Attachment

emotional link between the baby and their primary caregiver

1.Proximity: ppl try to stay physically close to those who theyre attached to. 2.separation distress: ppl get distressed when attachment figure leaves their presence. 3. secure base behaviour: touch base with our attachment figure regularly to return to their attachment

Reciprocity: Two way mutual process where infant and primary caregiver take turns to respond to each others communications. baby put hands up, mum pick up. Interactional synchrony: caregiver and infant respond in time to keep communicstions going ( mirror action). baby smiles, mum smiles back.

*Meltzoff and Moore* controlled observation of 40 two week old babies to measure caregiver-infant interactions. adult displayed one of three facial expressions such as mouth opening or tongue protruding. Childs respond was filmed and identified by an independent observer. a link was found between the expressions of baby and adult .

babies have alert phases and signal when they are ready for interaction. mothers pick up on the signals 2/3 of the time . *Feldman and Eidelman*

-52 weeks, first 2 weeks after the baby is born are compulsory. after 26 weeks the father of the child has the right to take up to 26 weeks leave if their partner returns to work. HOWEVER, research into caregiver-infant interactions is said to be socially sensitive. involves findings having a potential social consequences or implications .

logical assumption about thought processes which is drawn based on observed behaviours. psychologists have to make inferences about childs behaviour as we cant ask them how they are feeling or why they did something .

*Shaffer and Emerson*, longitudinal study on 60 WORKING CLASS NEWBORN BABIES and their MOTHERS from GLASGOW. babies and mothers were visited at their home every MONTH for the FIRST YEAR of the babys life and agin at 18 MONTHS. OBSERVATIONS and INTERVIEWS with mothers were used. attachment measured in 2 ways: Separation anxiety-assessed by infant being alone in the toom or asking mum abt it. Stranger anxiety-assessed by the researcher starting each home by approaching the infant to see if theyre distressed by that. Researcher asked the mother questions such as who the infant smiled at or who they responded to. FINDINGS: 1) first few weeks- behaviour to adults and inanimate objects was similar. 2) 2-7 months show preference to people, do not show stranger or separation anxiety. 3) 7-9 months form a specific attachment and show separation+ stranger anxiety. 65% cases w the mother. 4) 9-18 months 29% of children from multiple attachments. by 1 year most had multiple attachments. At 18 months 75% had attachment w father.

AN (asocial phase, first few weeks) INFANT (indiscriminate phase, 2-7months) SMELLS (specific attachment, 7-9months) MILK (multiple attachments,9-18months)

longitudinal study looking at both parents behaviour and its relationship to the quality of childrens attachment into their teens. FINDING 1: quality of inants attachment w mother was related to the childrens rs in adolescence. FINDING 2: Quality of FATHERS PLAY w infants = quality of childrens rs in adolescent.

investigate the role of the father. Controlled observation and filmed 4 month old babies in face to fsce interactions w primary caregiver mothers, fathers and secondary caregiver fathers. FINDINGS: primary caregiver fathers like mothers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants rhan secondary caregiver fathers. LEVEL OF RESPONSIVENESS is KEY to attachment not the gender.

fathers are important figures, for play and stimulation (Grossman) or can be as nurturing as primary caregivers (field). changed law, paternity leave from 1-2 WEEKS to SHARE 50 WEEKS w the mother. nevative impact- employers pay more for paternity leave than before + losing worker=lose productivity. Company lose money= less profit —> less taxes paid. HOWEVER, women and men sharing 50 weeks means both parties have less time off of work,return to work earlier, so less cover is needed+ workers are back—> increases profit, therefore increase tax.

-field experiment
-randomly divided goose eggs
-half hatched w mother goose in natural environment(control group)
-other half hatched in incubator , first moving object was Lorenz (experimental group)
-recorded behaviour of goslings -who they imprinted on.
-once eggs hatched , two groups of goslings were mixed up and observed who/what they follow.
-varied time between birth and seeing moving object , to measure critical period
FINDINGS: incubator group imprinted and followed Lorenz everywhere, control group followed and imprinted on the mother goose
-critical period 12-17 hours, imprinting needs to take place , if not, chick will not attach themselves to a mother figure.

