Attachment and Different Perspectives

• Attachment: a close emotional bond, often beginning early in life

• Freud: infants become attached to the person or object that provides oral satisfaction.

• Erikson: physical comfort and sensitive care are key to establishing a basic sense of trust that is the foundation for attachment.

• Behaviorism: Drive/ need for food, develop attachment as mother or caregiver reinforces need for food and security

Developing Attachments

• Attachment is a reciprocal, enduring emotional tie between an infant and a caregiver, each of whom contributes to the quality of the relationship.

• NOT the same as temperament, which are observable characteristics of the baby/child

• Relational in nature

• Attachments have profound adaptive value for babies, ensuring that their psychosocial and physical needs will be met.

Harlow’s Research

• Freud's theory challenged by Harlow’s research, which showed that physical comfort is preferred for security.

• Disagreed with psychoanalytic approach.

• First saw that when infant monkeys were separated from caregiver at birth, they could not readily socialize and be reintroduced to pack.

• Understood that infants were highly dependent on mother for socialization- but what was the basis?

• In 1958, to test his ideas about how attachment forms, Harlow separated infant monkeys from their mothers at birth and raised them with two ‘surrogate’ mothers.

• Findings

  • Harlow found that infant monkeys spent majority of their time clinging to the cloth mother, regardless of which surrogate mother provided milk.

  • “Comfort” Cloth Mother: When the infant monkeys were frightened by a loud sound, they were more likely to run to the cloth mother for security

  • When placed in an unfamiliar setting, monkeys again preferred to cling to the cloth mother, and used it as a “safe base” to return to when they became frightened.

  • When the cloth mother was absent, the monkey babies were highly distressed and unable to explore the environment or play.

  • Harlow’s findings led him to believe that the comfort resulted in the mother- infant attachment, not the feeding itself.

  • Emphasized comfort, companionship, love and security in promoting healthy development

Early Research in Attachment

• Bowlby first labeled “attachment” as a construct involving the necessary ‘psychological connectedness between human beings’.

• He argued that attachment is a biologically based, active behavior related to the infant’s need for protection in order to survive.

• Based on Harlow’s work and his own ethological studies (Evolutionary approach)

• In what ways is attachment adaptive?

  • Infant dependent for biological needs - built-in behaviors (crying, smiling) designed to keep that adult nearby.

  • Observed that when infants feel secure, they can explore their environment, checking back from time to time with a parent as a form of “emotional refueling,”

    • The child uses the parent as a secure base for exploration, and because exploration is essential for human learning, these behaviors are adaptive.

• Identified maternal nurturance and responsiveness as the primary determinants of attachment.

• Laid out 4 stages of attachment (Pre-Attachment; Attachment in the Making; Clear-Cut Attachment; Goal-corrected Attachment)

• Bowlby’s ethological perspective: Attachment is an innate predisposition that develops in a series of phases.

  • Phase 1, from birth to 2 months: infants are instinctively drawn to humans.

  • Phase 2, from 2 to 7 months: attachment becomes focused on one person.

  • Phase 3, from 7 to 24 months: with increased locomotor skills, infants actively seek regular contact with caregivers.

  • Phase 4, from 24 months on: children become aware of others’ feelings, goals, and plans and take them into account.

Mary Ainsworth

• Mary Ainsworth, student of Bowlby, wanted to look at differences in types of attachment

• Conducted ‘Strange Situation’ experiment to measure types of attachment through observation.

• In Strange Situation, infant experiences a series of introductions, separations, and reunions

• Ainsworth sought to observe two behaviors:

  • How the infant uses the mother as a secure base for exploration.

  • How the infant uses the mother to calm down after being stressed by her departure.

• Based on infant behaviors in study, classified 4 Attachment styles

  1. Securely attached: positive, confident exploration.

  2. Insecure avoidant: little interaction with caregiver, no distress.

  3. Insecure resistant: clings to caregiver and then resists.

  4. Insecure disorganized: disorganized and disoriented.