Classical conditioning:

• Association of new stimulus with existing one
• Food produces unlearned (reflex) response in baby
• Caregiver is neutral stimulus (NS) but associated response in baby independent of food

Operant conditioning:

• Any behaviour that produces a pleasurable consequence likely to be repeated because the consequence reinforces the behaviour
• When baby cries, caregiver feeds -> crying reinforced for food
• Positively reinforcing behaviour of caregiver encourages development of attachment -> Gewirtz (1976)

Drive reduction:

• Babies have innate biological drives that motivate their behaviour
• primary drives-> thirst/hunger, primary reinforces food/drink
• Caregiver provides food -> secondary reinforcer because baby associates him/her with reduction of primary drive
• Attachment is secondary drive through association with primary drive

• Bowlby (1969) -> attachment is foremost an innate process
• Being closely attached to someone increases baby's survival chances with 3 advantages: attachment, a secure base, provides model for other relationships

Monotropy:

• Baby's attachment to one (mono) particular caregiver is quantitatively different from all other attachments
• Anyone can be primary attachment figure
• Other attachments act as safety net

Social releasers and the critical period:

• Smiling, gurgling, cooing are examples of social releases
• Trigger caregiver to respond with food, comfort, affection
• First 6 months critical for development of attachment, after becomes difficult
• First 30 months important - separation may disrupt attachment bond

Internal working model:

• Baby's primary attachment figure provides baby with internal working model (relationship template)
• Continuity hypothesis proposes link between internal working model and behaviour in future relationships
• Attachments 'transmitted' between generations (e.g. if person is caring/sensitive, this was shown to them by primary caregiver)

Research evidence:

• Bailey et al (2007) -> 99 mothers studied to find those with poor attachment to parents had poorly attached baby

Privation and deprivation:

• 'Mother-love in infancy and childhood is as important for mental health as are vitamins and proteins for physical health'
• Disruption to bond early on can have severe and permanent effects on child's development
• Takes form in privation/deprivation
• privation occurs when baby doesn't form bond with caregiver at all
• Deprivation refers to bond that was formed but then broken through some kind of separation (e.g. temporary hospitalisation, death of the mother, etc)

Effects of deprivation:

• Bowlby (1944) formed maternal deprivation hypothesis from research on '44 juvenile thieves'
• 14 diagnosed with affectionless psychopathy
• 12/14 had lengthy separation from mother before 2 years old
• 5/30 non affectionless thieves had similar deprivation
• In control of 44 non criminal boys, only 2 had prolonged separation
• Deprivation of maternal bond in first 30 months led inevitably and irreversibly to serious emotional maladjustment
• Rutter (1981) argued so much disruption, they boys never formed bonds so privation not deprivation

Conclusions:

• Many children adopted after 6 months showed signs of disinhibited attachment, including attention-seeking, clinginess
• Even in those adopted after 6 months, not all impaired and some made better progress than others -> individual differences may be important

Controlled observation of babies' behaviour to investigate responses to certain manipulated events

Sample:

• 56 babies from white, middle-class families recruited via paediatrician contacts
• 33 babies observed at 49 weeks, 23 at age of 51 weeks
• Babies' mothers participated, confederate played stranger

The strange situation:

• Made up of 8 episodes in standard order
• Not more disturbing than real life occurrences
• Less disturbing cam first

Strange situation episodes:
1) (M+B+O less than than 3 minutes): Mother (M) enters room while carrying baby (B) accompanied by observer (O); O leaves
2) (M+B): M puts B on the floor and watches, only joining in if B seeks attention
3) (S+M+B): Stranger (S) enters and sits quietly for one minute, then approaches B showing a toy for onw minute; M leaves
4) (S+B): If B is playing, S does not participate; if B is inactive, S tries to interest him in toys; if B is distressed, S tries top distract or comfort him; if B is not comforted, episode ends
5) (M+B, undetermined duration): M enters and pauses in doorway so B can respond; S leaves room. When B is settled, playing with toys, M leaves saying 'bye bye'
6) (B alone): B left alone for 3 minutes unless too distressed
7) (S+B): S enters and behaves as in ep 4; if B is too distressed, episode ends
8) (M+B): M returns, S leaves, reunion observed, procedure ends

• Behaviour observed from adjoining room through one-way window
• Two observers dictated commentaries into tape recorder with click every 15 seconds
• Two measures taken: frequency of crying, frequency of exploratory behaviour

Classifying behaviour:

• Proximity and contact seeking behaviours
• Contact maintaining behaviours
• Proximity and interaction avoiding behaviours
• Contact and interaction resisting behaviour
• Search behaviour scored separate for 4, 6, 7

Exploratory behaviour:

