1. Attachment & Parenting Early Social Development
Mr. Koch
AP Psychology
Forest Lake High School

2. Attachment
A deep and enduring relationship with the person with whom a baby has shared many experiences
Typically begins forming during 1st year of life
John Bowlby
British psychoanalyst drew attention to importance of attachment after observing depression and other emotional scars in children orphaned in WWII
Inspired researchers to study how attachments are formed and what happens when they’re absent or broken

3. Imprinting Konrad Lorenz (1937)
Some animals (i.e. ducks, geese) develop attachment during a “critical period” shortly after birth
Imprinting – instinctively becomes attached to first moving thing seen at this time

4. Konrad Lorenz - Imprinting

5. Harry Harlow (1959)
Tested two opposing hypotheses on what leads to developing attachment:
Attachment occurs because mothers feed their babies
Attachment is based on the warm, comforting contact from the mother

6. Harlow Monkey Studies clip #1

7. Harlow Monkey Studies clip #2

8. Harlow Monkey Studies
Also investigated what happens when attachments do not form
Isolated some newborn monkeys from all social contact – dramatic disturbances after one year
When visited by normal monkeys, huddled in corner and rocked
Unable to have normal sexual relations
Artificially inseminated females tended to ignore own babies
Would sometimes abuse/kill them when babies were distressed
Tragically similar situations observed in Romanian and Russian orphanages

9. Harlow Monkey Studies

10. Mary Ainsworth (1978) (student of John Bowlby)
“Strange Situation” experiment
Infant interacts with mother and stranger in unfamiliar room
Plays with both → mother leaves briefly → baby alone briefly → mother returns

11. Mary Ainsworth – “Strange Situation”
“Secure Attachment” – most infants
Use mother as home base, leave side to explore, but return periodically for comfort/contact
When mother returns from separation, infant happy to see her and receptive to contact

12. Mary Ainsworth – “Strange Situation”
“Insecure Attachment”
Avoidant – avoid or ignore mother upon return
Ambivalent – upset when mother leaves, switch between clinging and angrily rejecting mother upon return
Disorganized – behavior is inconsistent, disturbed, and disturbing (i.e. – cry after mother returns and comforts; reach out for mother while looking away from her)
Secure attachments correlated with more positive social relationships later in life

13. Mary Ainsworth – “Strange Situation”

14. Parenting Styles

15. Parenting Styles Authoritarian Strict, punitive, unsympathetic
Value obedience from child and authority for selves
Try to curb child’s will, discourage independence
Detached and seldom praise
Their children tend to be:
Unfriendly, distrustful, withdrawn, less empathic, more aggressive, more likely to cheat, less likely to feel guilty or accept blame

16. Parenting Styles Permissive
More affectionate, give lax discipline, great deal of freedom
Children tend to be:
Immature, dependent, unhappy, prone to tantrums, act helpless

17. Parenting Styles Authoritative Fall between previous two extremes
Reason with child, encourage give and take, sets limits but encourages independence, firm but understanding, demands are reasonable and consistent, give children more responsibility as they mature
Children tend to be:
Friendly, cooperative, self-reliant, socially responsible, better in school, more popular

18. Parenting Styles Uninvolved Indifferent to their children
Invest as little time, money, effort as possible
Focus on own needs before child’s
Children tend to be:
Less likely to form secure attachments, more impulsive, aggressive, noncompliant, moody, low in self-esteem

19. Parenting Styles But, research is correlational
Does parenting cause traits in child? or do child’s traits influence parenting style used by parents?