Attachment
Caregiver-Infant Interactions in Humans
MACCOBY - HOW DO WE KNOW AN ATTACHMENT IS FORMED
Seeking proximity - the infant will try to stay close to the attachment figure.
Distress on separation - both caregiver and infant will experience and demonstrate signs of distress
when separated.
Pleasure when reunited - there will be obvious signs of pleasure from the child and caregiver when
reunited.
General orientation of behaviour - infant and caregiver will direct attention to each other and try to
engage each other in activities and interaction.
SCHAFFER - STAGES OF ATTACHMENTS
Stage Description of Attachment Behaviour at this Stage
Pre-attachment phase Infants become attracted to other humans at about 6 weeks of
0-3 months age. They show this preference by smiling at people’s faces.
Indiscriminate attachment phase Infants begin to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar
3-7 or 8 months people. They will smile more at people they know but will still
allow strangers to handle and look after them.
Discriminate attachment phase Infants begin to develop attachments to particular people and
7 or 8 months + will stay to close these individuals. They will become distressed
if they are separated from their main attachment figure and will
protest if strangers try to handle them. This is called stranger
anxiety.
Multiple attachments stage Infants form strong emotional ties with other major caregivers
9 months + (e.g. fathers, grandparents etc) and non-caregivers that they
spend a lot of time with (e.g. siblings). The fear of strangers
reduces. Although other attachment bonds are forming, the
attachment bond with the primary caregiver is the strongest.
SCHAFFER AND EMERSON
Sample - studied a group of 60 newborn babies and their mothers in Glasgow using a longitudinal
study.
Procedure - the mothers and babies were studied each month in their own homes for the first year of
their lives and then again when the babies were 18 months old. The researchers interviewed the
mothers and did observations of baby behaviour. They were asked questions like who their baby
smiled at and who they went to when they were distressed. They observed two particular behaviours:
separation protest behaviours and stranger anxiety.
Findings -
At 6-8 months most infants showed separation protest
At 9 months most infants showed stranger anxiety
At 18 months 87% of infants had at least 2 attachment bonds.
At 18 months 31% of infants had 5 or more attachment bonds.
39% of babies formed their prime attachment bond to someone other than their main carer.
SCHAFFER AND EMERSON - EVALUATION
Flaws with data collection - interviews may be subject to bias
Large individual differences - lacks validity - differences between families may impact attachment.
, CARPENTER
Procedure - presented 2 week old infants with familiar and unfamiliar voices and faces. Sometimes
the face and voice were of the same person, sometimes the voice didn't match the face.
Findings -
Babies looked at their mothers face the longest when the face matched the voice.
Infants showed signs of distress when they saw their mothers face but heard a different voice.
This contradicts Schaffer and Emerson’s proposal that very young infants found all human faces
equally attractive.
THE ROLE OF FATHERS
Degree of sensitivity - infants are more securely attached to fathers who respond appropriately and
sensitively to their needs.
Type of attachment with own parents - many developmental psychologists believe that the attachment
relationships we have in childhood affect the types of relationships we form later in life. Fathers are
likely to have the same kind of relationship with their own children as they had with their fathers.
Marital intimacy - fathers that are more intimate with their partners are more likely to have secure
attachments with their children.
Supportive co-parenting - fathers who play more of a role in child-rearing and parenting are more
likely to have secure attachments with their children.
Animal Research on Attachment
LORENZ - IMPRINTING
Aim - To investigate the phenomenon of imprinting - when newly hatched birds imprint on the first
moving object they see and then will direct their social behaviour toward that object.
Procedure - Lorenz split a clutch of Greylag Geese eggs and left half with their mother to incubate and
raise and placed the other half in an incubator and offered himself as a model for imprinting.
Findings - The geese that were left with their mother showed normal behaviour, followed her and
grew up to interact and mate with their own species. On the other hand, the geese that Lorenz kept
followed him and failed to recognise their biological mother or their own species. These geese
attempted to develop social relationships with humans rather than geese and even tried to mate with
them.
Conclusions -
The ability or tendency to respond to the first object seen after hatching is “innate”.
The process of imprinting is genetically determined; but birds learn to respond to a particular animal or
object.
LORENZ - EVALUATIONS
Animal research should not be used as reference for humans - animals and humans are completely
different - limits validity when trying to use this as a basis for humans
HARLOW
Sample - 16 Rhesus Monkeys separated from their mothers at birth.
Procedure - Each monkey was individually reared in a cage in one of the four conditions:
1 - A cage containing a wire mother producing milk and a towelling mother producing no milk
2 - A cage containing a wire mother producing no milk and a towelling mother producing milk
3 - A cage containing wire mother producing milk
4 - A cage containing towelling mother producing milk
The monkeys were frightened by a loud sound to test for mother preference during stress. A larger
cage was also used to determine how much exploring the monkeys would do.
