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation
- Romanian orphan studies
o Effects of institutionalisation
- Influence of early attachment
,Caregiver-infant interactions
Attachment is a two-way enduring emotional bond that develops between the infant
and the caregiver early in the infant’s life.
Develops as a result of their two-way communication.
Process of responding to each other builds emotional bonds and results in the infant
showing distress when separated from caregiver.
Types of interactions
Interactional synchrony
Infant and caregiver reflect each other’s actions and emotions in a coordinated
manner.
Reciprocity
Interaction wherein the adult and infant continuously respond to each other’s
actions and can initiate or respond to communication.
Direct imitation
Infant mimics/copies the adult’s behaviour exactly.
E.g., smiles elicit smiles.
Sensitive responsiveness
Adult pays close attention to the infant’s communication and responds in an
appropriate manner.
E.g., providing milk, changing.
Caregiverese
Adults modulate their voice, slowing it down and raising pitch to make it song-like.
Most adults do this when encountering an infant.
Bodily contact
Physical contact, skin-to-skin.
Important in bonding particularly in first few hours of life.
A03
Meltzoff and Moore (1977) experimenter display facial gestures e.g., sticking their
tongue out, opening mouth in shock and manual gestures e.g., opening and closing
their hand, to infants 12-21 days old. Infants responses were recorded and rated by
people blind to aim of experiment. Ratings showed these infants imitated
experimenter. This suggests that ability to observe and imitate develops very early in
infants, potentially as way to develop attachment with caregiver.
Papusek et al., (1991) showed that tendency to produce Caregiverese is common
across American, Chinese and German mothers. This suggests that some aspects of
caregiver-infant interactions are not culturally biased but are universal to many
cultures and may be innate within caregivers and infants.
Modern techniques of studying attachment tend to use multiple observes providing
inter-rater reliability and reducing the potential for bias.
Also often have a system of video cameras to document and slow down micro-
sequences of interactions that may not be observable in real time. This also allows
other researchers to review evidence more easily at a later date.
, Infants are unable to communicate their thoughts and emotions, so findings depend
on inferences about internal mental states based on observations of infant
behaviour. This is unscientific due to its subjective nature, so some studies suffer
from observer bias.
Researchers are unable to claim intentionality as it may be an unconscious automatic
response.
Social sensitivity is a concern when investigating child rearing techniques as some
parents may find their life choices criticised e.g., mother who returns to the
workplace shortly after giving birth. Findings may lead new parents to blame
themselves if their attachment is not strong or their children do not develop
according to the models.
Schaffer and Emerson: Glaswegian baby study (1964)
Collected data of 60 babies and their families over the course of a year via monthly
observations and interviews with a follow-up visit at 18 months.
Looked at stranger distress (signs of discomfort when around a stranger and ability to
distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people) and separation anxiety (signs of
discomfort when the caregiver moved to another room showing development of
attachment).
Found separation anxiety in majority of babies at 25-32 weeks with stranger anxiety
occurring approx. one month later.
18-month follow-up, 87% of babies developed multiple attachments.
Strongest attachment tended to be with mother.
Attachment occurs in stages in all babies perhaps being a biologically controlled
process.
Quality of caregiver interaction has direct impact on strength of attachment for
infants and their caregivers.
A03
Study only used white, working class Scottish babies from Glasgow so cannot be
generalised to babies of other classes or cultures so lacks external validity.
Study was carried out in 1960s so may lack temporal validity as childrearing practices
have changed significantly in last 50 years.
High ecological validity as children were studied in their own homes and high
mundane realism as strangers visiting the home would have been a fairly normal
occurrence for the babies as would have been the caregiver leaving the presence of
the infant.
By incorporating self-report into the study, researchers were able to use the process
of triangulation (using 2 different research methods and finding same result) so
greater internal validity.
