1. Attachment
Ms.Carmelitano

2. What is attachment?
Most baby mammals (humans and others) seek proximity to their mother and react with anxiety when they are separated (Proximity Maintenance)
This is an example of attachment
This may be an evolutionary trait for infant survival
Crying, grasping, babbling, smiling, and gurgling are genetically based social signals
Meant to encourage parents to care for and interact with their children to ensure they will be fed and protected from danger

3. Attachment Psychologist
John Bowlby
Worked with children who had been separated from their parents during WWII
Observed that they developed emotional problems
Argued that “maternal separation causes permanent and irreversible damage.”
He postulated the theory of attachment

4. Basis of the Theory
Children yearn to be near their primary caregiver (proximity maintenance)
They will return to the attached figure for comfort in times of distress (safe haven)
When they are separated from the attached figure they will exhibit distress (separation distress)
The attached figure acts as a secure base for the child
Attachment will occur between 6 and 30 months

5. Maternal Sensitivity
The caregiver must respond to the child’s signals early in life in order for them to form healthy attachments
Brazelton et al (1975)
Observational study
Found that both mothers and babies imitate each other’s movements (Interactional synchrony)
The babies became upset when the mothers ignored them
This is facilitated by mirror neurons

6. Henry Harlow Surrogate Mother Experiment
Harlow separated a new born Rhesus monkey from its mother
The babies were then placed in a cage with two surrogate mothers – a wire framed one and one made of terrycloth
The write mother provided food, the cloth one did not
The baby clung to the terrycloth mother, and only approached the wire mother when it needed food
When the monkey was faced with a frightening stimulus, it ran to the cloth mother for comfort
Harlow concluded that this need for maternal contact is stronger than biological needs for food

7. Developing Attachment (Biological)
Shaffer 1996
Attachment develops until around the age of 7 months old
It is at this age that the baby will show clear signs of anxiety when separated from their care givers.
At this age infants can discriminate between their primary care givers and other people (may be due to brain maturation of the hippocampus)
Piaget argues that children have developed a schema for their care-giver at this time (object permanence)
The visual system has also developed the ability to make out fine distinctions

8. Internal Working Model
Important to Bowlby’s model is the idea that children develop mental representations of their caregivers – this called the internal working model
The development is biologically based
Children will create a schema that gives them:
Expectations of attached figures
Ideas about themselves
Ideas about how they relate to others

9. Results of Attachment
When the child receives love and affection, they will see themselves as worthy of love
If a child experiences neglect, they may begin to believe that they do not deserve love
This is their working model
This will determine future relationships
Working model can change as a child assimilates new experiences
If the primary caregiver occasionally shows lack of interest in the child the child may still develop a solid attachment

10. Ainsworth The Strange Situation Paradigm
Ainsworth was a student of Bowlby (U.S. Psychologist)
She devised an experiment “the Strange Situation” in order to classify attachment styles
The Ganda Project (1967)
Longitudinal study completed in Uganda over 9 months
Involved home visits, interviews, and naturalistic observations of mother and child interactions in a “strange situation”
Children were observed every 2 weeks for 2 hours
Sample: 28 unweaned babies from several villages in Uganda ranging from 15 weeks – 2 years old

11. The Ganda Project
Ainsworth wanted to study the individual differences between mother-child pairs in terms of their attachments
She created a rating scale to measure maternal sensitivity to baby’s signals
The babies were classified into three attachment groups

12. The Ganda Project
Procedure (Judges the reaction of the child to separation and reunion with the primary care giver):
1. The parent and children are in a room alone
2. The child is allowed to explore the room without parental participation
3. A stranger walks into the room, talks to the parent, and approaches the child
4. The parent quietly leaves the room
5. The parent returns to comfort the child

13. Replication (1971)
Ainsworth replicated the study in Baltimore, USA, and found similar results to what she found in Uganda
This sample consisted of 26 mother-infant pairs
Visited in homes every 3-4 weeks for ten years

14. Types of Attachment Type A- Avoidant (20% of children)
Indifference to who they are with
Avoids contact
No fear of strangers
Mothers had been uninterested in children
Type B- Securely Attached (70% of children)
Upset when attached partner leaves
Happy when they return
Easily comforted by partner
Mothers had been interested in children, and actively communicates with them
Type C- Ambivalent (10% of children)
Very upset when partner leaves
Difficulty being soothed even when they return, not trust that they will stay
Seeks comfort from partner but does not accept it when given
Mothers may be inconsistent in reactions to children

15. The pit of despair (Harlow and Suomi, 1971)
AIM: To produce depression in Rhesus monkeys based on isolation
Procedure: Harlow designed a steel cage which would deny the monkeys placed inside any contact with the outside world
Baby monkeys were then placed into one of the environment right after their birth, and left there for 30 days, 6 months, or an entire year.

16. The Pit of Despair Findings:
After 30 days the monkeys were extremely disturbed
After one year the monkeys barely moved, explored, or played, two refused to eat and starved to death

17. The Pit of Despair
Harlow then artificially impregnated the female monkeys to test their later parenting skills
He found that they were unable to parent, and either abused or neglected their offspring
One mother held their baby’s face to the ground and chewed off its feet and fingers, another crushed its baby’s head, the rest just ignored their babies

18. Simpson (1996)
Securely attached individuals are more likely to be constructive in their accommodation patterns
Tested the role of attachment style by how sensitive a topic couples would discuss
First administered questionnaires to identify attachment style
Then the couples discussed a major problem in their relationship
Insecurely attached couples tended to be anxious and used negative strategies to discuss the problem