Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
attachment - Coggle Diagram
attachment
Schaffer and Emerson
"a close emotional relationship between two persons, characterised by mutual affection and a desire to maintain proximity"
asocial - birth to three months, initially show similar responses to all objects but by the end of this stage they begin to show preference to social stimuli
indiscriminate - up to seven months, can tell the difference between familiar and unfamiliar people but show no stranger anxiety
discriminate - from seven months, form a primary attachment and now show stranger anxiety
multiple - nine months-one year, develop secondary/multiple attachments, lower stranger anxiety
aim : to investigate the age at which the first attachment forms, who it is with and its strength
- left alone in a room
- left with other people
- left in their pram outside the house
- left in their pram outside the shops
- left in their cot at night
- put down after being held by an adult
- passed by while sitting on their cot or chair
-
half the children showed their first specific attachment between 25 and 32 weeks. fear of strangers usually peaked about a month after
18 months - 65% attached to mother, 75% attached to father and 39% had an attachment to someone other than their primary caregiver
observations may be biased, demand characteristics, small sample, high ecological validity
Learning theory
Harlow - rhesus monkeys
imprinting had to occur between 4-25 hours, otherwise it didn't happen at all
- monkeys had difficulty being social with other monkeys
-
aim : Harlow : to test learning theory by comparing attachment behaviour in baby monkeys given a wire surrogate mother producing milk compared to a soft towelling mother producing no milk
-
Harlow : 16 baby monkeys in four groups : a cage with a wire mother producing milk and vice versa, a cage with a towelling mother producing milk and vice versa, towelling mother with milk and wire mother with milk
monkeys preferred contact with the towelling mother whenever she was available
monkeys with a wire mother had diarrhoea, a sign of stress
when frightened by a loud noise, they clung to the towelling mother whenever she was available
in the larger cage, monkeys with the towelling mother explored more
Lorenz : split a large clutch of goose eggs into two batches, one of which was hatched by the mother and the other by an incubator, with Lorenz making sure that he was the first moving object that the goslings encountered. the ones hatched by their mother followed her, and the others followed Lorenz
Bowlby
"attachment is characterised by specific behaviours in children, such as seeking proximity with the attachment figure when upset or threatened"
attachment is a behaviour that has evolved because it has a survival advantage. this means that attachment and the behaviours associated with it are likely to be innate
it is referred to as monotropic theory because he suggests that we form one attachment that is special and more important than the rest
-
internal working model : our first attachment forms a template which we use to form expectations for future relationships
- lots of the research was conducted in real life situations so is high in ecological validity
- led to changes in hospital policies
- the research for monotropy is mixed
- monotropy is a socially sensitive idea
- the child's personality may be as important as attachment in their later behaviour
- Bowlby was influenced by animal research, so this is difficult to generalise to humans
-
Ainsworth
"attachment is a deep and enduring emotional bond that connects one person to another across time and space"
aim of the strange situation : assess how infants behave in a novel situation under mildly stressful conditions by looking at stranger anxiety, separation anxiety and secure base behaviour
-
the mother and infant go into room, a stranger goes into the room and sits with the infant. mother leaves and infant is with stranger. mother returns and stranger leaves, mother leaves, stranger returns, mother comes back and stranger leaves.
-
-
-
-
insecure avoidant - willing to explore, low stranger anxiety, unconcerned by separation, avoids/ignores carer on return
insecure resistant - unwilling to explore, high stranger anxiety, extremely distressed when separated, comfort may be resisted on return
securely attached - keen to explore, distressed if separated, moderate stranger anxiety, easily comforted on return
-
-
institutionalisation
Hodges and Tizard
- longitudinal natural experiment using 65 children who had been placed into institutional care before the age of 4 months
- by 4 years, 24 had been adopted, 15 returned home and the remaining 26 were still in the institution
- assessments were taken at 8 and 16 years
- self report study on social difficulties was completed by adolescents, and teachers completed a postal questionnaire
- maternal deprivation was overcome to a large extent by adopted children, with them developing strong attachments to parents in adopted families compared to those still in institutions
- all had more difficulties with peers and fewer close relationships than the control group, suggesting that maternal deprivation has long term effects
Hazan and Shaver
analysed 620 replies to a 'love quiz' in the local newspaper. the quiz had three sections : the first assessed respondents' current or most important relationship, the second assessed general love experiences such as number of partners. the third assessed attachment type by asking respondents to choose which out of three statements best described their feelings. 56% were identified as securely attached, 25% securely avoidant, and 19% insecure resistant