Attachment and Bonding

Question 1

What is attachment?

Answer 1

an intense emotional relationship that is specific to two people, that endures over time and in which prolonged separation from the partner is accompanies by stress and sorrow

Question 2

What are the 4 phases in the development of attachment?

Answer 2

Pre-attachment phase = up to 3 months, preference for contact with human beings from 6 weeks manifest as nestling, gurgling and smiling
Indiscriminate attachment = lasts up to 7 months. Allows strangers to look after them without notice distress, provided stranger provides adequate care. Starts to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar people
Discriminate attachement = 7-8 months, actively tries to stay close to people and becomes distressed when separated from them. Requires infant to be able to discriminate between mother and others. Object permanence. Infant develops fear of strangers.
Multiple attachment phase = 9 months onwards. Strong additional ties are formed. Fear of strangers weakens but strongest attachment remains

Question 3

What did Lorenz do, what was his theory?

Answer 3

Lorenz:

• ethological
• non-human animals form strong bonds with the first moving objects they encounter (imprinting). It is an example of a fixed-action pattern that occurs in the presence of species-specific releasing stimulus
• it occurs only during a brief critical period and is irreversible. When sexually mature, show sexual preference for that species

Question 4

What did Harlow do?

What was his theory?

Answer 4

Harlow:

• Rhesus monkey, to determine whether food of the close comfort of a blanket were more important, he placed monkeys in cages with 2 substitute mothers. Spent most time clinging to cloth. Only went to other for food briefly.
• Use of mother as a secure base

Question 5

What are the two main theories of attachment?

Answer 5

Psychoanalytic = infants become attached because of caregivers ability to satisfy instinctual needs
Behavioural = infants associated their caregivers with gratification and they learn to approach them to have their physiological needs satisfied

Question 6

What is Bowlby’s theory of attachment?

Answer 6

• because new-born infants are entirely helpless they are genetically programmed to behave towards their mothers in ways that ensure survival
• synchrony of action between mother and infant produces an attachment; useless after 36 months (critical period)
• infant attached to mother, mother bonded to infant
• infants display an infant tendency to one adult (monotropy) and this is qualitavely different from other later attachments (not necessarily the natural mother)

Question 7

What is the theory of rozzolatti, fogassi and gales?

Answer 7

Mirror neurones

• mirror neurones fire when an action is performed or when observing another perform that action
• initially describe in macaque monkeys
• confirmed in humans
• possible lik to understanding actions, skill acquisition and language development

Question 8

What is Ainsworth’s theory of individual variation?

Answer 8

• Ganda study with babies, investigated individual differences between mother-child pairs
• Showed that child’s attachment was significantly correlated with maternal sensitivity and amount of holding by mother
• strange situation test
• anxious avoidant, securely attached, anxious resistant

Question 9

Describe anxious-avoidant type

Answer 9

• infant indifferent to mother
• play is little affected by whether mother is present or absent
• actively ignores or avoids mother on return
• distress is caused by being alone
• as easily comforted by mother as by stranger, that is, both adults are treated in a very similar way

Question 10

Describe secure-attached type

Answer 10

• infant plays happily when mother is there, whether stranger is there or not
• mother is largely ignored because she can be trusted
• clearly distressed when mother leaves and play is reduced
• seeks immediate contact when mother returns, is quickly calmed and resumes play
• distress is caused by mothers absence, not being alone
• mother treated differently from stranger (can provide some comfort)

Question 11

Describe anxious-resistant type

Answer 11

• infant is fussy and wary when mother is present
• cries a lot more than A and B
• Diffciculy using mother as secure base
• Very distressed when mother leaves and seeks contact on return but simultaneously shows anger and resists contact
• actively resists stranger’s efforts to make contact

Question 12

What is the insecure/disorganised type?

Answer 12

combines fear of attachment figure with increasing attachment behaviour

Question 13

What is maternal deprivation?

Answer 13

deprivation = separation from mother or loss of mother
privation = absence of an attachment figure; there has been no opportunity to form attachemnt in the first place

Question 14

What the short and long term effects of deprivation?

Answer 14

Short-term
- protest
- despair
- detachment
Long-term
- separation anxiety characterised by increased aggressiveness, clinging behaviour, detachment, psychosomatic symptoms

Question 15

What are the impacts of deprivation?

Answer 15

• parental separation in paediatric wards
• changes in institutional practice
• growth of child care industry and parental guilt!