Findings -
Caregiver-Infant Interactions in Humans
MACCOBY - HOW DO WE KNOW AN ATTACHMENT IS FORMED
Seeking proximity - the infant will try to stay close to the attachment figure.
Distress on separation - both caregiver and infant will experience and demonstrate signs of distress
when separated.
Pleasure when reunited - there will be obvious signs of pleasure from the child and caregiver when
reunited.
General orientation of behaviour - infant and caregiver will direct attention to each other and try to
engage each other in activities and interaction.
SCHAFFER - STAGES OF ATTACHMENTS
Stage Description of Attachment Behaviour at this Stage
Pre-attachment phase Infants become attracted to other humans at about 6 weeks of
0-3 months age. They show this preference by smiling at people’s faces.
Indiscriminate attachment phase Infants begin to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar
3-7 or 8 months people. They will smile more at people they know but will still
allow strangers to handle and look after them.
Discriminate attachment phase Infants begin to develop attachments to particular people and
7 or 8 months + will stay to close these individuals. They will become distressed
if they are separated from their main attachment figure and will
protest if strangers try to handle them. This is called stranger
anxiety.
Multiple attachments stage Infants form strong emotional ties with other major caregivers
9 months + (e.g. fathers, grandparents etc) and non-caregivers that they
spend a lot of time with (e.g. siblings). The fear of strangers
reduces. Although other attachment bonds are forming, the
attachment bond with the primary caregiver is the strongest.
SCHAFFER AND EMERSON
Sample - studied a group of 60 newborn babies and their mothers in Glasgow using a longitudinal
study.
Procedure - the mothers and babies were studied each month in their own homes for the first year of
their lives and then again when the babies were 18 months old. The researchers interviewed the
mothers and did observations of baby behaviour. They were asked questions like who their baby
smiled at and who they went to when they were distressed. They observed two particular behaviours:
separation protest behaviours and stranger anxiety.
Findings -
At 6-8 months most infants showed separation protest
At 9 months most infants showed stranger anxiety
At 18 months 87% of infants had at least 2 attachment bonds.
At 18 months 31% of infants had 5 or more attachment bonds.
39% of babies formed their prime attachment bond to someone other than their main carer.
SCHAFFER AND EMERSON - EVALUATION
Flaws with data collection - interviews may be subject to bias
Large individual differences - lacks validity - differences between families may impact attachment.
, CARPENTER
Procedure - presented 2 week old infants with familiar and unfamiliar voices and faces. Sometimes
the face and voice were of the same person, sometimes the voice didn't match the face.
Findings -
Babies looked at their mothers face the longest when the face matched the voice.
Infants showed signs of distress when they saw their mothers face but heard a different voice.
This contradicts Schaffer and Emerson’s proposal that very young infants found all human faces
equally attractive.
THE ROLE OF FATHERS
Degree of sensitivity - infants are more securely attached to fathers who respond appropriately and
sensitively to their needs.
Type of attachment with own parents - many developmental psychologists believe that the attachment
relationships we have in childhood affect the types of relationships we form later in life. Fathers are
likely to have the same kind of relationship with their own children as they had with their fathers.
Marital intimacy - fathers that are more intimate with their partners are more likely to have secure
attachments with their children.
Supportive co-parenting - fathers who play more of a role in child-rearing and parenting are more
likely to have secure attachments with their children.
Animal Research on Attachment
LORENZ - IMPRINTING
Aim - To investigate the phenomenon of imprinting - when newly hatched birds imprint on the first
moving object they see and then will direct their social behaviour toward that object.
Procedure - Lorenz split a clutch of Greylag Geese eggs and left half with their mother to incubate and
raise and placed the other half in an incubator and offered himself as a model for imprinting.
Findings - The geese that were left with their mother showed normal behaviour, followed her and
grew up to interact and mate with their own species. On the other hand, the geese that Lorenz kept
followed him and failed to recognise their biological mother or their own species. These geese
attempted to develop social relationships with humans rather than geese and even tried to mate with
them.
Conclusions -
The ability or tendency to respond to the first object seen after hatching is “innate”.
The process of imprinting is genetically determined; but birds learn to respond to a particular animal or
object.
LORENZ - EVALUATIONS
Animal research should not be used as reference for humans - animals and humans are completely
different - limits validity when trying to use this as a basis for humans
HARLOW
Sample - 16 Rhesus Monkeys separated from their mothers at birth.
Procedure - Each monkey was individually reared in a cage in one of the four conditions:
1 - A cage containing a wire mother producing milk and a towelling mother producing no milk
2 - A cage containing a wire mother producing no milk and a towelling mother producing milk
3 - A cage containing wire mother producing milk
4 - A cage containing towelling mother producing milk
The monkeys were frightened by a loud sound to test for mother preference during stress. A larger
cage was also used to determine how much exploring the monkeys would do.
Findings -