16 baby rhesus monkeys separated at birth, raised in cages.Cage contained surrogate mothers- A wire mother with milk and a cloth mother with no milk. He measured 1) AMOUNT OF TIME SPENT W MOTHER 2) WHEN FRIGHTENED BY A LOUD NOISE, WHICH MOTHER THEY PREFERRED 3) LONG TERM EFFECTS IN THE FUTURE RS. Monkeys spent more time with the cloth mother. when frightened went to cloth mother. Later had emotional damage: being more timid, easily bullied, difficulty mating and females being inadequate mothers. CONTACT COMFORT is the most important factor when forming an attachment.

ethicsl issues due to harm inflicted on monkeys. Monkeys suffered as a result of Harlows procedures, were frightened—> distress , emotional damage, social issues and sometimes died . devalues harlows research into attachment and decreases the reputation of psychological research. HOWEVER, Importance of findings outweighed the distress to monkeys as theres was a dominant belief thay attachment was due to physical (food) rather than emotional care.

criticised for animal bias becuase he used rhesus monkeys to investigate whether comfort or food was more important in attachment. Potentially a problem because human attachment behaviour is more complex than animal attachment behaviour as human emotions are more sophisticated towards their babies than animals. Therefore, issues w extrapolating findings of harlows research into attachment to humans

Food(UCS)=salivation (UCR). Bell(NS)+Food(UCS)=salivation(UCR). REPETITION—>Bell(CS)= salivation (CR)

-classical conditioning- learning vis association -operant conditioning- learning via reinforcement or punishment

+ve reinforcement- rewarded for a certain behaviour. -ve reinforcement- repeating a certain behaviour to avoid a negative consequence

condition 1: controller environment, HUNGRY rat in a skinner box , press lever= food(reward). this was repeated. —>Rat became quicker at pressing the lever the longer it was in the box. condition 2: controlled environment, place diff rat in skinner box, run electircal current across floor—> discomfort. Rat move around box—> escape electircal current, accidentally knock the kever—> stop electrical current. RAT BECAME QUICKER at pressing lever.

Harlow*—> monkeys preffered cloth mother over food mother, HOWEVER, animal bias, human attachment behaviour is more complex bcz emotions towards offsprings are more sophisticated. *Shaffer*

(A)daptive- advantage for survival, innate. (S)ocial releasers- crying, smiling, looking cute—> triggers response in caregiver for attachment to form. (C)ritical period- time in which attachment needs to form—>2.5 years, if not then problems socially+psychologically. (M)onotropy- attachment to only one carer—> typically but not always w Mother. importsnt that mother offers continuity and predictable care. (I)nternal working model- template to how all relationships are like, builds an expectation for future rs.

made a love quiz—> accurately predicts attachment style of an adult in his close romantic rs. then, assessed persons attachment style w the mother or caregiver and found that both attachment types were the same. BREAKTHROUGH—> first intimate rs w first caregiver = long lasting impact on adult romantic rs.

controlled observation, ASSESES a childs attachment to their orimary caregiver. Ainsworth measured childs reaction to the following variables via a TWO-WAY MIRROR: 1)Willingness to explore environment 2) stranger anxiety-how the child reacts to being alone w a stranger 3) separation anxiety 4) reunion behaviour- how child behaves when mum returns. HOWEVER, Imposed Etics—>based on american+ ignores variations of child rearing in other cultures. E.g Germany—>independence is encouraged in infants, may show insecure-avoidant attachment BUT would be desirable in this culture. ALSO, in collectivist cultures e.g israel= many people raise child, therefore may show less stranger anxiety, suggesting that they are not securely attached. THEREFORE, Strange situation may not be appropriate to measure attachment in diff cultures , as it ignores diffferences and practices suggesting that their attachment types are abnormal

*Van ljzendoorn and Kroonenborg*. Replicated strange situation in the USA and found CONSISTENT RESULTS TO AINSWORTH’S. 65% of infants were secure, 21% insecure avoidant, 14% insecure resistant. SUPPORTS ainsoworths research into attachment types bcz shows secure attachments=dominant type, suggesting aunsworth research has high reliability.

2000 infants and their children—> high pop. validity, easy to generalise findings. CULTURE BIAS- conducted in america. LOW ECO VALIDITY- artificial environment = difficult to generalise findings beyond settings of study, because may act differently towards caregiver in their own home. All used strange situtation- controlled observation—> high control over EV eg time time in stages

emotional and intellectual consequences of extended separation between a CHILD and his MOTHER, where child loses an aspect of care during the criticsl period.

wanted to investigate the link between affectionless psycopathy and maternal deprivation. Sample of 88 children (44 juvenile thieves, 44 juvenile emotionally damaged non thieves), conducted interviews. Thieves were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy. families interviewed if they had any prolonged early separation w their mothers. CONTROL GROUP of 44 non criminal but damaged juveniles was set up to see how often maternal deprivation occurs. 14/44 thieves were diagnoes as affectionless psycopaths. 12/14 experienced prolonged separation from their mothers within critical period. only 2 out of 44 had prolonged separarion. HOWEVER, RETROSPECTIVE DATA as it relies on memory of juveniles and their parents to recall periods of separation in childhood, so COULD HAVE LIED abt lvls of separation or FORGOTTEN IT, REDUCES INTERNAL VALIDITY Z

*Lewis*, replicated 44 thirvee study on a larger scale, 500 young people. in her sample, histriy if early prolonged separation from mother did not predict CRIMINALITY or DIFFICULTY FORMING CLOSE RS.

-only measured rs type w one attachment figure - ethical issues—> 20% cried desperately at one point