Samuel Nesbitt
This topic includes:
1- introduction to attachment
2- Attachment figures
3- Stages of attachment
4- Animal studies of attachment
5- Learning theory of attachment
6- Bowlby’s theory of attachment
7- Ainsworth’s strange situation
8- Cultural variations in attachment
9– Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation
10- Romanian orphan studies
11- Influence of early attachment on later attachment
1
,Psychology Year 1 & AS Attachment Samuel Nesbitt
1- introduction to attachment
Caregiver-infant interactions
• Alert phases
o From birth, babies and their mothers spend a lot of time in intense and pleasurable interaction.
o Babies have periodic ‘alert phases’ and signal when they are ready for interaction – mothers
respond to around 2/3 of time. (Feldman and Eidelman 2007)
• Interactional synchrony
o The coordination of micro-level behaviour – Feldman
o When mother and infant interact in such a way that their actions and emotions mirror the other.
o Occurs as young as two weeks old – Meltzoff and Moore
▪ Procedure: Adult displayed one of three facial expressions or distinctive gestures and
child’s response was filmed.
▪ Findings: Association was found between expression/gesture and action of the child.
o Important for development of attachment – Isabela et al.
▪ Procedure: Observed 20 mothers and infants together and assessed the degree of
synchrony and quality of mother-infant attachment
▪ Findings: High synchrony = higher quality of attachment
• Reciprocity
o One person responds to the other
o From around 3 months, reciprocal interaction tends to be infrequently frequent.
▪ It involved close attention to teach other’s verbal signals and facial expressions.
▪ It is like a ‘dance’ – in the way each partner responds to each other’s moves – Brazelton.
o Baby is active.
o Childhood is not a passive role where they just receive care from adult.
▪ The baby takes an active role, initiating reactions in turn with the mother.
Caregiver-infant interactions – Evaluation A03
Strength 1 – Controlled observations capture fine detail
1. Filmed from multiple angles can show fine detail of behaviour
2. Can be analysed later
3. Babies don’t know or care that they are filmed so their behaviour doesn’t change.
4. Good validity.
Limitation 1 – hard to know what is happening when observing infants.
1. What is being observed is merely hand movements or changes in expression.
2. The expressions in infants are generally quite frequent.
3. Difficult to know whether the imitation of adult signals is conscious and deliberate
4. Therefore, we cannot be certain whether the behaviours have a special meaning.
2
, Psychology Year 1 & AS Attachment Samuel Nesbitt
2- Attachment figures
Primary attachment
• Primary attachment usually forms with mothers but sometimes both.
• Most babies become attached to their mothers first in around 7 months. – Schaffer and Emerson
Secondary attachment.
• Within a few weeks or months, they then formed secondary attachment to other family members
including the father.
o 75% form secondary attachment with father by the age of 18 months.
▪ This was shown by babies protesting when father walked away
Role of father
• Grossman – longitudinal study.
o Found that quality of attachment with father was less important than mother in the
attachment type in teenagers.
o Therefore, fathers may be less important in long-term emotional development.
• However, the quality of father’s play with infants was related to quality of adolescent attachment.
o Their role is more about stimulation than nurturing.
Fathers as primary carers.
• Evidence suggests that when fathers take on role as main caregivers – they adopt behaviours typical
of mothers.
o Field filmed 4 month-old babies, and have found these fathers to do more smiling, imitating
and holding infants than secondary caregiver fathers.
o Key to attachment is the level of responsiveness not the gender of the parent.
Role of father – Evaluation A03
Limitation 1 – Why don’t fathers generally become primary attachments?
1. It could be socially constructed
• it is traditional or expected for women to be primary caregiver
2. It could be biological
• E.g. hormones such as oestrogen – creates higher levels of nurturing
• Women are biologically pre-disposed to be the primary attachment figures.
