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Attachments

An attachment is a long term emotional bond which is reciprocal. There is a desire for physical as well as emotional closeness
1. Schaffer saw attachment as "a long enduring, emotionally meaningful tie to a particular individual"
2. Ainsworth saw it as "a relatively long enduring tie in which the partner is important as a unique individual...and where there is a desire to maintain closeness to the partner"
What are the signs of attachments in an individual's behavior? (Maccoby)
1. Proximity seeking - wanting to maintain closeness and spend time together.
2. Distress on separation or separation protest - seen in the howling baby or in homesickness in an older child (SEPARATION ANXIETY)
3. Joy on reunion - seen in a welcome of hugs, smiles and clinginess
4. Orientation to the other person - attention is directed to the other and attempts are made to engage them in interaction or activity
5. Secure base effect - the individual's presence give an infant confidence to explore an unknown environment but they check in often
6. Stranger anxiety - fear of strangers
7. These behaviors also reflect the child's personality, their mood, their wellbeing and their previous experiences of separation. therefore, they may not be valid or true measures of attachment.
Caregiver-infant interaction in humans: reciprocity and interactional synchrony
1. Reciprocity - Infants coordinate their actions with caregivers in a kind of conversation. From birth babies move in a rhythm when interacting with an adult almost as if they were taking turns
2. Interactional synchrony - A slightly different kind of interaction between infants and caregivers is referred to as interactional synchrony. One of the first scientific studies on this area by Meltzoff and Moore (1977) found that infants as young as 2-3 weeks old imitated specific facial and hand gestures.
Schaffer and Emmerson - Stages of development
1. 60 working class infants from Glasgow aged 5 to 23 weeks until they were one years old
2. How? - the children were observed every 4 week and the mother had to report the child's response to separation. The children were all studied in their own homes (naturalistic observation) and a regular pattern was identified in the development of attachment. The babies were visited monthly for about a year, their interactions with their carer's were observed and their carers were interviewed.
  1. Evidence for the development of an attachment was that the baby showed separation anxiety after the carer left.
3. Stage One - Indiscriminate Attachment: (up to three months) Very young infants are asocial in that many kinds of stimuli (both social and non social) produce a favorable reaction, such as a smile, very few produce protest. During this time reciprocity and interactional synchrony play a role in establishing the infant's relationship with others.
  1. Stage Two - The Beginnings of Attachment: (around 4 months) Infants indiscriminately enjoy human company. They get upset when an individual ceases to interact with them. From three months smile more at familiar face and comforted easily be it a regular care giver. Generally they are socialable.
    1. Stage Three - Specific Attachment/ The First True Attachment: (7-9 months) Expresses a protest when separated from one certain individual. They attempt to stay close to the person, and show wariness of strangers. They form an attachment to a PRIMARY ATTACHMENT FIGURE. The quality of the relationship is important, not the quantity.
      1. Stage Four - Multiple attachment: (10 months onward) children begin to attach to others. By 18 months the majority of infants have formed multiple attachments. For example: grandparents, siblings and other relatives. These are considered to be secondary attachments.
4. Evaluation: The data could be seen as unreliable. The majority of the data was based on the mothers own reports. The mothers may have forgotten to write things down and tried to remember them later on or the next day, or they may have written social desirable answers. The data could also subjective. Also, it was conducted in the 1960s, so the data is out dated. The sample is biased as we are unable to generalize it to a wider population because it was conducted on a small sample of Glasweigen families. There are also cultural variations as some cultures rear their children differently. Finally, some children form multiple attachments earlier or whilst forming their primary bond,
5. Role of the Father
  1. Schaffer found that fathers were far less likely to be a primary attachment figure than mothers. This could be because they lack the emotional sensitivity that women offer (biologically or socially)
    1. Oestrogen effect: The female hormone underlies caring behaviour
  2. Grossman (2002)
    1. Fathers have a different role in attachments - one that is more to do with play and stimulation and less to do with nurturing
  3. Schaffer and Emmerson found that only 3% of fathers were the primary attachment figures. This would differ today sa there is an increase in single parent families and fathers have a larger role in the household and child's life than in the 60s
Bowlby - The Evolutionary Perspective
1. The most influential explanation of attachment was John Bowlby's theory. This began in the 1940s. He argued that attachment is an evolved mechanism that ensures survival of the child. He presented two key theories - Attachment theory and maternal deprivation theory.
2. 1) Attachment is instinctive: Attachment behaviours in babies and carers have evolved through natural selection to ensure the baby survives to reproduce as an adult. Babies have SOCIAL RELEASERS to encourage care taking behaviour. Parents' especially mothers, have instincts to protect and nurture. If they didnt their genes would be lost from the gene pool
  1. 2) Monotropy: There is a single attachment to one person which is more important and is at the top of the hierarchy.
    1. 3) Internal Working Model: This relationship provides the child with an internal working model or a template for future relationships. The child develops a model of themselves and others in relationships e.g. Am I lovable? Are others trustworthy? Emotionally secure infants become emotionally secure adults. (the continuity hypothosis)
      1. 4) The sensitive period: Attachments should take place in the first three years of life. Bowlby worked with troubled adolescents suggested their would be serious consequences if this period was disrupted.
        Bowlby drew on the work of Lorenz. Lorenz studied goslings and imprinting. He discovered their was a sensitive period of 13-16 hours in which the goslings attached to the largest moving object they saw after hatching. The tendency to imprint faded after 32 hours.
      2. Research Support - the concept of an internal working model.
        Blacke

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Attachments

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	Created by shannon_eades almost 9 years ago