What is attachment
An emotional bond between two individuals where each individual sees the other as essential for their emotional security
Why are caregiver infant care interactions important
Concerns period of life before the baby speaks
Shat are the two types of attachment
Secure and insecure
What is secure attachment
Secure - The child feels confident that their caregiver will meet their needs. Leads to better emotional, social, and relationship outcomes later in life.
What are the two types of insecure attachment and what are their definitions
Insecure-avoidant
Child avoids closeness with the caregiver. Shows little distress at separation.
Often linked to unresponsive or rejecting caregivers.
Insecure-resistant (ambivalent)
Child is clingy and dependent.
Very distressed at separation but not easily comforted.
Linked to inconsistent caregiving.
What are the early caregiver - infant interactions and their definitions
Reciprocity - A two-way interaction between infant and caregiver where both respond to each other’s signals (e.g. smiles, vocalisations).
The caregiver’s response is contingent (directly related) to the infant’s behaviour.
Important because it helps build attachment, and teaches infants that their actions have effects on others.
Interactional Synchrony - When caregiver and infant mirror each other’s behaviours and emotions in a coordinated, timed way.
Happens naturally during face-to-face interactions.
Matters because it is linked to secure attachment and supports emotional development and communication.
What was Lorenzes experiment
Lorenz - goose experiment
Procedure - randomly divided large clutch of goose eggs in half, one group (control) hatching with the mother in their environment and one group hatched in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was Lorenz.
Findings - incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere whereas the chicken trol group followed their mother. When both groups were mixed up, the control group followed their mother still and the experiment group followed Lorenz still.
This phenomenon is called imprinting - bird species that are mobile from birth attach to the fist moving object they see.
This process has to happen between the critical period in the early stages of the birds life, otherwise the chick will have no mother figure.
He also investigated sexual imprinting - where no matter the species, the bird from birth will always attach to the first moving figure they see. (e.g. baby peacock showing courtship only towards tortoises.)
What was Harlow’s experiment
Harlow - baby monkeys
16 baby monkeys given two wire models of a ‘mother figure’
One had cloth wrapped around it and is warm for comfort, and one only has milk (food) in it.
Findings - baby monkeys cuddled the cloth in preference to the wire when frightened (e.g. by a noisy mechanical teddy bear), regardless of which contained milk.
This proved that when kept in a cage a baby monkey will often cling and attach to something warm and comforting to cuddle, making them more likely to survive.
However, those with a cloth and wire mother figure didn’t develop normal social behaviour. They became mir aggressive, less sociable and bred less often.
Harlow concluded there was a critical period for attachment formation - mother figure had to be introduced to a baby monkey within 99 days for attachment to form. After this time period attachment becomes impossible and the damage done by early deprivation is irreversible.
What is a social release due to bowls theory of attachment
What is a social release due to bowlbys theory of attachment
Babies are born with cute behaviours like smiling, cooing or o encourage attention from adults, which are called social releasers.
Attachment is therefore a gripping process, where the mother and baby are programmed to get attached.
What is the critical period according to bowlbys theory
The first two years of a babies life where they have to form attachment to a mother figure to fully shape and develop their life.
what is monotropy according to bowlbys attachment theory
The child places great attachment on the child’s primary attachemrn figure (main caregiver)
What is the internal working model according to bowlbys attachment theory
Child forms a mental representation of their relationship with their primary attachment figure
What is the law of continuity according to bowlbys attachment theory
Suggests that the more constant and predictable a child’s care, the better the quality of attachment
What is the law of accumulated separation according to bowlbys theory of attachment
Suggests that the effects of every depredation from the mother add up and ‘the safest dose is therefore zero dose’
What is an innate system according to bowlbys theory of attachment
When a system formed from attachment gives a survival advantage.
What is Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation
Separation from the mother has a serious affect on psychological development.
The emotional and intellectual consequences of separation is called maternal deprivation
It is essential that someone has continuous care from their mother for development.
What did bowlby say maternal deprivation can lead to
Serious emotional and intellectual damage
What emotional damage can maternal deprivation lead to
Emotionless psychopathy -
Inability to experience guilt or strong emotion towards others. Prevents someone from developing normal relationships and associated with criminality
What intelleftual damage can maternal deprivation lead to
Created abnormaly low IQ. Correlation is formed by prolonged maternal deprivation
How does the strange situation procedure work
Sample - 100 middle-class American mothers and infants in a laboratory room with toys.
Setting - The room was often marked into 16 squares to track movement.
The 8 Episodes (approx. 3 mins each):
Researcher introduces parent and infant to the room, then leaves.
Parent sits while infant explores.
Stranger enters and talks to parent.
Parent leaves; stranger interacts with infant.
Parent returns, stranger leaves.
Parent leaves; infant is alone.
Stranger enters and interacts with infant.
Parent returns.
Evaluation (A Level Focus)
Strengths:
Reliability: High inter-observer reliability due to controlled, standardized, and recorded conditions.
Validity: Strongly predicts later development, such as social/emotional competence in childhood.
Limitations:
Cultural Bias: The study is ethnocentric, based on Western, middle-class child-rearing practices, making it less applicable to other cultures.
Ethical Concerns: Places infants under mild stress.
Methodology: Only measures attachment to one caregiver, usually the mother, ignoring potential,1multiple attachment types.
4th Type: Later research (Main & Solomon) identified a 4th type, Disorganized (Type D), which the original procedure missed.
What are the observed behaviours in the strange situation experiment
Key Observed Behaviors:
Proximity seeking - How close the infant stays to the caregiver.
Exploration/Secure base behavior - Whether the infant uses the caregiver as a safe base to explore.
Stranger anxiety - Response to an unfamiliar person.
Separation anxiety - Response to being away from the caregiver.
Reunion behavior - Reaction when reunited with the caregiver.
What are the different types of attachments for a baby and a mother in the strange situation experiment
Attachment Classifications:
Secure Attachment (Type B - approx. 60-75% of British toddlers): Explores happily, uses mother as secure base, moderate distress upon separation, easily comforted on reunion.
Insecure-Avoidant Attachment (Type A - approx. 20-30%): Explores freely, no proximity seeking, little/no distress upon separation, ignores or avoids mother on reunion.
Insecure-Resistant/Ambivalent Attachment (Type C - approx. 3%): Explores less, seeks greater proximity, intense distress upon separation, resists comfort on reunion.
Evaluation for the strange situation experiment (strengths, limitations and validity)
Evaluation:
Strengths:
Reliability - High inter-observer reliability due to controlled, standardized, and recorded conditions.
Validity - Strongly predicts later development, such as social/emotional competence in childhood.
Limitations:
Cultural Bias - The study is ethnocentric, based on Western, middle-class child-rearing practices, making it less applicable to other cultures.
Ethical Concerns - Places infants under mild stress.
