Summary
Summary Attachment (Sec 3)
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Section 3 of AS / A-Level Psychology.
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ATTAC H M E N TAttachment
Defined as a ‘“close emotional relationship between an infant and their caregiver”. A securely
attached infant will show a desire to be close to their primary caregiver (usually biological mother).
They will become distressed when they are separated, and pleasure when they are reunited.
Caregiver-Infant Interaction
Such interactions are thought to be involved in developing and maintaining the attachment in infants;
1. Sensitive responsiveness - the caregiver responds appropriately to signals from the infant.
2. Imitation - the infant copies the caregiver’s actions and behaviour, it was found that infants
between 2 and 3 weeks of age appeared to “imitate the facial expressions and hand movements of the
experimenter”.
3. Interactional synchrony - infants react in time with the caregiver’s speech, resulting in a
‘conversation dance’. Evidence was provided for this concept by showing how babies do appear to
move in time with adult conversations.
4. Reciprocity / turn-taking - interaction flows back and forth between the caregiver and infant.
5. Motherese - the slow, high-pitched way of speaking to infants. Though there is no evidence that
this influences the strength of an attachment between parent and infant.
Schaffer’s Identified Stages in Attachment Formation..
- The pre-attachment (asocial) phase is during the first 0 to 3 months of life, the baby learns to
separate people from objects but doesn’t have any strong preference about who cares for it.
- The indiscriminate (diffuse) attachment phase is between 6 weeks and 7 months where the infant
starts to clearly distinguish and recognise different people, smiling more at people it knows than
strangers. There is still no strong preference.
- The discriminate (single) attachment phase is from 7 to 11 months as the infant becomes able to
form a strong attachment with an individual. This is shown by being content when that person is
around, distressed when they leave and happy once they’ve returned. They may be scared of strangers
and avoid them.
- The multiple attachment phase is from around 9 months, the infant can form attachments to many
different people. Some attachments may be stronger than others and have different functions, e.g. for
play versus comfort, but there doesn’t seem to be a limit to the number of attachments they can make.
After 18 months, it was found that approximately 32% of babies had at least five attachments, the
original attachment still being the strongest.
The Role of Fathers on their Infant(s)
Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found that attachment between caregiver and infant varied across the
infants, their mother being the primary attachment for only half of the infants. A third preferred their
father, while the rest had their strongest attachment with the grandparents or siblings.
Goodsell and Meldrum (2009) found that those with a secure attachment to their mother are also
more likely to have a secure attachment to their father.
Rose et al (1975) showed that the number of nappies a father changed was positively correlated to
the strength of their attachment, supported by Caldera (2004) who found that when the father was
involved in care-giving activities, they were much more likely to develop a strong attachment with
their child.
, ATTAC H M E N T
Geiger (1996) suggested that a mother’s relationship is primarily nurturing and caring while the
father’s relationship is more focused around play.
Learning Theory Links Attachment
Learning theory, aka behaviourist theory, focuses on the baby wanting its needs to be fulfilled.
Conditioning is also given as an explanation for how attachments form;
- Classical conditioning is about learning associations between different things in our environment.
Getting food naturally gives the baby pleasure, and their desire for food is fulfilled whenever its
mother is around to feed it. Thus, an association is formed between mother and food, so if the mother
is around the baby will feel pleasure.
- In operant conditioning, it was claimed that babies feel discomfort when they’re hungry so have a
desire to get food to remove this discomfort (Dollard and Miller, 1950). They find that if they cry,
their mother will come and feed them so the discomfort is removed (this is negative reinforcement).
As the mother is linked with food the baby will want to be close to her, producing ‘attachment
behaviour’.
Bowbly (1951) - Monotropic Theory of Attachment (Evolutionary) .
Attachment can be explained by evolution;
- We have a biological need to attach to our main caregiver.
- This need has developed through natural selection to ensure the survival of the child to maturity.
We create one special attachment;
- Forming this attachment has survival value, as staying close to the mother ensures food and
protection.
- A strong attachment provides a ‘safe base’, giving us confidence to explore our environment.
We create an internal working model of attachment;
- Forming an infant attachment gives us a template for all future relationships, we learn to trust and
care for others. Forming an ‘internal working model’ for all later attachments.
- It is considered a ‘working’ model as it can change and develop over time, depending on how the
person’s relationships change.
- The primary caregiver provides the foundations for the child’s future relationships, called the
continuity hypothesis.
There is a critical period for attachment;
- First three years of life are critical for attachment to develop, otherwise it may never do so.
- If it doesn’t develop (e.g. separation or death), or if it’s broken, it might seriously damage the
child’s social and emotional development.
- Bowlby’s ‘Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis’ assumes that if the relationship between the primary
caregiver and infant is disrupted or stopped during the critical period, there are long-term
consequences.
Types of Attachment
These can be considered secure or insecure. Secure being a strong bond between the child and
caregiver while insecure being a weaker attachment. Ainsworth et al came up with two types of
insecure attachment;
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