• Significant reduction in all forms of exploration from ep 2 to ep 3 and stayed low in ep 4
• Visual/manipulatory exploration increased in ep 5 but declined in ep 6
• Exploration reached lowest in ep 7
• Ep 2, baby rarely looked at mother. Ep 3 baby looked lots at stranger

Crying:

• No crying in ep 2/3
• Increased in ep 4 but reduced in ep 5
• Increased in ep 6, did not decrease in ep 7
  

Search behaviour during separation:

• Mean strength of search behaviour was moderate (3.0) in ep 4
• Significantly stronger (4.6) in ep 6
• Returned to moderate (2.5) in ep 7
• Ep 6: 37% cried minimally but searched strong
• 20% cried lots, search weak
• 32% cried/searched strong
• All but 4 reacted to being alone

Other behaviours:

• Proximity seeking behaviour - attempts to regain proximity/contact with mother were weak in ep 2/3 but increased significantly after each separation
• Contact maintaining behaviour low in eps 2/3, increased in ep 5 and 8
• Proximity avoiding behaviour - in ep 5, 1/3 babies showed contact resisting, ep 8 was 1/2
• Contact resisting behaviour - babies high on this also high on contact -maintaining

• Attachment and attachment behaviour are not identical. Attachment behaviour is increased or decreased by internal or external factors, but the infant is predisposed occasionally to seek proximity. This predisposition is the attachment
• Attachment behaviour increases in threatening situations of external danger or separation
• Strong attachment behaviour cannot exist with exploratory behaviour. But having an attachment, plus the mother's presence, supports exploratory behaviour. If there is no threat of separation, the infant uses mother as a secure base from which to explore. Absence of proximity seeking behaviour does not indicate weak attachment
• Attachment behaviours may reduce or disappear after separation, but the attachment itself is not necessarily weakened. Attachment behaviours are often stronger on reunion
• There are individual differences in the quality of attachments. These differences, along with the sensitivity of attachment behaviour to situational factors, make it very hard to assess the strength of an attachment. Therefore, research should focus on the differences in the quality of attachments rather than their strength or intensity

Freewill:

• Decision to parent a certain way (e.g. attachment parenting, routine parenting)
  

Soft determinism:

• Babies stop crying when they learn no one will come -> choice made by parents
• Type of attachment out of child's control but in parent's control
• Attachment determined by type of parent

Hard determinism:

• Upbringing/culture will determine mother's mothering style

Reductionist:

• Learning theory of attachment -> ignores biological/social drives, ignores economic environment
• Only biological drives
• Bowlby's deprivation hypothesis states only mother, not father

Individual:

• Mother's upbringing, views, environment shapes parenting style

Situational:

• Individual situations may cause inconsistency and then insecure attachments
• Exhaustion, change of parenting style in presence of others, hospital stays, etc

Interactionist:

• Individual may be affected by situational
• E.g. wanting to be attachment parent but financial factors don't allow for this

Useful:

Not useful:

• Not enough research on fathers

Not ethical:

• Parents being identified as insecure attached may cause guilt
• '44 juvenile thieves' -> name could be harmful

Sensitive:

• No fathers shown in attachment studies, all blame put on mother
• Could be discriminated against
• Germany had high levels of anxiety ridden attachment
• Japan high levels of ambivalent attachment

Not sensitive:

• May lead to support for new parents
• Find systems to promote families with insecure attachment to have positive attachments

Science:

• Ainsworth and Bell -> easy to replicate
• Objective -> overt observable behaviours of child

Not science:

• No cause and effect

Valid:

• Strange situations -> high in internal (face) vailidity
• Crying shows distress
• Stop crying/crawling indicates mother as secure base

Not valid:

• Bowlby/ A+B -> low in ecological validity but not in mundane reaction
• Bowlby -> retrospective analysis
• Case histories are unreliable
• May have bias to support hypothesis

Reliable:

• Strange situations are standardised

Not reliable:

• Bowlby -> case study of group of people difficult to replicate

Bias:

• Bowlby -> boys in children's home
• A+B -> western world, middle class and white

Ethnocentric:

• Ainsworth based on ideological western parenting
• Some cultures -> mothers put baby on them and go to work -> may not have time to bond/interact with child
• Some cultures don't play with children
• Cultural ideas shaped strange situations

Not ethnocentric:

• Instinctive need babies have and mothers have may not be ethnocentric as it is innate

Maximise family contact:

• Government-commissioned Platt report (1959) recommended parents and children should no longer be separated at the hospital door
• More common to have relaxed visiting hours in children's wards now
• Charities in the UK have been building housing for families with children in hospital long term for them to be near their children all the time

Provide suitable substitute emotional care:

• Crucial requirement of temporary care
• Substitute carers should be sensitive and responsive to child's emotional needs
• Should maintain child's routine as much as possible
• Ensure regular visits with family