Limitation 2 – Why aren’t children without fathers different
1. Studies have found children growing up in single or same-sex parent families to not develop
differently
• Limits the importance of the role of father
2. However, many sociologists and psychologists believe boys need a male role-model
3
This topic includes:
1- introduction to attachment
2- Attachment figures
3- Stages of attachment
4- Animal studies of attachment
5- Learning theory of attachment
6- Bowlby’s theory of attachment
7- Ainsworth’s strange situation
8- Cultural variations in attachment
9– Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation
10- Romanian orphan studies
11- Influence of early attachment on later attachment
1
,Psychology Year 1 & AS Attachment Samuel Nesbitt
1- introduction to attachment
Caregiver-infant interactions
• Alert phases
o From birth, babies and their mothers spend a lot of time in intense and pleasurable interaction.
o Babies have periodic ‘alert phases’ and signal when they are ready for interaction – mothers
respond to around 2/3 of time. (Feldman and Eidelman 2007)
• Interactional synchrony
o The coordination of micro-level behaviour – Feldman
o When mother and infant interact in such a way that their actions and emotions mirror the other.
o Occurs as young as two weeks old – Meltzoff and Moore
▪ Procedure: Adult displayed one of three facial expressions or distinctive gestures and
child’s response was filmed.
▪ Findings: Association was found between expression/gesture and action of the child.
o Important for development of attachment – Isabela et al.
▪ Procedure: Observed 20 mothers and infants together and assessed the degree of
synchrony and quality of mother-infant attachment
▪ Findings: High synchrony = higher quality of attachment
• Reciprocity
o One person responds to the other
o From around 3 months, reciprocal interaction tends to be infrequently frequent.
▪ It involved close attention to teach other’s verbal signals and facial expressions.
▪ It is like a ‘dance’ – in the way each partner responds to each other’s moves – Brazelton.
o Baby is active.
o Childhood is not a passive role where they just receive care from adult.
▪ The baby takes an active role, initiating reactions in turn with the mother.
Caregiver-infant interactions – Evaluation A03
Strength 1 – Controlled observations capture fine detail
1. Filmed from multiple angles can show fine detail of behaviour
2. Can be analysed later
3. Babies don’t know or care that they are filmed so their behaviour doesn’t change.
4. Good validity.
Limitation 1 – hard to know what is happening when observing infants.
1. What is being observed is merely hand movements or changes in expression.
2. The expressions in infants are generally quite frequent.
3. Difficult to know whether the imitation of adult signals is conscious and deliberate
4. Therefore, we cannot be certain whether the behaviours have a special meaning.
2
, Psychology Year 1 & AS Attachment Samuel Nesbitt
2- Attachment figures
Primary attachment
• Primary attachment usually forms with mothers but sometimes both.
• Most babies become attached to their mothers first in around 7 months. – Schaffer and Emerson
Secondary attachment.
• Within a few weeks or months, they then formed secondary attachment to other family members
including the father.
o 75% form secondary attachment with father by the age of 18 months.
▪ This was shown by babies protesting when father walked away
Role of father
• Grossman – longitudinal study.
o Found that quality of attachment with father was less important than mother in the
attachment type in teenagers.
o Therefore, fathers may be less important in long-term emotional development.
• However, the quality of father’s play with infants was related to quality of adolescent attachment.
o Their role is more about stimulation than nurturing.
Fathers as primary carers.
• Evidence suggests that when fathers take on role as main caregivers – they adopt behaviours typical
of mothers.
o Field filmed 4 month-old babies, and have found these fathers to do more smiling, imitating
and holding infants than secondary caregiver fathers.
o Key to attachment is the level of responsiveness not the gender of the parent.
Role of father – Evaluation A03
Limitation 1 – Why don’t fathers generally become primary attachments?
1. It could be socially constructed
• it is traditional or expected for women to be primary caregiver
2. It could be biological
• E.g. hormones such as oestrogen – creates higher levels of nurturing
• Women are biologically pre-disposed to be the primary attachment figures.
Limitation 2 – Why aren’t children without fathers different
1. Studies have found children growing up in single or same-sex parent families to not develop
differently
• Limits the importance of the role of father
2. However, many sociologists and psychologists believe boys need a male role-model
3
